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The Traitor's Daughter: Captured by the Nazis, Pursued by the KGB, My Mother's Odyssey to Freedom from Her Secret Past
The masterful narration of a daughter's decades-long quest to understand her extraordinary mother, who was born in Lenin's Soviet Union, served as a combat soldier in the Red Army, and endured three years of Nazi captivity—but never revealed her darkest secrets.
As a child, Roxana Spicer would sometimes wake to the sound of the Red Army choir. She would tip-toe downstairs to find her mother, cigarette in one hand and Black Russian in the other, singing along. Roxana would keep her company, and wonder....
Everyone in their village knew Agnes Spicer was Russian, that she had been a captive of the Nazis. And that was all they knew, because Agnes kept her secrets how she managed to escape Germany, what the tattoo on her arm meant, even her real name.
Discovering the truth about her beloved, charismatic, volatile mother became Roxana's obsession. Throughout her career as a journalist and documentarian, between investigations across Canada and around the world, she always went home to ask her mother more questions, often while filming.
Roxana also took every chance to visit the few places that she did know played a role in her mother's Bad Salzuflen, Germany, home to POW slave labourers during the war; notorious concentration camps; and Russia. Under Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and the early years of Putin, she was able to find people, places, and documents that are now—perhaps forever—lost again.
The Traitor's Daughter is intimate and exhaustively researched, vividly conversational, and shot through with Agnes Spicer's irrepressible, fiery personality. It is a true labour of love as well as a triumph of blending personal biography with sweeping history.
As a child, Roxana Spicer would sometimes wake to the sound of the Red Army choir. She would tip-toe downstairs to find her mother, cigarette in one hand and Black Russian in the other, singing along. Roxana would keep her company, and wonder....
Everyone in their village knew Agnes Spicer was Russian, that she had been a captive of the Nazis. And that was all they knew, because Agnes kept her secrets how she managed to escape Germany, what the tattoo on her arm meant, even her real name.
Discovering the truth about her beloved, charismatic, volatile mother became Roxana's obsession. Throughout her career as a journalist and documentarian, between investigations across Canada and around the world, she always went home to ask her mother more questions, often while filming.
Roxana also took every chance to visit the few places that she did know played a role in her mother's Bad Salzuflen, Germany, home to POW slave labourers during the war; notorious concentration camps; and Russia. Under Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and the early years of Putin, she was able to find people, places, and documents that are now—perhaps forever—lost again.
The Traitor's Daughter is intimate and exhaustively researched, vividly conversational, and shot through with Agnes Spicer's irrepressible, fiery personality. It is a true labour of love as well as a triumph of blending personal biography with sweeping history.
463 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 27, 2024
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August 27, 2024"See, everybody got, at that particular period of time, everybody have this terribly dark side. And that don't exclude anybody...
So said Rosa Butarin to her daughter Roxana, who according to this dual memoir and biography was in part driven to become a journalist to make sense of her mother's astonishing life.
The structure is odd, but it makes sense in context. The reader is advised to pay attention. At first, we get a glimpse of Rosa within her family in a tiny town in the Canadian prairie, and the occasional hints she would drop about her history. How did a woman born in Russia end up in Canada? Roxana kept asking questions, and her mother kept putting her off when Roxana dug too deeply.
There were plenty of "safe" stories that Rosa told people, then there were the rare bits that she confided to peers over the decades. But the whole story was not going to pass her lips--why would anyone want to know? The past is the past. It's no good knowing. It hurts to recollect. It's vile, what was done to people in that war. Why dredge it up again?
All of which are true. But the hints kept tantalizing Roxana, especially when she uncovered a document that stated that her mother had had four live births, but there were only three kids in her family. There was also a reference to another husband?
At the start, there's a lot more of Roxana than there is of Rosa, as the author sets up her drive to uncover the mysteries of her mother's life. Then she begins with the easy facts to find out, many of which Rosa supplied herself at various times over the years: her place of birth, what it was like to be a kid during the Lenin years, what it was like when Stalin took over...the start of World War II. And after that the story gets sketchy, with Rosa refusing to talk about the war years, until afterward when she managed to snag a Canadian husband and get out of Europe. After which she lived under at least four names, maybe more.
Rosa even agreed to some interviews, which Roxana taped, sometimes alone, and sometimes with other journalists present, as she herself was learning how to be a good journalist. Before her mother's death, she even sneaked in a trip to Germany to check on the farm where her mother said she had been employed to milk a cow during the last years of the war. She went completely unprepared, and learned nothing.
Finally Rosa passed away in her mid eighties, and at that point the biography takes over in the form of a mystery as Roxana uncovers scraps of truth--increasingly difficult. Many know something of the horrific cost of war, but don't realize that for so many after the last surrender of Germany, the nightmare was far from ended. For one thing, at the war'd end, millions of people had been displaced, driven to flee by oncoming soldiers, survivors of POW camps, death camps, organized slavery by the Germans, bombed=out cities, etc etc.
This was especially problematical for former Russian soldiers, whom Stalin wanted dead. And Rosa was a soldier; Stalin admitted women to the army, and Rosa, at eighteen (after three years of a horrifically violent marriage, and being left for dead at the side of a river by her husband twenty years older) signed up as a volunteer in order to escape that marriage.
The Germans had tried to destroy a lot of their very extensive record-keeping, especially in the death and labor camps. But the sheer volume was difficult to eradicate completely. Roxana Spicer put in time and effort tracking down primary evidence, along the way interviewing many survivors, and progeny of survivors. The stories of those who did not survive make extremely grim reading. The German treatment of the Russians during the invasion, and the subsequent handling of Russian prisoners, is especially grim. Though there are mountains of books about WW II, there is relatively little in English about the Russian experience in WW II--which is still being manipulated by Putin today to justify his war in the Ukraine.
What individual Russians did to survive during the war, especially when taken prisoners, and after the war, when their own government under Stalin declared them traitors and enemies of the people, overshadows the bulk of the book. We find out a good deal about Rosa's personal story, a sobering account of the shifts a young woman could be put to in order to survive. Roxana Spicer brings these people to life vividly, as well as the setting. It makes rough reading--I had to put the book down many times. But I always picked it up again, drawn on by Roxana Spicer's ability to bring these people to life.
