On September 27, 1939, after the Nazi invasion, Poland ceased to exist as a nation. Ten-year-old Hanna Davidson’s father, Simon, and older brother, Kazik, had been drafted to defend Warsaw. Hanna and her mother, Sophia, found themselves subjected to Hitler’s efforts to dehumanize Poland’s Jewish population. There seemed no choice but to submit to a ruthless tyranny.

But when they got word that Simon and Kazik were alive in the Soviet-occupied zone of Poland, Hanna and her mother decided to risk a harrowing escape from Nazi Poland into safer Soviet territory. With only the clothes on their backs, they left their apartment.

If the two-percent chance of surviving the crossing was not daunting enough, then the Davidsons’ prospects in the Soviet Union should have been. Simon Davidson’s capitalist and anti-communist activities in Poland would brand him an undesirable. Worse, he had been born in Russia—escaping years before by fooling Soviet authorities into presuming him dead—and his resurfacing would endanger those members of his family who remained behind. So the Davidsons were compelled to invent and memorize not only their own new identities, but also an extended family history. Moreover, avoiding persecution by the Soviet regime entailed maintaining a pretense of allegiance to Stalin.

As recounted by Hanna, the Davidsons’ journey into the Soviet interior makes for an extraordinary story. More than a memoir of survival, the Davidsons’ story is clearly one of a family whose spirit could not be destroyed by persecution, war, famine, or political oppression.