The Matryoshka Memoirs: A Story of Ukrainian Forced Labour, the Leica Camera Factory, and Nazi Resistance
Sasha Colby
Sep 2023 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Allyson Voller
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7 hr 57 min
Unabridged
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Eligible
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About this audiobook
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, Irina's granddaughter, seeks out her grandmother's story over a series of summer visits and gradually begins to interweave the as-told-to 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 Kühn-Leitz, Irina's 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 Irina's 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.
About the author
Sasha Colby is a writer, literary historian, performance artist, and director of Simon Fraser University's Graduate Liberal Studies program. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Allyson Voller is a SAG-AFTRA actor based in Chicago. She's worked professionally for many years, in the Midwest theater, on-camera, improv, and voice-over community. Her work as a narrator has been recognized with finalist nominations in the Independent Audiobook Awards and the Audiobook Adrenaline Awards.
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