So said Rosa Butarin to her daughter Roxana, who according to this dual memoir and biography was in part driven to become a journalist to make sense of her mother's astonishing life.
The structure is odd, but it makes sense in context. The reader is advised to pay attention. At first, we get a glimpse of Rosa within her family in a tiny town in the Canadian prairie, and the occasional hints she would drop about her history. How did a woman born in Russia end up in Canada? Roxana kept asking questions, and her mother kept putting her off when Roxana dug too deeply.
There were plenty of "safe" stories that Rosa told people, then there were the rare bits that she confided to peers over the decades. But the whole story was not going to pass her lips--why would anyone want to know? The past is the past. It's no good knowing. It hurts to recollect. It's vile, what was done to people in that war. Why dredge it up again?
All of which are true. But the hints kept tantalizing Roxana, especially when she uncovered a document that stated that her mother had had four live births, but there were only three kids in her family. There was also a reference to another husband?
At the start, there's a lot more of Roxana than there is of Rosa, as the author sets up her drive to uncover the mysteries of her mother's life. Then she begins with the easy facts to find out, many of which Rosa supplied herself at various times over the years: her place of birth, what it was like to be a kid during the Lenin years, what it was like when Stalin took over...the start of World War II. And after that the story gets sketchy, with Rosa refusing to talk about the war years, until afterward when she managed to snag a Canadian husband and get out of Europe. After which she lived under at least four names, maybe more.
Rosa even agreed to some interviews, which Roxana taped, sometimes alone, and sometimes with other journalists present, as she herself was learning how to be a good journalist. Before her mother's death, she even sneaked in a trip to Germany to check on the farm where her mother said she had been employed to milk a cow during the last years of the war. She went completely unprepared, and learned nothing.
Finally Rosa passed away in her mid eighties, and at that point the biography takes over in the form of a mystery as Roxana uncovers scraps of truth--increasingly difficult. Many know something of the horrific cost of war, but don't realize that for so many after the last surrender of Germany, the nightmare was far from ended. For one thing, at the war'd end, millions of people had been displaced, driven to flee by oncoming soldiers, survivors of POW camps, death camps, organized slavery by the Germans, bombed=out cities, etc etc.
This was especially problematical for former Russian soldiers, whom Stalin wanted dead. And Rosa was a soldier; Stalin admitted women to the army, and Rosa, at eighteen (after three years of a horrifically violent marriage, and being left for dead at the side of a river by her husband twenty years older) signed up as a volunteer in order to escape that marriage.
The Germans had tried to destroy a lot of their very extensive record-keeping, especially in the death and labor camps. But the sheer volume was difficult to eradicate completely. Roxana Spicer put in time and effort tracking down primary evidence, along the way interviewing many survivors, and progeny of survivors. The stories of those who did not survive make extremely grim reading. The German treatment of the Russians during the invasion, and the subsequent handling of Russian prisoners, is especially grim. Though there are mountains of books about WW II, there is relatively little in English about the Russian experience in WW II--which is still being manipulated by Putin today to justify his war in the Ukraine.
What individual Russians did to survive during the war, especially when taken prisoners, and after the war, when their own government under Stalin declared them traitors and enemies of the people, overshadows the bulk of the book. We find out a good deal about Rosa's personal story, a sobering account of the shifts a young woman could be put to in order to survive. Roxana Spicer brings these people to life vividly, as well as the setting. It makes rough reading--I had to put the book down many times. But I always picked it up again, drawn on by Roxana Spicer's ability to bring these people to life.
March 25, 2025
Cdn. journalist and documentary maker's decades long journey to discover her mother's past. Her mother in Russian army and in German concentration camp during WW2, but her mother rarely talked about it. Her daughter also discovers her mother also worked as slave for German family. Even after being liberated, Russian secret police threatened to send prisoners to Siberian camps, because Stalin considered them traitors for being captured. Fortunately, her mother had met writer's father, a Cdn. soldier, and ended up in a tiny prairie town. Her mother was a tough survivor.
April 13, 2025
4.5 Stars
This is a nonfiction memoir written by Canadian author, Roxana Spicer, who grew up in Netherhill, Saskatchewan (pop. 80). Roxanna is a prominent documentary filmmaker and former CBC investigative journalist and award-winner for her work across Canada. She has also chased stories from across the globe: Ecuador, the Arabian Desert and the North Sea. She has also reported from a high-tech ocean dive ship, she has accompanied a nomadic tribe and reported from a yurt and also made multiple trips to Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union. This story is about her mother, a Russian holocaust survivor.
This book opens your eyes regarding the end of WWII and how insecure and untrusting people were. Everything was not OK and suspicion abounded. Who were the spies, who were there Germans? I was flabbergasted to learn that if you were Russian and had fought and died in the war, you were a hero. However, if you were captured, tortured, enslaved or sent to a concentration camp, you were labeled a “traitor”! On return to your homeland you were sent to the “gulag” (labor camp) for a number of years.
This book is an excellent read. For a daughter to write a memoir about her mother provides a personal touch.
This is a nonfiction memoir written by Canadian author, Roxana Spicer, who grew up in Netherhill, Saskatchewan (pop. 80). Roxanna is a prominent documentary filmmaker and former CBC investigative journalist and award-winner for her work across Canada. She has also chased stories from across the globe: Ecuador, the Arabian Desert and the North Sea. She has also reported from a high-tech ocean dive ship, she has accompanied a nomadic tribe and reported from a yurt and also made multiple trips to Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union. This story is about her mother, a Russian holocaust survivor.
This book opens your eyes regarding the end of WWII and how insecure and untrusting people were. Everything was not OK and suspicion abounded. Who were the spies, who were there Germans? I was flabbergasted to learn that if you were Russian and had fought and died in the war, you were a hero. However, if you were captured, tortured, enslaved or sent to a concentration camp, you were labeled a “traitor”! On return to your homeland you were sent to the “gulag” (labor camp) for a number of years.
