Donna Solecka Urbikas

About the Author

Donna Solecka Urbikas is a historian and author whose work delves into the harrowing personal stories of survival amid the upheavals of 20th-century Europe. Born to Polish immigrants in the United States, Urbikas draws from her family's own experiences of displacement and resilience to craft narratives that illuminate the human cost of war and totalitarianism. Her debut memoir, My Sister’s Mother: A Memoir of War, Exile, and Stalin’s Siberia, chronicles her mother’s extraordinary journey through Soviet labor camps, wartime exile, and eventual reunion with family, blending meticulous historical research with poignant emotional depth. Urbikas’s writing not only preserves forgotten histories but also honors the unyielding spirit of those who endured unimaginable hardships, offering readers a window into the personal dimensions of global conflicts.