The Journey Home

Growing up, I spent a great deal of time at my grandmother's apartment, rolling out pierogi dough or helping her clean and shine the droplets on her prized chandelier. Grandma had emigrated from Poland early in the 20th Century, and she still held her homeland close to her heart. "When you grow up," she'd often say, "try to do something good for Poland." With One Amber Bead, I hope I have.

As a teenager, my mom, the child of Polish immigrants, left the shelter of her home in the New Warsaw section of Chicago to work in a defense factory during World War II. There she found a very different life from what she knew at home: a life of movies, bowling alleys, and USO clubs. I loved the stories she shared about that time of her life.

Many years later, my mother-in-law told me about her years in a German labor camp during World War II. Strangely, I had never heard about the many Poles, Czechs, Russians, and others who had been forcefully taken from their homes to work in German factories and farms. The power of her stories had a great impact on me.

One Amber Bead was created out of my experiences with these three remarkable women.  It is not biographical--it is a work of fiction--but it could never have come into being without them. Their stories gave me many insights into the Polish experience of World War II. As Americans, we have been blessed to never have been occupied by foreign enemies, and the Nazi occupation of Poland was brutal beyond human understanding.

I hope you get a chance to read One Amber Bead, and that my family's stories help you experience the richness of their lives and move you the way they moved me. If you do read it, let me know what you think--I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Rebecca Thaddeus