This book is an excellent read. For a daughter to write a memoir about her mother provides a personal touch.
July 11, 2024
this is such a beautifully written book! thank you netgalley and co
this is such an interesting take on a woman’s very full life and also a nice nod to how women are always paying for wars that men start
shout out to the author honestly this is so great!
this is such an interesting take on a woman’s very full life and also a nice nod to how women are always paying for wars that men start
shout out to the author honestly this is so great!
September 20, 2024
When we are growing up many of us know intuitively that there’s something special about our parents, but it is only with hindsight that we can appreciate what made them so special.
In Roxana Spicer’s case, that journey to knowledge took her more than forty years. Roxana Spicer is a trained and experienced journalist and documentary filmmaker. Her mom’s story was more unusual than most, and Agnes “Rosa” Spicer passed on in 2006 before she could tell Roxanna the whole twisted tale.
Agnes left her Central Russian home in the Urals as a child bride in what turned out to be a brief and violent marriage. When her husband left her for dead in a ditch in Ukraine, Agnes joined the Soviet army was trained as a sniper, and was taken prisoner by the Germans.
Agnes, a petit, pretty girl with a gift for the German language was taken to the women’s camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau and somehow survived the concentration camp long enough to make it into the German slave-labour system in Germany proper.
She served out the remainder of the war milking cows for a German farmer. When the war ended she began walking the long journey home and discovered that Stalin had other plans for survivors, plans that included long prison terms or execution. By a trick of fate Agnes met a Canadian soldier, married again, was transferred to the cold barren farmland of Saskatchewan.
There she reconstituted her life, raised three children, and ran a diner for many years.
What she saw in wartime Ukraine, what she experienced entering the world of the concentration camp as a teen and later in the hands of her sadistic German master could fill a dozen films.
As if the details aren’t enough, what makes this story so compelling is Roxana’s sense of the cinematic, of the novelistic, and the most terrifying. She wasn’t an objective witness. This was her mom’s odyssey.
There is a constant tension between Roxana the journalist wanting to solve the mystery, and Roxana the daughter afraid of what she might actually learn and be obliged to tell her brothers.
She didn’t know when she started that the number tattooed on her mom’s arm placed her in the concentration camp. Nor did she know her mom had two abortions or the circumstances surrounding them.
Roxana studied archives, interviewed archivists, long lost friends, bystanders, historians, even a Nobel laureate. She visited Russia fifteen times and brought her mother home to the Urals to visit a sister she hadn’t seen in half a century.
She also didn’t appreciate how unlikely it was for her mom to survive the concentration camp and Stalin’s agents after the war. You want to cry along with her as the story unfolds.
In Roxana Spicer’s case, that journey to knowledge took her more than forty years. Roxana Spicer is a trained and experienced journalist and documentary filmmaker. Her mom’s story was more unusual than most, and Agnes “Rosa” Spicer passed on in 2006 before she could tell Roxanna the whole twisted tale.
Agnes left her Central Russian home in the Urals as a child bride in what turned out to be a brief and violent marriage. When her husband left her for dead in a ditch in Ukraine, Agnes joined the Soviet army was trained as a sniper, and was taken prisoner by the Germans.
Agnes, a petit, pretty girl with a gift for the German language was taken to the women’s camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau and somehow survived the concentration camp long enough to make it into the German slave-labour system in Germany proper.
She served out the remainder of the war milking cows for a German farmer. When the war ended she began walking the long journey home and discovered that Stalin had other plans for survivors, plans that included long prison terms or execution. By a trick of fate Agnes met a Canadian soldier, married again, was transferred to the cold barren farmland of Saskatchewan.
There she reconstituted her life, raised three children, and ran a diner for many years.
What she saw in wartime Ukraine, what she experienced entering the world of the concentration camp as a teen and later in the hands of her sadistic German master could fill a dozen films.
As if the details aren’t enough, what makes this story so compelling is Roxana’s sense of the cinematic, of the novelistic, and the most terrifying. She wasn’t an objective witness. This was her mom’s odyssey.
There is a constant tension between Roxana the journalist wanting to solve the mystery, and Roxana the daughter afraid of what she might actually learn and be obliged to tell her brothers.
She didn’t know when she started that the number tattooed on her mom’s arm placed her in the concentration camp. Nor did she know her mom had two abortions or the circumstances surrounding them.
Roxana studied archives, interviewed archivists, long lost friends, bystanders, historians, even a Nobel laureate. She visited Russia fifteen times and brought her mother home to the Urals to visit a sister she hadn’t seen in half a century.
She also didn’t appreciate how unlikely it was for her mom to survive the concentration camp and Stalin’s agents after the war. You want to cry along with her as the story unfolds.
December 19, 2024
An important book for those whose relatives came from Europe post-war and who could not return or did not want to return to their homeland.
My father was born in 1924, Ukraine, taken as a slave labourer during WWII, finding himself in Germany. He did not tell too many stories about this part of his life after he made his way to Canada as a DP (Displaced Person).
Part memoir and biography, this book has given me a great deal of insight as to what my father might have, and probably had experienced, regardless of the focus of the book being a Russian Red Army woman. So many parallels, so many, including the final chapter of when my father returned to his village in Ukraine in the early 1990s, reconnecting with his sister he had not seen in over fifty years, going to the Carpathian mountains with relatives including his brother and nephew, who both had come to Canada a year or two earlier in separate visits. When Dad returned to Calgary, as he looked over his garden and lit a cigarette, he said, "I am home. Canada is my home."
I wish I could have asked my father more -- whether he would have wanted to answer me -- that is another question.
My father was born in 1924, Ukraine, taken as a slave labourer during WWII, finding himself in Germany. He did not tell too many stories about this part of his life after he made his way to Canada as a DP (Displaced Person).
Part memoir and biography, this book has given me a great deal of insight as to what my father might have, and probably had experienced, regardless of the focus of the book being a Russian Red Army woman. So many parallels, so many, including the final chapter of when my father returned to his village in Ukraine in the early 1990s, reconnecting with his sister he had not seen in over fifty years, going to the Carpathian mountains with relatives including his brother and nephew, who both had come to Canada a year or two earlier in separate visits. When Dad returned to Calgary, as he looked over his garden and lit a cigarette, he said, "I am home. Canada is my home."
