Wanda’s War

What does it mean to be exiled? For the landmarks of your past to disappear?

The extraordinary, untold story of Wanda Gizmunt, a young woman caught up in the turmoil of war and the trauma of displacement.

“The journey detailed in Wanda’s War is itself singular, from its horrifying beginning to its redemptive end, from the way it was uncovered to the way it is conveyed. Indeed, Marsha Faubert offers readers a tale of determined excavation and reconstruction: her quest to discover her in-laws’ untold past is an extraordinary undertaking given that the couple led a life of near-miraculous endurance and incalculable loss, followed by the immeasurable luck of finding their feet far from the charnel house of Europe, far from the caprice of tyrants, far from the ceaseless waves of clashing ideologies and remorseless violence….

Thus a daughter-in-law as curator of family history, a litigator as witness, and an astonishing yet uplifting addition to the great body of literature of the Second World War.”

— DAVID MARKS SHRIBMAN, Literary Review of Canada

“Wanda’s War is a passionate retelling of the effort to piece together the silence around a family story. By uncovering the heart-wrenching drama of her husband’s parents, Polish survivors during the second World War, Faubert pays tribute to their courage and all they endured: gulags, forced labor, relocation camps, enlistment, and the little-known shameful story of Polish immigration to Canada. With so many refugees facing similar hardships today, Wanda’s War does humanity a service by shedding light on past periods of turmoil and dislocation. Marsha Faubert’s sensitive investigation into the lives of her in-laws, and the past that must not be forgotten, is a powerful and moving story.”

— GWEN STRAUSS, author of The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany

“Engaging and engrossing … very moving.”

“Faubert has pieced together a remarkable amount of information both about (her husband’s parents) individually and about the world-historical events through which they lived. From family genealogy to pre-war Polish rural society in Eastern Europe, to gulags and slave labour camps, to the military history of World War II, to the intricacies of postwar immigration and adjustment, to the politics of memory, she has got it all in one story.”

— CHRISTOPHER MOORE, author of Three Weeks in Quebec City: The Meeting That Made Canada

“A timeless story of resilience and survival in the face of unimaginable hardship and unspeakable evil. Armed with a cache of faded photographs and a few clues, Faubert has painstakingly unearthed a lost family history that transports readers from the labour camps of Siberia and Nazi Germany to a new life built in Canada after the Second World War. A masterclass in how to reconstruct the past and a remarkable, haunting book.”

— DEAN JOBB, author of The Acadian Saga

“An intriguing account …

By recounting her in-laws’ stories, Faubert has humanized the suffering and tragedy of Poland’s war. She evokes the nightmarish conditions of Nazi and Soviet occupation. Her readable narrative raises universal themes of memory and silence, freedom, justice and forgiveness: it is a book packed with meaning.”

— GRAEME VOYER, Winnipeg Free Press

“Piecing together the previously shrouded story of her Polish immigrant in-laws’ past, the often-pained story of ordinary people denied ordinary lives, Marsha Faubert has created a thoroughly researched, artfully written, and deeply moving work that is almost impossible to put down.”

— HAROLD TROPER, co-author of None Is Too Many

“From the horrors of the forced labour camps to the exploitation of immigrant workers in Canada, Faubert exposes a darker side of human history.

The book is a poignant exploration of the trauma of exile and the devastating impact of displacement on the lives of millions of Europeans during and after the Second World War. It is a testament to the strength of the human spirit in the face of unspeakable adversity and a reminder of the importance of understanding and empathy in a world still marked by conflict and displacement.” 

— RENÉE BELLIVEAU, Miramichi Reader