I applaud Rose Zwi for her frankness in documenting her family history, for Once Were Slaves is just that, a family history that involves exile, separation from family members and involves the will to survive the atrocities forced upon the family members.

The well-to-do Perlov family members, Jews of Lithuania, were literally forced out of their home and loaded onto trucks taking them to a train station, and from there they ended up in the frigid cold of Komi in Russia.

Their family journey through the labor camp experience and survival is written frankly, although with conflicting memories and stories. Rose Zwi doesn't mince words or try to color coat the experiences. When there is conflict in truth, she states it, when there is lack of memory, she states it.

Once out of the labor camps, various family members traveled throughout the world, like wandering Jews, some had found a home in Israel, others were emotionally displaced and constantly trekked the world. Most members of the family were separated for extremely long periods of time (50 years of two members) others were killed or had died, others tried to assimilate into their environment.

Once Were Slaves by Rose Zwi is a poignant book, a memoir of historical relevance and one that kept me reading straight through until I finished it.

I am glad to have read Once Were Slaves, and am grateful to the author for the review copy she sent me (unrelated to Library Thing). ( )