I wish I could have asked my father more -- whether he would have wanted to answer me -- that is another question.
August 4, 2024
The memoir, The Traitor’s Daughter was very good. I hadn’t ever read about World War II from a Russian perspective. It was eye-opening regarding the Russian leaderships way of thinking. Cruel beyond measure. The author’s Mother, Rosa, survived several unthinkable situations, including Auschwitz. Roxana researched her Mother’s story for over thirty years. She was tormented with guilt about whether her brothers would want to know the story but most of all whether her Mother would be okay telling her story through this book. Roxana spent many years of her own life researching and writing her book, I hope she’s happy with her decision to publish her Mother’s fascinating story. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.
April 8, 2025
Of all the secrets buried during and after WWII, the story of the captive Red Army women remains among the most carefully guarded. Their story has been bulk erased. p205
Every bit as obsessive about records as the Gestapo, the KGB and its wartime predecessor, NKVD kept track of Red Army soldiers who fell into enemy hands. They kept files on those who survived German captivity....It wasn't enough they were often punished with more prison time upon their return to the Motherland. By 2014 the Russian president ordered their stories officially expunged from state memory by having their gulag records destroyed. p205
With this book, Roxanna Spicer has ensured that this story will not just fade into obscurity. Childhood wondering about her mothers mood swings and eccentric behaviour grew into an obsession to find out for certain the details of her mothers travails during the war. Over decades of intense research attempting to retrace her mothers wartime journey, she finally had to come to terms with the fact that there remain things that cannot be certain. What did become shockingly evident was the fact, that although her mothers story was intensely personal, it was not that unique. RS has given a voice to thousands of women reticent to remember and not eager to discuss the traumatic events they have endeavored to forget.
What's worse? Knowing or not knowing. p213
August 28, 2024
Roxana Spicer weaves an epic tale of survival, heroism, and heartbreak exploring some of the darkest parts of history, parts which her mother survived. The writing is gripping and well paced and does justice to the source material. It’s not a light story, it’s not a particularly happy story, but it’s a story that deserves to be heard.
This book unfolds like a mystery as the author tries to uncover her mother’s history with bits and pieces of her story. What is revealed is nothing less than an incredible story of survival against all odds. It feels like it should be historical fiction. From surviving a paranoid Stalinist Russia in childhood to fighting for the under supplied Red Army to being held as a POW in Germany to escaping the Soviet police in post war Europe (who saw any Soviet POWs as traitors - “loyal citizens didn’t get captured”) to finally starting over in a new country with no knowledge of the local language, any one of the events could have been the end, would have been for most normal people, but she keeps going.
Definitely a book that you won’t forget. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!
This book unfolds like a mystery as the author tries to uncover her mother’s history with bits and pieces of her story. What is revealed is nothing less than an incredible story of survival against all odds. It feels like it should be historical fiction. From surviving a paranoid Stalinist Russia in childhood to fighting for the under supplied Red Army to being held as a POW in Germany to escaping the Soviet police in post war Europe (who saw any Soviet POWs as traitors - “loyal citizens didn’t get captured”) to finally starting over in a new country with no knowledge of the local language, any one of the events could have been the end, would have been for most normal people, but she keeps going.
Definitely a book that you won’t forget. Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!
November 1, 2024
Roxana Spicer, thank you for writing this book. It’s my favourite one this year, although “favourite” is not quite the right word considering the content of the unheard testimonies. Spicer shows how important it is for us to document, document, document.
February 15, 2025
Wow! What an amazing read! The author has painstakingly uncovered facts surrounding her Russian mother’s WWII experience, and generously shared them with us. Written with a journalist’s keen attention to detail and desire for accuracy, this book reveals itself as a labour of love. Roxana Spicer has written an incredible book. I hope she follows it with the documentary that she set out to make. Canada Reads should consider this remarkable book for its competition.
December 29, 2024
This book wasn't nearly as good as a lot of other books I've read from this time period because the author didn't actually know the details of what happened to her mother because her mother had a hard time sharing about it. Therefore the book ends up conjecturing and guessing how things could have been. Her mom was an interesting lady but the book drug on and I didn't finish it.
April 15, 2025
Challenging for a lineal thinker to follow along!
I understand that the author learned about various events in her mothers life out of order as well, but the jumps back and forth left me perplexed at times.
Great story, the fate of returned, captured Red Army soldiers was shocking.
I understand that the author learned about various events in her mothers life out of order as well, but the jumps back and forth left me perplexed at times.
Great story, the fate of returned, captured Red Army soldiers was shocking.
January 21, 2025
This is a very interesting book about an incredible woman.
She lived in a tiny town in Saskatchewan for 50 years. She could have been your neighbour and you would have never known her whole story, since she didn't tell anyone, not even her children.
I don't read a lot of WWII stuff, but this is 100% worth the read. First of all, it's real, and secondly, this generation has almost all passed away. It's important to know these stories so that the memory of them and what happened doesn't disappear.
Something to know about this book is that the author is not a historian, she is a journalist. She is also the daughter of the subject. So there is a lot of emotion in this book, including personal reflections, and it will bring you to tears. But because she's a journalist, she knows where to look. She knows who to contact. And she knows how to find out.
Roxana Spicer never knew so many things about her own mother until after she had died. She had always had a longing to understand her mother's true story, had tried to crack open the truth over the years, and there was still an unimaginable amount of things she didn't know. As a reader, you follow along her journey, the journey of the mother and the daughter and the people surrounding them, and things are revealed as you keep reading. There are some huge bombshells along the way. And you just feel for the author, as a journalist and as a daughter, that there are some things that will never be found out.
Just a few takeaways:
- there were a million Russian women in the Red Army. This is just one of their stories.
- Russia has not been kind to its own people for the last hundred years at least.
