“Henry: A Polish Swimmer’s True Story of Friendship from Auschwitz to America” by Katrina Shawver

Published by Köehler Books

Virginia Beach 2017

I read the book thanks to the author's courtesy. Thank you!

Krakow was one of the Polish cities that suffered severely from human casualties during the Second World War. When the cities such as Warsaw, Poznan, Bialystok, Gdansk or Elblag were virtually razed to the ground and suffered under the subsequent marches of hostile forces and the long-lasting Nazi occupation, Krakow being the largest and most important city in southern Poland, remained almost untouched. It is possible that this kind of situation resulted from the fact that the Germans wished to provide it some protection because they established the headquarters of the Nazi General Government there. In other words, the city was taken over by the Nazis becoming the capital of a pseudo-state which included the south-eastern half of present-day Poland and the south part of present-day Ukraine. That project was controlled by Hans Frank (1900-1946), who was declared as a war criminal and executed in Nuremberg after the end of the war. He chose Wawel Castle, the ancient seat of the Polish kings, as his first headquarters. So even though Krakow’s architecture was not as badly ruined as for example in Warsaw, the same cannot be said about the culture of the city and its inhabitants.

We must know that at the very beginning of the war, the Germans decided not to divide the city with the Jewish population. It is important to know that before the outbreak of the war, sixty thousand Jews lived in Krakow, which represented a quarter of the entire population. The German occupation of Krakow began on September 6, 1939. At that time, the Nazis liquidated the Jewish social organization and established their own, which was supported to deal with the issue not only of the Cracovian Jews, but also those living in the whole country. It was called the Jewish Council of Elders (in German: Judenrat). In April 1940 the Germans ordered the Jews to leave Krakow within the next four months. At that time thirty-five thousand Jews were evacuated from the city and only fifteen thousand of them remained there. Since that time Krakow became the capital of Poland occupied by the Nazis.

In March 1941, the Germans built a Ghetto in the Podgorze district south of the Vistula River where twenty thousand Jews lived, including Jews coming from surrounding towns. The Ghetto very quickly became a place where people were dying of starvation, and because of overcrowding, fatal diseases were also spread, not to mention the unimaginable brutality of the Germans, who murdered the Jews when they wanted to. Mass deportations from the Ghetto began in June 1942. At that time, five thousand Jews were sent to the death camp in Belzec. Apart from that, in October 1942, another six thousand Jews were also transported to Belzec. During that horrible action the Nazis executed those who were in the hospital and in the nursing home as well as children living in the orphanage. About a few hundred Jews died in the Ghetto. The Ghetto was liquated by Amon Göth (1908-1946), sending people, who were capable of working, to the Nazi camp at Plaszow, murdering others in the streets or in their homes, and sending the rest of them to die at Auschwitz.

SS staff in the Nazi death camp in Belzec (1942)

At the very beginning of the war, Krakow lost many of its leading thinkers, and it was when the Germans arrested the Jagiellonian University professors. It was November 6, 1939. The professors were sent to German concentration camps. The Poles who remained in Krakow witnessed the change of their city every day. Shops, houses and generally the whole districts were taken over by the Nazis. Even the Cracow Market Square lost its name because it was renamed Adolf Hitler Platz. During the war years, there was distinct resistance of the Cracovians. The Home Army (in Polish: Armia Krajowa) operated in the city. Its soldiers planned an uprising there, which was supposed to be similar to the rebellion that broke out in Warsaw on 1 August, 1944. Eventually, the decision about the uprising was, however, called off, and it happened because the Nazi forces were too large while many young Cracovians, who were able to fight, had been arrested. Apart from that there was the shortage of weapons that could be used during a possible uprising.

It is not without reason that above I mentioned the realities that had occurred in Krakow during the Second World War. I did it because the protagonist of the unusual biography by American journalist Katrina Shawver was associated just with Krakow. He was born there, grew up there and next he was arrested by the Germans, and then was locked up in a prison located on Montelupich Street. Originally this place served as a military barracks, and was located in a building that had belonged to the family of the Italian merchants and bankers called Montelupi since 16^th century. In 1905 the Austrian authorities decided that there would be a military court which had formerly been located in Wawel Castle. Then the court was turned into a prison. During the Second World War, there was a Nazi police prison in this building under the control of the Gestapo. Between 1940 and 1944 there were about fifty thousand prisoners.

Prisoners of the Montelupich Prison in 1939 after the invasion of Poland 

by Nazi Germany.

