The Matryoshka Memoirs Audiobook Libro.fm

Irina Nikifortchuk was nineteen years old and a Ukrainian schoolteacher when she was abducted to be a forced laborer in the Leica camera factory in Nazi Germany Eventually pulled from the camp hospital to work as a domestic in the Leica owners household Irina survived the war and eventually found her way to Canada

Decades later Sasha Colby Irinas granddaughter seeks out her grandmothers story over a series of summer visits and gradually begins to interweave the astoldto story with historical research As she delves deeper into the history of the Leica factory and World War II forced labor she discovers the parallel story of Elsie KhnLeitz Irinas rescuer and the factory heiress later imprisoned and interrogated by the Gestapo on charges of excessive humanity

This is creative nonfiction at its best as the mystery of Irinas life unspools skillfully and arrestingly Despite the horrors that the story must tell it is full of life humor food and the joy of ordinary safety in Canada The Matryoshka Memoirs takes us into a forgotten corner of history weaving a rich and satisfying tapestry of survival and family ties and asking what we owe those who aid us