- the Allies were complacent to leave Russia to its own devices and many even aided them (albeit with distaste) in their relentless pursuit of the so-called "traitors" who were rounded up after the war ended. The fact that Agnes/Rosa escaped out of Europe is a miracle.
I highly, highly recommend this for anyone. Canadian history has mostly focused (understandably) on the Canadian and British war efforts, and this goes to the other side of the continent and fills in a lot of the gaps. It's also fascinating because she moved to Canada and the author grew up here.
She lived in a tiny town in Saskatchewan for 50 years. She could have been your neighbour and you would have never known her whole story, since she didn't tell anyone, not even her children.
I don't read a lot of WWII stuff, but this is 100% worth the read. First of all, it's real, and secondly, this generation has almost all passed away. It's important to know these stories so that the memory of them and what happened doesn't disappear.
Something to know about this book is that the author is not a historian, she is a journalist. She is also the daughter of the subject. So there is a lot of emotion in this book, including personal reflections, and it will bring you to tears. But because she's a journalist, she knows where to look. She knows who to contact. And she knows how to find out.
Roxana Spicer never knew so many things about her own mother until after she had died. She had always had a longing to understand her mother's true story, had tried to crack open the truth over the years, and there was still an unimaginable amount of things she didn't know. As a reader, you follow along her journey, the journey of the mother and the daughter and the people surrounding them, and things are revealed as you keep reading. There are some huge bombshells along the way. And you just feel for the author, as a journalist and as a daughter, that there are some things that will never be found out.
Just a few takeaways:
- there were a million Russian women in the Red Army. This is just one of their stories.
- Russia has not been kind to its own people for the last hundred years at least.
- the Allies were complacent to leave Russia to its own devices and many even aided them (albeit with distaste) in their relentless pursuit of the so-called "traitors" who were rounded up after the war ended. The fact that Agnes/Rosa escaped out of Europe is a miracle.
I highly, highly recommend this for anyone. Canadian history has mostly focused (understandably) on the Canadian and British war efforts, and this goes to the other side of the continent and fills in a lot of the gaps. It's also fascinating because she moved to Canada and the author grew up here.
July 28, 2024
This book was really amazing. It was all about our main character finding out the truth behind her mother's past. Roxana knew a bit about her mother there past only knowing that she was Russian it isn't until years later that she finds out the dark truth. Not only was Agnei a Russian in the time of the Nazis but she unfortunately she confess about her stay in Auschwitz. This was a very sad read as Roxana sees how strong her mother really was but also what made her that way. This book was inspiring to see how strong people really are in a time of terror. What I really liked about this book was it let the reader see the terror and pain that was not only brought in to the people during the Nazis' reign but also in the years after and all the way down the bloodlines. I didn't like all of the time jumping because made the plot a little hard to follow however I understand the benefits and I do think that it made the story complete. This was a very sad read given the subject but it was very powerful at the same time. While this was nothing like any WWII books I've read I liked every minute of this one just the same. Our author really connected the reader to the characters and you felt their pain and their successes. I couldn't put this book down as I had to see what was going to happen to our main character, even though given the subject of the story I had a hunch. I highly recommend this book but if you don't want to be gutted emotionally then I would pass. Great read and I can't wait to see this book in print. If you are a WWII buff or love historical novels then this is the book for you. Check it out because you won't be disappointed and you will want to be part of the discussion that is bound to happen when this book hits the printer.
November 4, 2024
This book tells the story of the author's mother, Agnes, who grew up in Russia and how she becomes a soldier in WW2, is captured by the German Army, forced into labour on a farm in Germany, her liberation, avoiding the KGB, how she got to Canada after the war and her life there. We also read about her return to Russia and how her family got through the war. Unfortunately there is a gap in the story that Agnes never wanted to tell, that leaves us all wondering how she managed to get to freedom after being captured by the Germans.
The history of Russia during the war and beyond that is written in this book is one we don't often get to read about and it is very interesting. Its also interesting to read about what happened to so many people in the years after the war ended.
Another part of this book, intertwined with Agnes's story, is the sometimes excessive detail about the years of research that went into tracking down some of the missing pieces of Agnes's story. Though much of the effort in locating evidence of her mothers story is very interesting, parts were not necessary and became a distraction from the main storyline. However, I found it very interesting to read about the different museum curators and organizations dedicated to researching and preserving documents from WW2, and their limitations.
I wish I could give 3.5 stars. Agnes's story is so interesting but I found the structure of the book to be quite convoluted and difficult to follow as it jumps back and forth between life in Canada; life in Russia; interviews and research from different times and places scattered throughout; at some points information being repetitive; and bouncing back to childhood memories of Agnes. That made it hard to follow.
The history of Russia during the war and beyond that is written in this book is one we don't often get to read about and it is very interesting. Its also interesting to read about what happened to so many people in the years after the war ended.
Another part of this book, intertwined with Agnes's story, is the sometimes excessive detail about the years of research that went into tracking down some of the missing pieces of Agnes's story. Though much of the effort in locating evidence of her mothers story is very interesting, parts were not necessary and became a distraction from the main storyline. However, I found it very interesting to read about the different museum curators and organizations dedicated to researching and preserving documents from WW2, and their limitations.
I wish I could give 3.5 stars. Agnes's story is so interesting but I found the structure of the book to be quite convoluted and difficult to follow as it jumps back and forth between life in Canada; life in Russia; interviews and research from different times and places scattered throughout; at some points information being repetitive; and bouncing back to childhood memories of Agnes. That made it hard to follow.
December 8, 2024
At times I could not put this non-fiction work down. It is actually the tale of two traitors’ daughters. Spicer’s grandmother was arrested for no known reason from her factory job in small town Russia and deported. She eventually escaped from Pinsk in Belarus and walked home, but died on the way. Her remains were bulldozed and buried in a mass grave. Never charged, convicted without trial; traitor number one in Stalinist Russia.
Her daughter, Rosa aka Agnes, became a traitor by being a survivor of Nazi capture as a very young woman in World War Two. After being sent to Ravensbruck and then Auswitz, she is sold as a slave and sent to a farm in Germany. Following the war, when more than five million Displaced Russians were being sent back to Russia where they were killed or imprisoned as traitors, she managed to evade capture and came as a war bride to Canada. Traitor number two, daughter of traitor number one and mother of the author.