It can be assumed that the life of Henry Zguda (1917-2003) promised to be really great. He was a great swimmer and water polo player, and he also knew foreign languages. If the war had not broken out, perhaps his life would have been different. In 1942 he was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in the aforementioned prison on Montelupich Street. Then he was taken to Auschwitz and next he was sent to the Nazi concentration camp in Buchenwald, which operated since July 1937 until the end of the war. Henry Zguda was also in the German camp in Flossenbürg. He also experienced a dramatic death march, finally reaching Dachau where he was liberated at the end of the war. His life in post-war communist Poland was not easy either. The new authorities began mass persecution which also affected Henry. Eventually he managed to emigrate to America where he married the love of his life and died in 2003 at the age of 86. However, he never forgot about swimming. For him the emigration to the United States was a sort of escape from a world that was no longer the same as Henry had known before the war. You have to remember that it would not have been possible for him to do it unless he had had his friends he could count on at any time.

Katrina Shawver’s book is an extraordinary account of the man who survived despite the enormous cruelty that was present in the Nazi concentration camps. While writing, the author took care of every detail. On the pages of this book a reader meets Henry who was a really unusual man. In addition there is so tragic story that you can be almost sure that there is no return to a normal life from that hell. In a very interesting way Katrina Shawver reveals the fate of Henry Zguda, and the whole book is enriched by numerous photographs. The biography is based on interviews with Henry Zguda between 2002 and 2003. It was just before his death. I think that some invisible force had to direct that Katrina Shawver could meet Henry to be able to write down his memories, which are a true tribute to all people who survived that terrible war and to its mortal victims. This kind of books should be published as much as possible, but unfortunately every year it is getting harder because the eyewitnesses of those events are less and less. 

Katrina Shawver and Henry Zguda in 2003

On the pages of the book we learn not only the events that took place in Henry Zguda’s life but also we can read how emotionally the author approached them. Therefore, there are also her observations and remarks. In addition a reader also learn what Poland had looked like prior to the war before Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) decided to destroy not only the country but first of all the people living in it. The book's hero is a really beautiful character regardless of what part of his life his story is about. Very often Henry mentions an extraordinary inner strength that helped him survive the worst moments of his life. Some people may be surprised by the fact that despite the ubiquitous terror he never complained about his fate, although it does mean that he accepted it. It is possible that it resulted from his immense desire to live. I am sure that it was just his willingness to live that gave Henry the strength to survive each day. In my opinion Henry’s story, although very tragic, gives us hope and uplift.

There are many people in the world who do not really know much about the cruelty of the Second World War. They do not fully understand what the Holocaust was about. Therefore, this book can be a great source of information for them filling the gaps in their historical knowledge. I have no words to express my emotions after reading this book. For my part, I can only be grateful to the author that she decided to undertake such a difficult subject. For Poles, it is very important people around the world learn about the great drama we experienced when on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. But that's not all, because several days later (September 17) the Soviet Union, headed by Jozef Stalin (1878-1953), did the same. Therefore, I recommend Katrina Shawver’s book to anyone who wants to know the extraordinary story of the man who survived hell, and even so he never gave up and lost his faith in people.

Email: katrina [at] katrinashawver.com

Website:  katrinashawver.com

Facebook: Read Katrina Shawver

HENRY on Book Depository: Click here

HENRY on Amazon UK: Click here

If you want to read this review in Polish, please click here. 

“23 Days: A Memoir of 1939” by Antoni ‘Joe’ Podolski

“The Polish destruction is our first task. The aim must be not to reach some marked line, but the destruction of the living forces. Even if the war was supposed to explode in the West, destroying Poland must be our first task. The decision must be immediate because of the season. I will give a cause of the war for propaganda purposes. Never mind whether it will be credible or not. Nobody asks the winner whether he has told the truth or not. In cases associated with beginning and running the war a law does not decide, but a victory does. Be mercilessly, be brutal.” – Saying these words Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) practically began the greatest nightmare in the history of humankind, and it was precisely on the day before signing the Ribbentop-Molotow Pact, what was on 23 August 1939. And then September 1 of that year came and the German army marched into Poland without an official declaration of the war. Poles left alone in the fight were not able effectively to oppose the aggression of Germany and the Soviet invasion made on 17 September. So, the fourth partition of Poland made by Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) became the consequence of that situation.

