Two Roads Home

Hitler, Stalin, and the Miraculous Survival of My Family

By: Daniel Finkelstein

Narrated by: Daniel Finkelstein

Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

An epic and uplifting World War II family history of resistance that spans Europe, telling of two happy families uprooted by war, their incredible suffering under Hitler and Stalin, and the near-miraculous survival stories of the author's mother and father.

“Moving and important.”—Robert Harris, author of Act of Oblivion

In Two Roads Home beloved British journalist Daniel Finkelstein tells the extraordinary story of the years before his mother met his father—years of war and trials they barely survived.

Daniel Finkelstein's grandfather was a German Jewish intellectual leader who tolled an early warning of the impending Holocaust and became an archivist of Nazi crimes. He relocated his family to safety in Amsterdam, where they knew Anne Frank. But in those years safety was an illusion: Anne Frank famously went into hiding and Daniel's mother, Mirjam, also still a child, was sent to Bergen-Belsen with her mother and sisters.

Finkelstein's father, Ludwik, grew up in a prosperous Jewish family in Poland where his father, Dolu was a patriotic hero of the Great War. But when Stalin took control, Dolu, was deported to Siberia and Ludwik and his mother were sentenced to forced labor in Kazakhstan, starved and housed in a stable in freezing conditions.

Two Roads Home is a thrilling account of the narrow escapes, forged passports, ingenuity, bravery, and luck that allowed Mirjam and Ludwik to survive the war and find each other. Using their personal testimony, letters sent to Siberia, a diary written in Belsen, and years of historical research, Daniel Finkelstein tells what happened to two families, one the victim of the Nazis, the other of the Soviets. A tale of deliverance and triumph over evil, Two Roads Home will profoundly touch all who read it.


* This audiobook edition ncludes a downloadable PDF of notes and a family tree from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Daniel Finkelstein (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

SUNDAY TIMES (UK) BESTSELLER

"Hair-raising...The tales he tells are so overflowing with cruelty and loss that Mr. Finkelstein’s prose needs only to be spare and plain for us to be scorched by his narrative, which includes not just Hitler’s depredations but Stalin’s too—a double measure of evil." —The Wall Street Journal

"Finkelstein writes about the dual distinct, horrific paths taken during [the 1930s and 1940s] by his German-born mother, Mirjam Weiner, and his Polish-born father, Ludwik Finkelstein....Two riveting stories." —Washington Independent Review of Books

"Against a backdrop of mounting repression and horror...Finkelstein details [his family's] sufferings with immersive precision." —The Forward

Tragedy on a personal level

I could not listen without tears in my eyes. I hope this tragedy never happens again, although I see signs of similar events that may come. First: humans label one group all alike, Two: dehumanize the group, Three: genocide occurs. We have already started to forget about World War Two, beware!

A story that had to be told

This is a story that had to be told. It’s one of great tragedy and evil but also one of hope and overcoming. The fact that Mr. Finkelstein reads his own family’s history makes this audiobook, especially moving.

Harrowing, Heartbreaking, a Truly Amazing Story

Extraordinary is probably an overused superlative but it applies perfectly to this beautifully rendered true history. Written vividly and with captivating momentum. The confluence of high name ID historical figures and events in the story of this one family is almost too much to believe except for the unimpeachable first and second person sourcing. Tying together many known threads of WWII history with many lesser known and previously under appreciated people and pivots, this book is the freshest and most revealing history of the plight of WWII European Jewry I have ever read. Very highly recommended. I hope it will find a wide audience.

Most engaging and important audiobook I ever listened to.

I cannot praise this book enough! I became personally attached to all the characters. I could not stop listening until i learned what happened to each one of them. I have never before listened to an audiobook without “being able to put it down.” The historical details were told so clearly that they held my interest throughout. I was amazed at how much more there was to know about what happened to the Jews and Poles, their daily struggles to try to escape or survive, the horrible atrocities that befell them. Thank you, Daniel Finklestein, for telling this story. It needs to be heard in a time that antisemitism is rising its ugly head again. I thought it was behind us, but it is frightening to see privileged college students stoop to it again.

Amazing story of survival

Astonishing story of the author’s family who survived the Holocaust and Stalin’s gulag. Engaging narration by the author. Particularly poignant in light of Russia’s 21st century invasion of Ukraine.

A fantastic story

A gripping story of two families that became one and what they had to endure to become one! A must read for anyone interested in Poland and Germany and Russia especially the cost to it citizens from the power of politics and the ignorance of leadership.

Excellent!

Gripping, informative, beautifully written. Even for someone well read on the Holocaust, it is full of surprises.