Title: Without a Suitcase — The Story of Katie as Told to Her Son Janek
Author: Jon Butcher, translated by Ruth Butcher
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 978-1-9736-1716-7
Pages: 300
Genre: Memoir
Reviewer: Susan Brown

Read Book Review

In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a secret treaty that essentially divided Eastern Europe between them and put the countries which lay between them under their control. Originally put in place as a non-aggression pact, shortly after the signing, both countries broke this agreement and invaded Poland.

That was the beginning of the author’s mother, Katherine’s, excruciating story; a story in which she was forcibly removed from Poland, her homeland, by Russian soldiers and shackled into years of enslavement at a labor camp in the frozen terrain of Siberia. Finally released from there, her journey out of servitude, poverty and abject hunger took her by wagon, train, boat and a variety of vehicles across four continents; by my, albeit imprecise count, an odyssey of about 20,000 miles.

Katherine’s resolve to survive dominates this narrative, put down on paper by her son. That effort, however, took an enormous amount of courage, perseverance as well as grit, determination and an indomitable spirit that just wouldn’t let her fail.

The details of her story are excruciating. She, and her family, suffered from the worst of human behavior by her keepers, an apt word considering those in control treated their prisoners more as animals than human beings. Starvation and grueling work, compounded by the glacial cold of Siberia, topped the list of enforcement measures. Katherine survived, motivated by fear of not only staying alive but keeping her family alive, too. She did her best, but ultimately a diet of sugar water took its toll. No matter how much foraging Katherine did, it was not enough to provide enough nourishment for all of her loved ones to survive.

And although Katherine survived the adversity she suffered through, her life was not the one she imagined; it was a life she was forced to endure. Through no fault of her own, her agency to become what she dreamed of for herself was stolen. And yet, in spite of it all, she dated, married, had children, relocated to other countries, carved out a life even though she carried the trauma and aftermath of what happened to her during the war every single day. Her life may have been forever changed, but Katherine, at her core, remained a generous, giving, loving person to those she connected with.

That’s the triumph in this story … her story, put on paper with the help of a son, a brother, a sister, a life-long friend. Bits and pieces cobbled together from long ago, but not lost memories; sharing the worst life had to offer in the best way — with family. Yes, this is a book that details how the horrors of war affect those caught in the cross hairs of warfare, but don’t read it for that reason. Read it because it celebrates one resilient woman. If you delight in true stories of survival against all odds this book is for you.