Category: News stories

Interview with Deborah Kalb about Traitors Among Us

https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2021/09/q-with-marsha-forchuck-skrypuch.html


Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is the author of the new middle grade historical novel Traitors Among Us. It follows the same characters she’s written about in Don’t Tell the Nazis and Trapped in Hitler’s Web. She lives in Brantford, Ontario.

Q: Why did you decide to return to the story of Krystia and Maria in your new World War II-era novel?

A: From my research, I realized that refugees like Krystia and Maria were far from safe at the end of the war, even though they had been given asylum in an American refugee camp.

Thousands of survivors just like them ended up being kidnapped right out of Allied refugee camps and taken into the Soviet Zone, where they were interrogated and tortured into signing false confessions, and then held in secret compounds called “silence camps.”

I wanted to know how Maria and Krystia would cope if this happened to them. I especially wanted to know how they would (or if they could) escape. There were 10,000 young people who had the experience that they did after the war and I wanted to shed light on it.

Q: How do you think the sisters have each been affected by the horrific events they’ve lived through?

A: Both of the sisters have a resilience based on trust and a resourcefulness based on generosity. They have lost so much, but in doing so, have an appreciation of what they still have.

As an example, their mother’s execution has a profound effect on both of them, but while the Nazis could kill their mother, they couldn’t take away the lessons and the love and generosity of spirit that she instilled in both of her daughters.

Q: The novels are based on historical facts–how did you research this particular book?

A: This is the seventh novel I’ve written that deals with the Ukrainian experience in WWII, so I’ve known about the Soviets raiding Allied refugee camps for quite some time.

It’s something pretty much every survivor talks about – they’ve either witnessed it, escaped from it, or knew someone who was kidnapped – so doing the initial research was relatively easy.

Finding detailed first person accounts of people incarcerated in Silence Camps was harder because it was exceedingly rare for people to escape. The toughest was finding an actual successful escape plan. I do consider myself a librarian-detective and so I kept on digging.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

A: History as we know it only scratches the surface of all that has happened in the past. There’s so much that we don’t know and what we don’t remember and learn from, we’re bound to repeat.

I would love it if readers talked to their own parents and grandparents and asked about what their life was like when they were young. After that, ask an older person from a different culture or community the same questions. We need to learn from each other so we can all grow in compassion, generosity, and experience.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: A story set in the 1930s that I’m having trouble containing in a single novel. At this rate it will be three.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: The companion novels to Traitors Among Us, in order are:

Don’t Tell the Nazis, Trapped in Hitler’s Web, and then Traitors Among Us. That said, the novels don’t have to be read in order. I try to write each story so they’re self-contained, but linked.

–Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here’s a previous Q&A with Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.

Parnassus Books

Virtual event: Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, author of Traitors Among Us, in conversation with Deborah Hopkinson, author of We Must Not Forget

Event date: Sunday, September 12, 2021 – 2:00pm Central Time

Event address: Virtual event: Parnassus Books Facebook page

Parnassus Books is happy to welcome Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, author of Traitors Among Us, in conversation with Deborah Hopkinson, author of We Must Not Forget.

Sunday, September 12th at 2:00 pm Central.

This will be a Facebook Live event from the Parnassus Books Facebook page.

After the live talk has ended, the video will be archived on the Parnassus Books Facebook page under Videos.

About Traitors Among Us

World War II may be over. But two sisters are far from safe.

Inspired by true events, this is the latest gripping and powerful novel from the acclaimed author of Making Bombs for Hitler.

Sisters Krystia and Maria have been through the worst — or so they think. World War II ravaged their native Ukraine, but they both survived, and are now reunited in a displaced persons camp.

Then another girl accuses the sisters of being Hitler Girls — people who collaborated with the Nazis. Nothing could be further from the truth; during the horrors of the war, both sisters resisted the Nazis and everything they stood for. But the Soviets, who are now in charge, don’t listen to the sisters’ protests. Krystia and Maria are taken away and interrogated for crimes they never committed.

Caught in a dangerous trap, the sisters must look to each other for strength and perseverance. Can they convince their captors that they’re innocent — or escape to safety before it’s too late?

About Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is a Ukrainian Canadian author acclaimed for her nonfiction and historical fiction, including Making Bombs for Hitler, The War Below, Stolen Child, and Don’t Tell the Enemy. Marsha lives in Brantford, Ontario.

About  We Must Not Forget

Sibert Honor author Deborah Hopkinson unearths the heroic stories of Jewish survivors from different countries so that we may never forget the past.

As World War II raged, millions of young Jewish people were caught up in the horrors of the Nazis’ Final Solution. Many readers know of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi state’s genocidal campaign against European Jews and others of so-called “inferior” races. Yet so many of the individual stories remain buried in time. Of those who endured the Holocaust, some were caught by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps, some hid right under Hitler’s nose, some were separated from their parents, some chose to fight back. Against all odds, some survived. They all have stories that must be told. They all have stories we must keep safe in our collective memory.

In this thoroughly researched and passionately written narrative nonfiction for upper middle-grade readers, critically acclaimed author Deborah Hopkinson allows the voices of Holocaust survivors to live on the page, recalling their persecution, survival, and resistance. Focusing on testimonies from across Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Poland, Hopkinson paints a moving and diverse portrait of the Jewish youth experience in Europe under the shadow of the Third Reich. With archival images and myriad interviews, this compelling and beautifully told addition to Holocaust history not only honors the courage of the victims, but calls young readers to action — by reminding them that heroism begins with the ordinary, everyday feat of showing compassion toward our fellow citizens.

About Deborah Hopkinson

Deborah Hopkinson is the acclaimed author of over 40 award-winning books, including Shutting Out the Sky, an NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book and a Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book. 

Nuanced novel of the post-WWII era

Thank you, Donald H. Harrison of the San Diego Jewish World for your awesome review of Traitors Among Us.

I particularly love this line: “Morality and the intricacies of geo-politics are among the themes in this fast-moving suspense novel which will have young readers racing through it to find out if, with all odds against them, the sisters can escape their captors.   The novel is a good example of what some people call “edu-tainment,” teaching important lessons and at the same time entertaining restless young readers.”

Haircut, finally!

I very much enjoyed finally being able to get a haircut now that things are opening up and I’m double vaccinated. So nice to not have to wear a ponytail all the time, and also glad to have bottom three inches cut off because that hair was darkened. This is all me!