Krystyna's Story - Halina Ogonowska-Coates

Published by Longacre Press: Dunedin, New Zealand, 2008 (1992).

 This story, based largely on the memories of the author's mother, is a harrowing look at a very tragic part of history. Krystyna is a Polish girl who ends up getting deported to Siberia with her family during World War 2. In the forced labour camp to which they are sent, Krystyna's family members one by one die off, until only Krystyna remains. The intensity of this first section of the book is fairly consistent, and is at times hard to read about what such a large number of people went through, along with wondering how people can treat their fellow humans in such ways.

The second part of the story, by comparison, is far more palatable. Krystyna is selected as one of a number of Polish children who are re-homed in New Zealand. In this section Krystyna still faces isolation, loneliness, and culture shock, but it is almost a relief to see that these are the 'only' issues she faces after the war ends - rather than literally having to fight for her life.

The story is at times a little disjointed. Characters are at times referred to without introduction as if the reader should know who they are already, and at one stage Krystyna talks about eating a lamington for the first time when the observant reader will note she has already had her plate piled "with brandy snaps and lamingtons" at an earlier stage (page 165). However, this is a part of history I knew nothing about, and in that sense the book is well worth a read.

Completed 10 June 2020.

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