Published by
YELLOW WHEEL PUBLISHING LTD.
UNITED KINGDOM 2014

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, many Poles were forced to leave their homes. Some of them were escaping into unknown places to hide against the occupier, and the others were doing their best to confront him and when it was possible they started to fight to regain their freedom. At that time everyone, who was not afraid of taking up arms, became a soldier; sometimes they were even underage boys. Because of the war many people very often were thrown into different parts of the world. Many Poles somehow managed to emigrate and they never return to their homeland. But before that happened they had had to survive their own ordeal. One of those people was Antoni Joseph Podolski (1923-1999), who was born in Baranovichi (in Polish: Baranowicze) – the town which today is located on the territory of Belarus, but until 1945 it belonged to Poland. He was the only child and grew up among animals and nature. He loved horseback riding, participated in hunting and he skied very well. He had a perfect knowledge about all kinds of weapons he used from the early years, hunting for wild animals. He also fired a rifle very well. He was also fascinated with flying and as a teenager he learnt to steer gliders. What is more, Joseph had a colleague who was a German boy and lived in Berlin. He was corresponding with him for some time and he met him in 1936 at the Olympic Game. Later that boy bombed Poland.

When on 1 September 1939 the Nazis invaded Poland, Antoni was living in the eastern part of the country, and his impact on the fight against the occupier was very small, despite the fact that he fought with the people who were German spies and informers. Next on 17 September 1939 the Soviet Union invaded Poland, which in the process joined the Nazi occupation of Poland. The Soviets took the view that invading Poland they protected Russian citizens residing in our country. That attack from the East was really cruel and painful, considering that quite unexpected.

For Antoni the war began actually when his fighting against the Red Army. Every day he witnessed the brutal actions of the Soviets. To repel the invaders, Antoni ad hoc fought in the ranks of young partisans. After several extremely bloody battles, Antoni finally was captured and imprisoned. During the transport to the place where he had to be interrogated, he managed to escape from the moving train, in that way having avoided death before he was arrested again. That fact had resulted in cruel imprisonment and torture interrogation until Antoni Podolski was sentenced to death.

Joe spent twenty three days in a condemned cell in Orsha (now Belarus) watching the executions of his inmates who were killed one after another. Then completely unexpectedly for him his capital punishment was exchanged for twenty five years of the Gulag in the Arctic. The long and extremely exhausting both physically and mentally trip was aborted due to a multi-day interrogation in the notorious Lubyanka prison located in Moscow. His escape from the Gulag, and then journey to freedom through the frozen lake on the border with Finland, as well as the tragic death of co-fugitives, in a special way contributed to Antoni Podolski. Fortunately, on his way he met the Finnish soldiers what meant that the rescue would come to him from the Polish authorities staying in neutral Sweden and transferring to England people arriving there in May 1940.

Old topographic map of Baranowicze. Military map of Poland made by 

Polish Army before 1939

The book 23 Days: A Memoir of 1939 is the memories of Antoni Joseph Podolski written by him about forty-four years after the outbreak of the Second World War. In his dairy the author related in detail about his dramatic struggle against the eastern aggressor, later arrest, imprisonment and brutal interrogation, and eventually death sentence and spending twenty-three days in the condemned cell. The book consists of two parts. In the first part, besides the drama of the Antoni’s fight against the occupier and waiting for his death, a reader may additionally also get to know his happy childhood in Poland, which makes you start to wonder how much our lives can change in an instant. In one moment we are happy and it seems to us that after all nothing can threaten us and suddenly it turns out that we brutally lose our safety. And since this moment we must fight for it without any guarantee that we will recover it someday. On the other hand, in the second part Antoni Podolski described his freedom he eventually recovered, but while being in England. But this did not mean that the war ended for him at that point. He was still fighting. At first there was the struggle in the ranks of the British government agency called Special Operations Executive, and then in the Polish Forces in the Middle East, and next he became a fighter pilot with the Polish Air Force. He was then only 22!

The Antoni Podolski’s memories were released on the 75^th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. The book is accompanied by very moving foreword by his son Nigel. The book was published after the death of the author, and it happened thanks to the efforts of his family. The description of the torture, which was prepared for him by the Soviet, is so brutal that it is possible that a reader who has a sensitive psyche will have to stop reading for a moment. This is one of these publications, which in a very graphic way, shows the cruelty of past times. While reading the Antoni Podolski’s memories a reader wonders how it is possible that one man was able to survive the ordeal like that. Many have already written about the cruelty of World War II and probably many will write about it in the future, but we must remember that the only eyewitness accounts are reliable, and therefore we should base our understanding of those tragic years on their relations.

The Building of Insurance Company called "Rossiya" located on the Lubyanka Square.
This picture dates back to 1917. In this building many Polish people were imprisoned 
and murdered by NKVD soldiers during the WWII.

