"I truly wonder today if there was much difference in the treatment of many of these poor people by the enemies of our Homeland, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union." Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939 led to genocide and massive devastation across Europe. For the Polish people re-building their country after WWI, dreams of a better future for their children evaporated as the most powerful military machine ever assembled rolled across their Western border and the struggle for national survival began. Within weeks that struggle seemed forlorn as the Soviet army crossed Poland's Eastern border bringing death to many while loading others into train wagons destined for the infamous 'gulags' scattered across the Soviet Union to the far reaches of Siberia. This book tells the individual stories of four members of one Polish family that were determined to survive Russian brutality and to fight German might, on land, sea and in the air, in order to help liberate their country. "Polish intelligence agents had discovered a matchbox filled with typhus-infected lice - this clearly showed that Soviet agents had planned to spread infection through the tents in order to decimate the Polish soldiers waiting to leave Russia." Their experiences and valiant escapades of their Polish comrades during WWII are central to the unique stories of each of 'The Grodynski Family', but the profound disappointment and sense of betrayal in learning of the decision of Churchill and Roosevelt to allow Stalin to take control of Poland following victory by 'The Allies' could not be expressed in words. Like many Poles who fought heroically along side British soldiers, sailors and airmen, this patriotic family also felt they could not return to their beloved Homeland while it was under the control of a regime that had perpetrated such despicable atrocities against their countrymen. "In addition to long interrogations carried out by officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and British Intelligence, recording our views in reports about our personal experiences in Russia, another form of communication was through our frequent conversations with the local population, of course in sign language, with the Scottish girls who approached us when we were enthusiastically placed on guard at the entrance to the local theatre." "I also remember how often during my courses in Wales, local farmers, with whom we met in the evenings in bars, greeted us with great warmth, food and vegetables, and also invited us to their farms and homes." "The worst of my memories in the last phase of the Second World War was the news of the Yalta Conference and the signing of the agreement reached by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill with that international criminal, Marshal Stalin." The introductory pages of this book provide some historical background to the four biographies featured. The latter pages convey that while this family surmounted obstacles confronting many 'foreigners' settling in Britain at the time, such as a lack of local qualifications or fluency in English when competing for jobs, they continued to be inspired by the vision shared with their ancestors of a free and independent Poland.
About the Author: Andrzej Stanislaw Tadeusz Grodynski was born in Poznan, Poland, on 26th November 1922. In September 1939 he was evacuated with his family to Warszawa (Warsaw) then Lwow (Lviv) in eastern Poland. In September 1940, Andrzej was exiled with his parents and younger brother to a 'gulag' in the far east of the Soviet Union. In September 1941 he joined the Polish Army in Buzuluk, Russia, then travelled to Tashkent, Krasnowock and Pahlewi before being shipped via Bombay, Cape Town and Freetown, to Scotland where he began his training to become a fighter pilot. In June 1944 Andrzej was assigned to 306 Torun Combat Squadron operating from Brenzett Airbase in Kent, and for the remainder of WWII flew missions with 306 Squadron, under 133 Fighter Wing, in support of RAF bomber aircraft in raids over distant enemy targets. Photographs of Andrzej, his mother Halina, father Stanislaw and brother Marjan, before and during the Second World War, are included in the book "The Grodynski Brigade". Andrzej's autobiographical sketch contained in the book provides further details of his life up to the time the original book was completed, in Polish, in 1985*. As a footnote to the book, an intriguing question raised in presenting background information on his family's ancestry is the reason why Andrzej's grandfather, who became one of Poland's most senior judges of the period, changed his name from Kusionowicz to Grodynski. [According to an insert in the birth register at Jablonkow, the surname of Andrzej's father, Stanislaw, was changed on 7th September 1906.] Perhaps there are some undiscovered clues in the book or perhaps, with the elapse of time and the destruction of historical records, this question, like many other questions that displaced persons around the world have posed about their ancestors, will never be answered. On 26th April 2003 Andrzej passed away following illness and was laid to rest in Wandsworth Cemetery, in the city of London in which he spent most of his adult life. * The original book about 'The Grodynski Family' was meticulously composed by Andrzej on a Polish typewriter and translated into English after his passing by his son Stanislaw who added commentary by way of clarification and explanation after conducting further research of the family's history. The translated book was completed on 31 December 2012 and published on 01 January 2013.