In the region of Transylvania, in Eastern Europe, so many structures are painted one particular shade of blue that it is widely known as Transylvania blue.

My family, particularly my grandmother, her siblings, and her predecessors, come from areas within and neighboring what we know as Transylvania.

It is a region complex in history and mythology; perhaps the most famous monster of all time, Dracula, both gives this region a certain significance on an international scale and obscures the truth of its peoples, past, and present conditions.

Literally translated, Transylvania means across the forest.

This is where I begin this exploration of my family’s past: in the forest, on the lush slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, obscured by time, politics, and mythology. My endeavor is to uncover the story of one family, and in particular one man, my great uncle Stefan, who survived a brutal transition from one world into another, through one of the darkest periods of the 20th century.