In this remarkable family memoir, the political journalist and Conservative peer Daniel Finkelstein documents the lives of his parents and grandparents under Hitler and Stalin, and “how the great forces of history crashed down in a terrible wave on two happy families; how it tossed them and turned them, and finally returned what was left to dry land”.
His mother Mirjam’s family, who were German Jews, survived the Dutch holding camp Westerbork, and a spell in Bergen-Belsen. Meanwhile his paternal grandfather, who was from Lwów in Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), which was occupied by the Soviets in 1939, was arrested and sentenced to hard labour at one of Stalin’s gulags, while his wife and child were dispatched to a Siberian farm. Moving back and forth between their respective stories, Finkelstein’s account of his grandparents’ efforts to evade death and protect their children unfolds like a wartime thriller.
It’s little wonder that, having survived extreme hardship and the deaths of many family members, Mirjam and Ludwik – both of whom ended up in Britain, where they met and married – instilled in their own children an interest in politics and a strong sense of the fragility of peace and freedom. As narrator, Finkelstein moves between a tone of horror at all his forebears endured and wonder at the miracle of his parents’ survival. His book is a poignant and gripping tale of endurance, which, he notes, “ended happily in Hendon eating crusty rolls with butter in the Tesco cafe near the M1 but on the way took a detour through hell”.
Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival is available via William Collins, 12hr 12min
Further listening
Dickens & Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius
Nick Hornby, Penguin Audio, 3hr 7min
Alex Jennings narratives this heartfelt essay by the Fever Pitch author that examines two artists from different centuries who, it turns out, had lots in common.
Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan, Faber, 1hr 57min
Aidan Kelly reads the haunting tale of an Irishman who was adopted and raised by a kindly widow and who comes to a grim realisation while visiting a laundry run by nuns.