Jason Prokowiew received the PEN America/Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History and a Fulbright Scholar Award for War Boys. His writing has appeared in The North American Review, The Guardian, Salon, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, Roxane Gay’s “The Audacity,” and on WORLD Channel’s Stories from the Stage, where his piece “Sing” is the most-watched in the show’s history. He’s received support from Bread Loaf, Tin House, Ragdale, and the Mass Cultural Council. He lives on a lake in Massachusetts with his husband, Dave, and their greyhound, Champ.
Trinity McFadden: Your father was ten years old when the Nazis invaded Belarus in 1941, and against all odds, he survived. You detail his harrowing journey in War Boys: A Father and Son Memoir (Trio House Press, July 1, 2026). What can you tell us about his childhood before the Nazi’s invaded, and how did his life change during the summer of 1941?
Jason Prokowiew: My father lived a life of privilege in Belarus before the war. His mother, my grandma Valentina, was a high-ranking Communist Party member who led the Chemistry Workers’ Union. She would have been a trusted Party member, responsible for a lot of people, and that job would have come with perks for my father and his older sister Rema.
For example, they would have had access to the Youth Palaces, places where Party members’ children could engage in hobbies and other extra-curriculars. He recalled that the Youth Palaces, which were extended into the summer camps for Party children, were places he could act in and write plays, or try his hand at music or sports.
He also remembered them as places with bountiful supplies of food. Food is a major driving force in my dad’s life after the war landed in Belarus, as he faced hunger daily for well over a year after the invasion, so I am not surprised he spoke so effusively about the food at the Youth Palaces.
Were he not one of the privileged kids, he might not have been at one of these summer camps and away from his family when the Nazis invaded.
