Bipolar Refugee

In Bipolar Refugee, author and documentary film maker Peter Wiesner has turned his writing and documentary skills to telling the story, 'warts and all' of his mother, Mary Krotoczynski Wiesner. The excellently researched book becomes a literal monument to her survival and the memory of her parents who perished under the Nazis. The grueling effects of her bipolar disorder wreak havoc on Peter and his half sister, Monica, as they grow up, in economic straits, often in foster homes, estranged from the fathers they barely knew. America, the 'land of milk and honey' for his mother, even Santa Monica with its broad beaches and cool ocean, cannot soften the guilt Mary feels for having left her parents behind when she boarded the Kinderreise for her escape to safety in England. Learning the grim truth of her own mother's murder causes unrelenting pain for Maria.

Wiesner's work is a page turner for anyone interested in the second generation effects of a horror, and especially for those who are interested in the children of Holocaust survivors. - Broccoli T.

This is a powerful book that you cannot put down. Peter Wiesner has written a compelling account of his mother's troubled life. In 1939 she was saved from the Nazi concentration camps through the Kindertransport in Germany, and she suffered with bipolar disorder throughout her life. Wiesner uses his mother's own words to document her suffering, and he describes in detail the painful experiences he and his sister had living with his mother because of her illness. The triumph of survival, love, and the chaos are beautifully depicted. A must read. - Lynn Waterhouse

Bipolar Refugee is a fascinating, detailed and tender account of the author's mother as she struggles to maintain her sanity despite the ravages of the holocaust and WWII. Early on we meet a young woman bursting with potential, talent and youthful optimism and we watch her gradually decline as her losses steadily accumulate. The author does a wonderful job of intermixing his mother's own words from letters/diaries into the text, allowing us to directly experience her brilliance and all her "possibility." However her struggle to "keep it together" after the loss of her parents and trauma of war leads to a string of bad relationships and a whirlwind of impulsive decisions that get progressively worse and begin to shape her mental illness. Her children are dragged along; they are loved but not parented, yet there is little self-pity or grievance in this loving account, and one can only feel sadness for all those involved. It is another reminder that the Holocaust (and war) leaves no one intact, and its long tentacles easily reach the next generation. - Audrey B.

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