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When Soviet troops marched into Poland on 17 September 1939, it was the beginning of an extraordinary journey for schoolgirl Danuta Maczka.
For Poland, it was the start of a war that would leave millions dead and many more scattered across the world as refugees.
Danuta Maczka, now in her 80s, lived through this time. Her life traces a remarkable odyssey from her farmhouse in Poland, to a labour camp in Siberia, to Iran, Palestine and Egypt - and then her new home in London.
Fantastic story. These kinds of personal stories really bring home the "cold hard facts" that we most often focus on.
It also brings attention to the fact that to many nations attacked and later occupied by Russians in 1939 reality was not much easier than in German occupied territories between 1939 and 1941.
Russians were perceived as agressors and acted as such, imprisoning those whom they considered dangerous to Soviet regime, sending them to Siberia where they had to deal with shortage of food and harsh realities of Siberian climate. Many never made it back.
We often focus on German attoricities in Europe forgetting that Russian occupation was not much better, if at all, than German between 1939-1941.
To make it worse many of the countries attacked by Russia in 1939 stayed as parts of Soviet empire until the end of cold war, often officially denied the fate of their own people and any recognition to those fighting Soviet regime for independence.
By the way, lifestories of the three are simply unbelievable: infiltrating Nazi conventration camp to gather intelligence? I would not think it was possible in the first place!!!
Travelling from Poland through Nazi occupied Europe all the way to England to deliver intelligence? Unbelievable.
Jan Karski, Nowak-Jezioranski, Witold Pilecki - real James Bonds of WWII
In 1940, Pilecki presented to his superiors a plan to enter Germany's Auschwitz concentration camp at Oświęcim (the Polish name of the locality), gather intelligence on the camp from the inside, and organize inmate resistance. [7] Until then, little had been known about the Germans' running of the camp and it was thought to be an internment camp or large prison rather than a death camp. His superiors approved the plan and provided him with a false identity card in the name of "Tomasz Serafiński." [9] On 19 September 1940, he deliberately went out during a Warsaw street roundup (łapanka) and was caught by the Germans, along with some 2,000 innocent civilians (among them, Władysław Bartoszewski). [9] After two days detention in the Light Horse Guards Barracks, where prisoners suffered beatings with rubber truncheons, [10] Pilecki was sent to Auschwitz and was assigned inmate number 4859. [9] At Auschwitz, while working in various kommandos and surviving pneumonia, Pilecki organized an underground Union of Military Organizations (Związek Organizacji Wojskowej, ZOW). [3][11] Many smaller underground organizations at Auschwitz eventually merged with ZOW. [3][12] ZOW's tasks were to improve inmate morale, provide news from outside, distribute extra food and clothing to members, set up intelligence networks, and train detachments to take over the camp in the event of a relief attack by the Home Army, arms airdrops, or an airborne landing by the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, based in Britain. [3][11]
He later escaped from Auschwitz.
Unbelievable. Could James Bond pull being deliberately entering Auschwitz, organizing undergorund organization there, surviving life in camp and later escaping?
I don't think so.
Last edited by noworneveragain; 09-17-2012 at 05:57 PM..
We often focus on German attoricities in Europe forgetting that Russian occupation was not much better, if at all, than German between 1939-1941.
Russia reclaimed Russian land that was captured by Poland during Russian Civil War.
Don't make Poles look like poor victims - historically they were the ones, who attacked Russia, time and again.
You may discuss that Stalin & Co were too rough to them, but then you should consider that Russians don't take such atrocities lightly. They could have easily been punished by death.
There are tons of Holocaust memoirs available at the library. I've read a couple dozen or so of them. Fantastic reading. Mind boggling how some of these people actually survived.
Russia reclaimed Russian land that was captured by Poland during Russian Civil War.
Most Lithuanians, Ukrainians and Belarusians (the present holders of these lands) would not agree that they are "Russian lands."
Of course, they wouldn't agree that they were Polish lands either. When you're dealing with the legacy of multi-national empires, there are few clear-cut answers.
At that time they were Russians. It was just years after Bolsheviks created these republics.
But your attack on me doesn't make any sense - I simply called USSR (that included Ukraine and Belarus) - Russia.
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