War Changes Everything: The character, courage and survival of a Slovenian girl and her father during World War II

by Stasha Seaton

World War II yielded many stories of courage and patriotism, and Stasha Seaton tells an unusually compelling tale. She recounts her family's wartime odyssey - from Slovenia to New York and back again, with interludes in Trieste, Rome, Jerusalem, Cairo, South Africa and London. Her book also tells the courageous story of her father, Dr. Boris Furlan, a renowned lawyer and professor, a true Slovenian patriot and an advocate for democracy. His betrayal by Tito's government, the trial to which he is subjected and his imprisonment vividly show the changing winds in communist Yugoslavia. Stasha's own story is riveting as well. After her own return to Yugoslavia, she serves in Tito's Partisans, and then, close to being arrested, manages to escape in a clandestine flight from Trieste to Rome, where she works for the U.S. Army in Rome. Finally, she's able to emigrate to America, where she enrolls in Barnard college and studies philosophy, while struggling to make sense of worlds both old and new. Throughout this memorable tale, Seaton's unfailing optimism, resilience and blithe outlook illuminate the best qualities of the human spirit. Her story will leave readers caring deeply about a brave and visionary family.

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 14, 2014

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!! Never thought I would read a memoir that read like a soap opera or yet as a diary. But this was absolutely a treat in the way the author, Stash Furlan Seaton, wrote about her experience growing up during WW II and post WW II.
She was determined to help her country, her family and herself during and after the war. Seaton was a smart cookie but as the title of her memoir --- WAR CHANGES EVERYTHING --- made decisions difficult, very difficult. Her family came first but then she had to stay alive and escape from the Nazis, the communist, and finally Tito.
Not all comes out well but then War does change everything!!
Oh, I picked this book up at Half-Price book store. Glad I did.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more I read about what communism did to Eastern Europe, the more I wish Roosevelt and Churchill hadn't given Stalin everything he wanted.

Stasha Furlan Seaton, a Slovenian with an Italian heritage (her family was from Trieste), grew up in pre-WWII Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her father was a professor of Law at the University. He believed in Individual rights, and a separate court system that was not under a government's rule. Boris Furlan had worked in London with the Yugoslavian government in exile to bring about freedom from the Nazis.

Even though the family had escaped to the U.S. before the U.S. itself had entered the war, all of Stasha's family felt it must help Yugoslavia attain it's freedom, they all ended up going back to Yugoslavia. Stasha herself volunteered for the partisans, not realizing that the partisans were a part of Tito's communist regime. In the end she realized that it was a mistake to join the partisans and was eventually able to escape the communists, by many people who helped her to quietly disappear.
In the meantime her was arrested for no crime, except to want have more than one political party. The Tito regime could not handle having competition.

[Jaka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! It was so refreshing to read about Triest, and my home country Ljubljana. Also it gives you a lot to think about. How much of an influence does communist party still have today? How many other people were oppressed by regime .