In my opinion Antoni Podolski certainly was a great patriot. He loved his country more than his own life. I suppose that if it had been otherwise, he would not have had so much will and power to fight which allowed him to survive and give his experience to the next generations. Unfortunately, he never returned to Poland. He died in Norfolk at the age of 76. It seems to me that it is very difficult to find the right words to clearly describe this type of publications. You really cannot judge or review them because this kind of books contains the vastness of human drama and horror that any assessment is out of place here.

Finally, I would like to thank Antoni Podolski’s grandson – Jeremy, who drew my attention to the memories of his granddad a few months ago. If I had not received a message from Jeremy, I would not know about this valuable book until now. I hope that the Antoni Podolski’a war memories will be translated into Polish and all of us will be able to read them without a language barrier. In contrast, at the moment I recommend this publication to anyone who knows English and would like to know the extraordinary heroism and strength of the young man who retained his dignity and did not surrender to the occupier.  

If you want to find out more about this book and Joe Podolski, please click here.

If you want to buy this book, please click here.

If you want to read this review in Polish, please click here. 

“Grace Revealed: a memoir” by Greg Archer

Published by NORLIGHTPRESS

Bedford (USA) 2015

I read the book thanks to the author's courtesy. 
Thank you!

After on 17 September 1939 Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) and Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) had shaken their hands over Poland, the mass deportations of Poles to Siberia began very soon. The deportations consequently became one of the main tools of the Soviet policy of occupation. This policy was designed to make the ethnic cleansing and destruction of the Polish political, economic and intellectual elite. The identical goals guided the Third Reich, which was still a devoted ally of the Soviet Union at that time. So, the first mass deportation of the Poles began during the night from 9 to 10 February 1940. It related to the Polish people living in the lands that after 17 September 1939 had been annexed by the Soviet Union. That deportation concerned mainly the Polish officers, the Forest Service as well as civilians. The Poles displaced during that period were sent to Krasnoyarsk Krai, Komi, as well as they were resettled in such districts as Irkutsk, Archangelsk and Sverdlovsk.  

Another part of deportations took place two months later. It was in April 1940. It included the representatives of the Polish elite (officials, judges, teachers) and family members who had been deported in February 1940. There were the families of the Polish officers who were brutally murdered in Katyn in the spring of 1940. This time, the main place of exile proved to be Kazakhstan. However, in June 1940 the deportations to Siberia primarily included the Poles living in the central and western Poland, who after the outbreak of war had sought their refuge in the Borderlands (in Polish: Kresy) from the Nazi occupiers. There were also Poles of Jewish origins among those people. They were sent mainly to Arkhangelsk and Autonomous Republic of Komi as well as into the territories lying to the east of the Urals.

In May 1941 the Soviet Union authorities decided that there should be further “cleansing” of the eastern lands of the Republic of Poland. Therefore, on 22 May 1941 the next mass deportation was launched and a month later citizens living in the Baltic States, which a year ago had been incorporated into the Soviet Union, were displaced. There were the Poles among those people, too. During the night from 19 to 20 June 1941 (two days before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet) the mass deportation of the Poles began again. It related to the people settled in the areas of so-called Western Belarus. However, it was not finished because of the outbreak of the Soviet-German war. So, this part of the transports stuck on 22 June 1941 and finally did not reach their destination.  

This painting shows some Soviet soldiers taking Polish citizens to the Siberian labor camps. 
Photo: Artist unknown
Source: The Sikorski Polish Club, Glasgow, Scotland 

During nearly two years of the so-called first Soviet occupation, i.e. 1939-1941, several times more Poles than for almost two hundred years of Russian domination over Poland before 1917 were exiled. Between 1939 and 1941 the Polish citizens were deported in the depth of Siberia regardless of their nationality. The Poles were the vast majority (80 percent). There were also Ukrainians, Jews, Belarusians and Lithuanians having the Polish citizenship. At that time the morality among the displaced people was much greater than in the tsarist Russia. It is said that then the morality reached up to twenty-five percent of the deported people. For them their dramatic and extremely tiring journey started when the NKVD invaded their homes, and Soviet soldiers gave them a few minutes to pack their belongings. Then there was lasting several weeks’ transportation to Siberia. People like herrings in a jar crowded in the cattle boxcars with the cold which reached even fifty degrees Celsius. Often a place of their destination was the snowy steppe or taiga, and the mortality increased due to the murderous work in the mines of gold, nickel, coal and uranium. Also, we cannot forget about the backbreaking work with the cutting down of trees.

