I want you to be free

by Sharon Nadja Zadjman

A story of one woman's survival from Nazi Germany and her new life in Canada

393 pages, Paperback

Published January 4, 2022

Reviews

[Pam Keevil · Rating 5 out of 5]

S. Nadja Zajdman has written a very compelling book that deserves more than one read as it is a story of her mother’s remarkable life. She weaves passages from her mother’s private memoir and public adressses with very personal recollections that only a trusted and beloved daughter could access.
It is an account from a Jewish survivor of Nazi Europe who pretended she was a Polish Catholic. The people she encounters range from the cruel and sadistic to the kind and compassionate and showcase the vast array of human behaviours at a time of war. Yet it is so much more. When Renata Zajdman goes to Canada after the war, she has to negotiate a new life and a new culture and so begins a second story of survival. Yet she does survive and thrives as a wife, mother, business woman and key figure in recording the experiences of the Jewish people in Eastern Europe during the war. The final section is deeply poignant as we see how cancer and ill health ravage this indomitable woman. Yet she fights back once again and faces her mortality with determination and courage. It is truly inspirational.
The book is well presented and I particularly liked the way memories, stories and excerpts from the memoirs are spaced and separated. It is well written with a good balance between letting Renata’s words tell their own story with her daughter’s comments which, particularly in the final section, illuminate the challenges of diagnosis and the treatment of cancer.
If anything, I would like the author to write her own story because growing up the child of someone who has undergone such a traumatic experience would be an insight into how trauma casts its shadow.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Want You to Be Free by S. Nadja Zajdman is a non-fiction book about the author's mother, Renata Skotnicka-Zajdman, a Jewish woman who grew up in Poland during WWII.

The first section reads like a historical fiction novel, but it is truly a non-fiction survivor story. Renata was about 10 years old when her world as she knew it completely fell apart. From the Warsaw Ghetto, to behind German borders and back and forth again, Renata survived almost completely alone. This section is completely gripping and almost impossible to put down.

The second section reads like a memoir and tells Renata's story of making a new life for herself in Quebec, Canada. After barely surviving the Holocaust she now is only a young adult who must learn to live in new country on the opposite side of an ocean. Though it is written by her daughter, it feels as though Renata is narrating this section.

In the last section we see both Nadja and Renata sharing Renata's story with the world. Renata travels and writes a personal memoir, both with the goal of educating about the Holocaust. Najda's role is supporting her mother and helping her tell her story so that it could last well beyond Renata's life.

Together these three parts come together to create one cohesive book that tells an important story to both enjoy and learn from. The writing style is really clean, easy to follow and informative.

Check out my full review here:
https://teachreadinspire.wixsite.com/...

I would highly recommend this book and am so thankful to Dave Roy and Hobart Books for giving me the chance to read and review it!

[Adam Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning memoir set partially during the Holocaust but not about the Holocaust... this is a story about survival and remembrance... about a teenage girl who overcomes adversity through quick wits and true-grit spirit. It's about her survival but also about her escape to a new life in a new world, then it's about her flourishing in that new life with a family of her own. It's an amazing book: full of real-life experience, heavy on drama and emotion, but never self-pitying. Read it and learn about the human experience.