# Ep 34: A journalist's journey to uncovering her mother's past as a war slave

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/journey-of-the-art-7113065/ep-34-a-journalist-s-journey-to-uncovering-her-mother-s-past-as-a-war-slave
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/journey-of-the-art-7113065/ep-34-a-journalist-s-journey-to-uncovering-her-mother-s-past-as-a-war-slave.md
Podcast: [Journey of the Art](https://stenobird.com/podcast/journey-of-the-art-7113065)
Published: 2025-11-19T17:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/journey-of-the-art/episodes/Ep-34-A-journalists-journey-to-uncovering-her-mothers-past-as-a-war-slave-e3b6krb
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/f62876d8/podcast/play/111415595/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-10-27%2F413295594-44100-2-839c2450654db.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/journey-of-the-art-7113065/episodes/ep-34-a-journalist-s-journey-to-uncovering-her-mother-s-past-as-a-war-slave
Duration seconds: 2672

## Resource

This moving episode with Halina St James is a conversation about intergenerational trauma, an exploration of a mother-daughter relationship, the Second World War, family secrets, love and forgiveness. Our conversation is centred around Halina’s memoir, The Golden Daughter. After discovering her mother’s secret stash of letters upon her passing, Halina translated them and then embarked on a journey that took her back to Germany, where it all began, to understand who her mother truly was. This journey also led her to her biological father’s grave and into the embrace of long-lost family. There are several painful moments in this book, but I think what you will find most compelling about it is the sincerity with which Halina wrote it and the reality of family love when trauma impacts it. The Golden Daughter is out now from House of Anansi Press. Show highlights 0:00 - Introduction 2:44 - The beginning of the past: how the book began 7:32 - Managing the emotional toll of writing a painful memoir 12:04- The structure of truth 14:37 - Stark abandonment: Finding family and belonging 19:00 - The irony of secret keepers and the truth teller 26:32- A journalist’s perspective on visions 30:25 - Finding closure _____________________ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3slKw8v3_7o _____________________ Guest’s links Buy The Golden Daughter: https://houseofanansi.com/products/the-golden-daughter?srsltid=AfmBOoqwfY-cF78zLf3R0rJ84FfYkPp0JHAVwpJ3BAknPoCPQY2no-03 Find out more about Halina: www.halinastjames.com _____________________ Host’s links Find out more about the show: https://www.journeyoftheart.com/ Follow Journey of the Art on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/journeyoftheartpod/ Book a one-on-one with Lola: https://wordcaps.com/coaching/

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## Transcript

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