The book is about both daughters. Spicer writes of her quest to uncover the whole story of her mother’s experiences. Her mother lived her life missing Russia and her family but not daring to return to them to visit and not wanting to relive her experiences during the war.
Spicer’s investigative work reveals much little known about slavery in Germany during the war, the collusion of Britain and Russia to forcibly repatriate Russians following the war and what happened to them once returned to Russia.
The story is gripping, the history revealing. I highly recommend the book.
Her daughter, Rosa aka Agnes, became a traitor by being a survivor of Nazi capture as a very young woman in World War Two. After being sent to Ravensbruck and then Auswitz, she is sold as a slave and sent to a farm in Germany. Following the war, when more than five million Displaced Russians were being sent back to Russia where they were killed or imprisoned as traitors, she managed to evade capture and came as a war bride to Canada. Traitor number two, daughter of traitor number one and mother of the author.
The book is about both daughters. Spicer writes of her quest to uncover the whole story of her mother’s experiences. Her mother lived her life missing Russia and her family but not daring to return to them to visit and not wanting to relive her experiences during the war.
Spicer’s investigative work reveals much little known about slavery in Germany during the war, the collusion of Britain and Russia to forcibly repatriate Russians following the war and what happened to them once returned to Russia.
The story is gripping, the history revealing. I highly recommend the book.
August 19, 2025
This book is an engaging read, intelligently and kindly written. Roxana Spicer, while not having written books before, is well-versed in journalistic searching and writing. It is well-written, with many interesting descriptions and the odd turn of phrase to make you smile. The story she tells does not answer every question as she searches for her mother's wartime experience, however, the reader gets to follow the roller-coaster ride of her search and it has a satisfying ending, despite the gaps in what we will ultimately be able to know. As a researcher myself, I understand the need to know, the constant reshaping of theories about how something came to be, in order to fit the facts as they emerge, and I appreciate Ms Spicer's ethical dilemmas around exposing her mother's painful past.
I learned a great deal reading this book, about the USSR under Stalin and the period both during and after WWII. It was a genuinely shocking planned oppression to augment his reign of terror on his own people for reasons that make no sense to those who value humanity. Imagine that Russians who were used as slave labour in Germany during the last years of the war, actually begged their liberators, NOT to send them back to Russia.
I highly recommend this book, not for its entertainment value, but for its humanity in telling a story of genuine resilience in the face of remarkable suffering.
I learned a great deal reading this book, about the USSR under Stalin and the period both during and after WWII. It was a genuinely shocking planned oppression to augment his reign of terror on his own people for reasons that make no sense to those who value humanity. Imagine that Russians who were used as slave labour in Germany during the last years of the war, actually begged their liberators, NOT to send them back to Russia.
I highly recommend this book, not for its entertainment value, but for its humanity in telling a story of genuine resilience in the face of remarkable suffering.
July 7, 2024
I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
I went to Russia for spring break one year in high school after taking a Soviet Studies class and I was really blown away by the differences between Russia and the USA. Since then things related to Russia do catch my attention such as this book.
Roxana Spicer as a journalist and as a daughter, wanted to get closer to her mother and find out about her past. This is a long book, but well worth the read as Ms. Spicer shares her journey to find out more about her mother's past both from her mother (and after her mother passed away) through other sources and relatives.
I read a lot of WWII historical fiction, but I had not come across this type of information about the Soviet Union repatriating their citizens after the war ended, whether the Russian-born people wanted to go or not. A lot of the Russians were executed or put in gulags after returning to Russia because they were considered enemies of the state even if they had been in German POW camps. This book is horrifying in a lot of ways about how the Russians treated/treat their own people, but is balanced by the love within the family for Rosa even after everything she had been through. If you have any interest in WWII, or even Russia's history in light of their present day invasion of Ukraine, this is an excellent book to read.
I went to Russia for spring break one year in high school after taking a Soviet Studies class and I was really blown away by the differences between Russia and the USA. Since then things related to Russia do catch my attention such as this book.
Roxana Spicer as a journalist and as a daughter, wanted to get closer to her mother and find out about her past. This is a long book, but well worth the read as Ms. Spicer shares her journey to find out more about her mother's past both from her mother (and after her mother passed away) through other sources and relatives.
I read a lot of WWII historical fiction, but I had not come across this type of information about the Soviet Union repatriating their citizens after the war ended, whether the Russian-born people wanted to go or not. A lot of the Russians were executed or put in gulags after returning to Russia because they were considered enemies of the state even if they had been in German POW camps. This book is horrifying in a lot of ways about how the Russians treated/treat their own people, but is balanced by the love within the family for Rosa even after everything she had been through. If you have any interest in WWII, or even Russia's history in light of their present day invasion of Ukraine, this is an excellent book to read.
July 24, 2025
I am probably being stingy in my rating of this account of Roxanna Spicer's account of her quest to uncover the secrets in the story of her mother who grew up in the Urals in post-revolutionary Russia, fought in the Red Army and was captured by the Nazis, lived as a prisoner-of-war and slave labourer and finally was liberated, escaped being "repatriated" to the Soviet Union by marrying a Canadian soldier, began building a life in Canada only to become a young widow, remarried, had a family, and tried to leave the past behind her. This interesting story unravels through a book that reads like a combination of a psychological journal about family relationships and partially like a research journal, diverting attention away the intriguing central attraction. There is much that is very interesting in this book (life the Soviet Union and in Russia, details of life in wartime, Prairie life in the post-war era) and given the sketchiness of the details that Spicer has about her mother's life, the author deserves credit for having cleverly framed the central story with the story of the search for details. Maybe that search really is the story, but it was not the story I really wanted to read and I was a bit disappointed in the end.
September 12, 2024
Read my full review: https://www.mwgerard.com/russia-disqu...
