Marina Lewycka’s Story, United Kingdom
British novelist Marina Lewycka was born in a refugee camp in Kiel, Germany after World War II. Her novels often deal with the themes of displacement, flight and resettlement that can remain part of a family’s identity for generations.
“My parents were born in a troubled country at a troubled time. By the age of only thirty five my mother had lived through the First World War, the Russian Revolution, the Russian Civil War, two famines, the execution of her father under Stalin, the Second World War, and deportation into forced labour camps, where they were subjected to aerial Allied bombing.”
“I was born in a Displaced Persons’ camp in Schleswig Holstein after the end of the war. I have no memories of that early time, but I have got one or two photographs. As I grew up, I can remember that we were treated with great kindness, and a bit of leg-pulling, by our wonderful Yorkshire neighbours, who never once made us feel unwelcome here. I sincerely hope other refugees who have suffered terror and hardship like my parents will find the same sort of peace and security to bring up their families as we did.“
