A woman from Mariupol

Author Natasha Voden won the Leipzig International Prize for Fiction for her book, one of the most prestigious awards in Germany. The book is also on the list of books recommended for Arabic translation by the Goethe-Institut, a translator recommended by the institute's committee. The novel tells the story of the author's journey in search of her mother, whose story begins in 1943, when she and her husband were deported from Mariupol to Germany for forced labor. The author had no information other than her mother's name, her date and place of birth (in Mariupol, Ukraine), her marriage date, and her arrival in Germany. In addition to three photographs and some vague memories, Voden constructs the story of one person who carries within her the fate of millions. This exceptional book recounts, in detail, a dialectical search for the truth, shedding light on one of Europe's most horrific tragedies: the Nazi massacre of non-Jews through forced labor in labor camps, where only the method of death varied. This subject, which has rarely been addressed in the past, is revived by the author in this book, to restore the family tree and, with it, the sense of belonging she had lacked throughout her life. She had believed she had no history or origin, but a history paved over by the skulls of totalitarianism.