Halina St James

The Golden Daughter: My Mother’s Secret Past as a Ukrainian Slave Worker in Nazi Germany Halina St James

Secret wartime letters, a volatile love triangle, an unmarked grave, a noble heritage—a revelatory mother-daughter memoir about discovery, love, and forgiveness. Sorting through her late mother’s possessions, Halina St. James found a secret stash of letters.

They told how her mother, Maria, was abducted as a teenager in Ukraine by Nazis and sent to Germany as a slave. After the war, Maria found herself pregnant in a displaced persons camp. She married the father, an older man from a noble Polish family.

But her life changed when her husband introduced his friend, a young Polish freedom fighter. In Canada, the younger man betrayed his friend and ran off with Maria and Halina. The letters made Halina realize how little she knew of her mother or her heritage.

The Golden Daughter is the gripping story of a mother and daughter shaped by forces they had no control over. After uncovering truths hidden for a century, Halina was finally able to make peace with her mother, her father—and herself.