Separation: A Ukrainian WWII Survival Memoir

In 1996, Ukrainian-born Stepan Fedenko's fifty year wait to tell his WWII survival story came to an end when he first published his memoir Rozluka (Separation). Any sooner and Stepan feared that the Soviets would torture his family for speaking out. The Ukrainian version of Separation reached #8 on the most read books list in Ukraine in 1997, was heralded as the "Book of the Year," and was written about in over 20 different articles. As a Ukrainian Underground account of Nazi imprisonment, it was the first book of its kind. Stepan's grandson Damian has taken the last three years to translate his memoir in order to give English-speakers the chance to read his story.

Synopsis: Stepan's story begins as a 17 year old Ukrainian Undergrounder. After a routine mission goes wrong, he and Tato (his father) get arrested by the Germans. Stefan's mother was brutally separated from Tato and Stepan and that was the last Stepan ever saw of her. The rest of the story weaves Stepan in and out of prisons, beatings, concentration camps, bombings, and more, finally leaving him with a near impossible choice at the end of the story.

With Ukraine continuing to be in the spotlight, fighting for freedom from oppression and governmental corruption, Stepan's memoir could give readers a better idea of "how did we get here?" with the Soviet Union and Ukraine.

Half the proceeds of the book will be donated to NASHI, a volunteer organization that houses, feeds, and teaches life skills to young girls who would otherwise be trafficked in Ukraine.

Stepan passed in 2020 at the age of 93.

*Although Damian planned to take a trip to Ukraine with some of the proceeds of the book, health issues got in the way, so he won't be making the documentary.