The subtitle of this remarkable book is ‘Two women’s journeys from war-torn Europe to a new life in Australia’. This is a story close to my heart after so many years of research into my husband’s family history. His father and grandparents also journeyed from war-torn Europe to a new life in Australia.
Andra Putnis spent many years interviewing her grandmother, Aline, as well as other family members and mining her own memories to reconstruct the harrowing experiences of her grandparents. Although her grandfathers also both came from Latvia, through Germany, to Australia this book focuses on the stories of the two grandmothers. It is all too apparent in my research that women’s stories over the years are often ignored. That makes this one all the more special.
The book is very cleverly organized with chapters going back and forth between the two grandmothers, Aline and Milda. These sections are written in a kind of first-person narrative. This means that they are slightly fictionalized accounts which works really well to pull the reader in and make it very personal. These parts are interspersed with chapters from Andra’s own perspective as the author, researcher and granddaughter. Andra’s sections are poignant in their descriptions of the difficulties of researching events of so long ago, attempting to reconstruct and document other people’s memories and grappling with the uncomfortable emotions that might occur when asking people to remember and talk about such horrible times. She admits that it was a risk.
Her grandmothers came from different parts of Latvia and from different religious backgrounds and they both ended up in Germany in very different situations. And although their circumstances in war-torn Europe and then in Australia were very different, they both faced incomprehensible challenges.
I was especially interested in her grandmother Aline’s experiences entering Australia in Freemantle in the middle of 1949. She spent time in Graylands migrant camp. This is the same migrant camp that my husband’s grandparents and father spent time in, only a few months after Aline.
These grandmothers faced enormous danger and tragedy to make it to the shores of Australia, to safety. But a new set of challenges was beginning. The second half of the book explores the life of migrant refugees, the ‘Beautiful Balts’ they were called, trying to make a life in Australia. Their challenges mirror the stories I have learned from my husband’s family. It was hard to fit in, hard to find employment. The landscape was different. The language was different. The skills and education they brought with them was ignored and considered irrelevant.
It took a generation or two but eventually I guess you could consider them the ‘lucky’ ones. The ones who made it out of Latvia, out of Europe, and able to start a new life.
In the centre of the book is a wonderful selection of photos all throughout the lives of Aline and Milda. I found myself going back over and over again to look into the eyes of the women and men who had lived these stories. So many people of their generation chose not to talk about the war years. They didn’t want to remember. This book exemplifies how important it is to try to learn these stories from the older generations before they are lost forever. Andra did an amazing job making that happen for her family and has been extremely generous in choosing to share that with the rest of us.
I have read many war stories and memoirs over the years and this is one of the best. I couldn’t put it down and couldn’t stop the tears from falling at times. I highly recommend this beautiful book to anyone, whether you know anything about Latvia or not. It is an amazing, emotional journey of the heart.
If you would like to know more about the author Andra Putnis please check out her website here: https://www.andraputnis.com.au/
I do not know if this book is available here in the states but certainly makes me want to search for it.