That’s enough about history. Now let’s focus on the book. Grace Revealed: a memoir is the extremely moving nonfiction in which the author tries to deal with the traumatic past of his family. Greg Archer’s grandparents – Jadwiga and Jacenty Migut – were in the first group of the Polish displaced people. Their family’s nightmare began on 10 February 1940. The Soviets gave them only thirty minutes to be able to pack the most necessary things, and then remained them just a dramatic journey into an unknown place marked by pain, suffering and above all unimaginable fear for themselves and their loved ones. They were crammed into the cattle boxcars where they had to lie down or sit on the bunks or suitcases without a change of their clothes for several days. On the other hand, the children who were deprived of fresh air, physical movement and proper diet began seriously ill. Stressed and tired people made an unbearable atmosphere there. The NKVD soldiers standing just next to them only were shaking their bayonets and vulgarly insulting the Polish people.

This drawing presents the conditions inside the barracks of a northern Soviet  labor camp.
Source: The Sikorski Polish Club, Glasgow, Scotland 

Grace Revealed: a memoir is also a kind of the special monument that the author has issued his family to commemorate those tragic events. Some people claim that the family traumatic experiences, which occurred even a few decades ago, can seriously affect the future generations who had nothing to do with them. This book is a perfect example for it. It implies that the deportation problem of the relatives into deep Siberia has struck in the author’s mind for a long time. I think that eventually the time has come for the author to discover his feelings in the book. This moment was preceded by "signs”. In fact every word and every sentence is the author’s deep emotional bond with his relatives, especially with his grandmother Jadwiga, who was a really brave woman. In the face of the huge threat not only to her own life but also her husband and children, she did not give up but heroically faced up to the cruel reality, while keeping her own dignity to the end of those events.  

In 2012 Greg Archer visited Poland and went to the place where all had begun. It was the Subcarpathian village called Łąka located near Rzeszów. For the first time Greg Archer’s grandparents met in the small church dedicated to St. Onufry. It was during one of the festivals held in the courtyard. Then they were the children and it took many years to get that acquaintance turned into something more serious. The author’s grandfather – Jacenty Migut – came from the neighboring village called Łukawiec. However, they made their marriage vow in the church where they had met. After that they had a son Ted, and then the next children: Mary, Janina, Joe, Stanley, John and Bronia. After some time, the family moved to Liczkowce. It was a village located near Ternopil (now Ukraine). It was quite risky because then these areas were situated too close to the border with the Soviet Union, but they still belonged to Poland. There, the family lived very well. The war and consequently the mass deportation into Siberia meant that the family had survived the nightmare before they could live in peace, but in a different place. But before it happened somehow they had had to come to terms with the loss of their loved ones.

On the one hand the Greg Archer’s book is a specific document showing the drama of that time, while on the other hand it is a tribute to the author’s family. Reading this book we can ask a series of difficult questions to ourselves. Why it happened? For what reason did those innocent people have to suffer so much? Was the war inevitable? What motivated the occupants to give such cruel fate to hundreds of thousands of people? These are the questions that I think we will never find the right answer. Historians doubtless have their own opinions on this subject, but I mean an ordinary human explanation of the facts which cannot be understood.

The St. Onufry' s church in Łąka near Rzeszów (Poland).
In this church the author's grandparents met for the first time.
Photo: Czczysuav Peplynsky

In his book Greg Archer shows as if the two faces of the war drama and mass deportations. On the one hand there are the quoted authentic memories of those who survived, while on the other hand the author reveals his own emotions to a reader. Thanks to it the reader is able to understand the author’s feelings in a better way. Greg Archer discovers not only the secrets of his career but also a little his private life. Sometimes the author does it in a very humorous way, such as talking about his stay in Poland and strenuous attempts to communicate with the Poles whom he met on his way. Of course, everything is related to the Stalinist crimes committed years ago. Reading this book we can also improve our own knowledge of history regarding the policy of Joseph Stalin and his associates. The whole is enriched with a few drawings and photographs.

I really hope that one day Grace Revealed: a memoir will be translated into Polish because these books are still needed and they should reach every country in the world. Never mind that times have changed. Never mind that for any of us the war seems to be abstract and unreal. Never mind that today’s military conflicts look quite different than in the past. Each generation must remember the people who were taken everything precious. But in spite of that those people never lost their dignity and no invader could deprive them of it.

Today we are celebrating the 75^th anniversary of those tragic events. Therefore, let’s remember those who survived and those who had died before the end of the war and then they could not live in another safe place in the world.

If you want to find out more about the mass deportations, please click here.

If you want to find out more about the book, please click here.

If you want to buy the book, please click here. 

If you want to read this review in Polish, please click here.