Roxana Spicer’s mother did not have to imagine the results of a Bolshevik takeover. Born under Lenin, Agnes (as she was known to her daughter) was forced to serve in the Red Army, was captured by the Nazis, sent to a prisoner camp, managed to survive and escape, somehow get to Canada, open a roadside restaurant, get married, and have a life.
Her daughter knows very little of this traumatic and exotic life. Now an adult, she is an investigative journalist, and is determined to use her skills to understand her mother’s past. Roxana carefully asks questions of her mother, trying to tease out pieces when she seems to be in a talkative mood. Roxana also made a number visits to Russia to meet and talk to relatives who might have stories to share. She finds many are still reluctant to talk about what happened.
The book stretches across the three-plus decades of a changing and crumbling Soviet facade to opening Iron Curtain. The narrative wanders from present investigations to historical context to childhood memories, reflecting how family stories are often told and remembered, weaving in and out.
Roxana Spicer’s mother did not have to imagine the results of a Bolshevik takeover. Born under Lenin, Agnes (as she was known to her daughter) was forced to serve in the Red Army, was captured by the Nazis, sent to a prisoner camp, managed to survive and escape, somehow get to Canada, open a roadside restaurant, get married, and have a life.
Her daughter knows very little of this traumatic and exotic life. Now an adult, she is an investigative journalist, and is determined to use her skills to understand her mother’s past. Roxana carefully asks questions of her mother, trying to tease out pieces when she seems to be in a talkative mood. Roxana also made a number visits to Russia to meet and talk to relatives who might have stories to share. She finds many are still reluctant to talk about what happened.
The book stretches across the three-plus decades of a changing and crumbling Soviet facade to opening Iron Curtain. The narrative wanders from present investigations to historical context to childhood memories, reflecting how family stories are often told and remembered, weaving in and out.
January 26, 2025
A rollercoaster of emotions, what a story, definitely you have to be so strong and determined to be like Rosa, not a tainted heart.
The Memories of Rosie written by her daughter Roxana, was a good book I normally dont like to put stars in biographies as it is a personal story but this one was magnificent to read, it had me at all times over the edge of the chair just holding myself and bracing myself to what was going to happen next in Rosas life.
WW2 was an era where we got to see many courageous souls who were determined to live and save many. Roxana was working as a reporter finally determined to find out more about her mother's story, her mother was not so eager to reveal what happened to her but eventually little by little Roxana started to see her real mother, a mother stronger and courage that she will ever have to imagine.
This story will keep you immersed and interested at all times, it is one of those stories that is so good and sometimes you feel like you were watching a movie but this is the real story of Rosie
Thank you, Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada | Viking, for the advanced copy of The Traitor's Daughter in exchange for my honest review
The Memories of Rosie written by her daughter Roxana, was a good book I normally dont like to put stars in biographies as it is a personal story but this one was magnificent to read, it had me at all times over the edge of the chair just holding myself and bracing myself to what was going to happen next in Rosas life.
WW2 was an era where we got to see many courageous souls who were determined to live and save many. Roxana was working as a reporter finally determined to find out more about her mother's story, her mother was not so eager to reveal what happened to her but eventually little by little Roxana started to see her real mother, a mother stronger and courage that she will ever have to imagine.
This story will keep you immersed and interested at all times, it is one of those stories that is so good and sometimes you feel like you were watching a movie but this is the real story of Rosie
Thank you, Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada | Viking, for the advanced copy of The Traitor's Daughter in exchange for my honest review
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October 5, 2024IMHO, I think this book needed to be structured - organised - differently.
She should have started with an early line in Chapter 3: “Rosa Nicolaievna Butorina was born on November 7, 1922, five years to the day after the coup d-etat that brought the Bolsheviks to power in Russia, and a little over a month before the USSR came into being.” (p39)
Get the focus squarely on her mother from the start… as she is where the interest lies.
Instead we get over an hour of what I presume is supposed to be scene-setting but really does nothing at all to get into her mother’s story in the least… and which is mostly pretty boring.
Also, this is supposed to be part biography and part auto-biography… but the writing in places reads more like fiction - highly embellished fiction.
And it was way too long. No reason for the audiobook version of this to be 21 hours.
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital copy. Apologies for the delay in getting this post up.
DNF
She should have started with an early line in Chapter 3: “Rosa Nicolaievna Butorina was born on November 7, 1922, five years to the day after the coup d-etat that brought the Bolsheviks to power in Russia, and a little over a month before the USSR came into being.” (p39)
Get the focus squarely on her mother from the start… as she is where the interest lies.
Instead we get over an hour of what I presume is supposed to be scene-setting but really does nothing at all to get into her mother’s story in the least… and which is mostly pretty boring.
Also, this is supposed to be part biography and part auto-biography… but the writing in places reads more like fiction - highly embellished fiction.
And it was way too long. No reason for the audiobook version of this to be 21 hours.
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital copy. Apologies for the delay in getting this post up.
DNF
March 4, 2025
The Traitor’s Daughter by Roxana Spicer is an utterly compelling read. I can’t remember the last time I was so engaged in a work of non-fiction.
The book’s blurb says it best:
“ The culmination of a daughter’s decades-long quest to understand her extraordinary mother, who was born in Lenin’s Soviet Union, served as a teenage combat soldier, was captured by the Nazis, and endured three years of captivity in Germany - but never revealed her darkest secrets”
Roxana has brought all her skills as an investigative journalist and a documentary filmmaker to bring to life this multi-layered story of her mother’s past.
At its heart though, this is a love story like no other I have read. What a wonderful tribute to her mother who made a new life in Netherhill Saskatchewan, and did her hardest to hide the truth about her youth in order to protect her children. Roxana’s love, compassion and humour shine in this skilful narration of her mother’s attempt to make a joyful life despite her harrowing youth.
The book’s blurb says it best:
“ The culmination of a daughter’s decades-long quest to understand her extraordinary mother, who was born in Lenin’s Soviet Union, served as a teenage combat soldier, was captured by the Nazis, and endured three years of captivity in Germany - but never revealed her darkest secrets”
Roxana has brought all her skills as an investigative journalist and a documentary filmmaker to bring to life this multi-layered story of her mother’s past.
At its heart though, this is a love story like no other I have read. What a wonderful tribute to her mother who made a new life in Netherhill Saskatchewan, and did her hardest to hide the truth about her youth in order to protect her children. Roxana’s love, compassion and humour shine in this skilful narration of her mother’s attempt to make a joyful life despite her harrowing youth.
November 27, 2024
I found this book an excellent read for a few reasons.
One, it describes a historical period and event that many people do not know about. This is the result of the Allies "whitewashing" of a lot of WW2 history - such as the Yalta Agreement - but also because of the Russian spin on their actions during the war.
Second, the story contains many elements of my own parents' story, mom as a teenaged Polish Displaced Person who ended up in Germany at the end of the war and dad as a Polish Army veteran who survived two years in a Siberian gulag before fighting in North Africa and Italy before facing the life changing decision of going back to Stalin's Poland or immigrating elsewhere.
Third, it describes so well the same reluctance to talk about what they went through and my struggles to try and piece together their family history.
It spurs me on to continue my search for information but also regret for not trying harder to get answers to more questions from my late parents.
One, it describes a historical period and event that many people do not know about. This is the result of the Allies "whitewashing" of a lot of WW2 history - such as the Yalta Agreement - but also because of the Russian spin on their actions during the war.
Second, the story contains many elements of my own parents' story, mom as a teenaged Polish Displaced Person who ended up in Germany at the end of the war and dad as a Polish Army veteran who survived two years in a Siberian gulag before fighting in North Africa and Italy before facing the life changing decision of going back to Stalin's Poland or immigrating elsewhere.
Third, it describes so well the same reluctance to talk about what they went through and my struggles to try and piece together their family history.
It spurs me on to continue my search for information but also regret for not trying harder to get answers to more questions from my late parents.
March 8, 2025
In my opinion, this book was slow. It was the ongoing battle of trying to get the full story of what happened to her mom when she was overseas and what made her who she was as a person. However, I felt that this book explained the daughter's struggle to find the true story more than it was about what happened with the mother. This is where I found that it was redundant and slow.
If you want to know what happened and how hard it was to get through the war, being Russian, German, or Polish, this was a good book to read. For me, with Polish and German grandparents, there was no story in this book that took me off guard because it's all stories we've been raised with as grandkids. This doesn't make them less important, it just makes them more of a history lesson *in my opinion*.
Overall I will be generous and give it a 3/5
If you want to know what happened and how hard it was to get through the war, being Russian, German, or Polish, this was a good book to read. For me, with Polish and German grandparents, there was no story in this book that took me off guard because it's all stories we've been raised with as grandkids. This doesn't make them less important, it just makes them more of a history lesson *in my opinion*.
Overall I will be generous and give it a 3/5
April 5, 2025
Not usually a reader of WWII books but this memoir looked really interesting. The story of Roxana Spicer’s mother is such a ride- her mother endured a lot and this was a really compelling portrait of a daughter trying to find details about her mother’s life and a mother who didn’t want to give any. also refreshing to see war stories from a female perspective.
In terms of the actual book, the first 3/4 were great, but this took me so long to read because at some point in the last 1/4 I got bored. At times, the author’s writing was hard to follow and I couldn’t keep straight where we were in the timeline- it jumped around a lot.
I don’t know if I felt like I fully understood how the book wrapped up, or if the author felt any sense of closure on her journey to find out more. But all in all- quite good.
In terms of the actual book, the first 3/4 were great, but this took me so long to read because at some point in the last 1/4 I got bored. At times, the author’s writing was hard to follow and I couldn’t keep straight where we were in the timeline- it jumped around a lot.
I don’t know if I felt like I fully understood how the book wrapped up, or if the author felt any sense of closure on her journey to find out more. But all in all- quite good.
August 16, 2025
Although this book has some terrible slow bits, and although it’s tricky to follow the chronology of events, it’s a helpful discourse on WWII events as experienced by women,particularly Russian women. I had a hard time pushing through recounting of historical events, mostly because my knowledge of Russian history is woefully inadequate, so can’t blame Spicer on that one. The discussions of postwar treatment of Russian POW’s ,particularly those who were female, was enlightening. Honestly, the things we don’t know about women in this world in which the male voice is so privileged! So this Saskatchewan writer deserves high praise for telling her beloved mother’s story while schooling her readers on the price Russian women paid as they tried to survive both the war and the fallout for years thereafter.
November 1, 2025
DNF at 22%
This was a chore to read. I wanted to know the author's mother's story but she jumps back and forth between telling the story and different memories of her mother. Within two paragraphs I traveled from the USSR, to Ukraine, to Poland. From her grandmother, to her mother to her aunt without explanation. The author narrates her mother's story in a very disjointed way and I could not get immersed in the tale since she'd jump around so much. It took too much mental energy to try to follow the book as it meandered. It's unfortunate because I really did want to like this book. The author is Canadian and her mother's life story sounds extremely interesting! Just...not the way this is written.
This was a chore to read. I wanted to know the author's mother's story but she jumps back and forth between telling the story and different memories of her mother. Within two paragraphs I traveled from the USSR, to Ukraine, to Poland. From her grandmother, to her mother to her aunt without explanation. The author narrates her mother's story in a very disjointed way and I could not get immersed in the tale since she'd jump around so much. It took too much mental energy to try to follow the book as it meandered. It's unfortunate because I really did want to like this book. The author is Canadian and her mother's life story sounds extremely interesting! Just...not the way this is written.
December 10, 2025
This story was a real revelation for me, delving into aspects of WWII that I never knew. The author’s mother was born in Lenin’s Soviet Union in 1922, served as a soldier in the Red Army, endured 3 years of Nazi captivity as a POW in a concentration camp, was sold as a slave labourer in Germany, fled forced repatriation to the USSR after the end of the war, and arrived in Canada in 1940 having married a Canadian soldier in the Netherlands. “Forty-seven thousand, seven hundred and eighty-three women came to Canada as war brides. The Canadian Department of National Defence kept excellent statistics. According to their official registry, only one of them was Russian.” The story is a very personal journey that is shared with the reader.
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