大象传媒

My late father-in-law, Tadeusz Szymanski was born in Nowogrod on March 29th, 1920. The place of his birth is located in Belarus today, but then it was in newly independent Poland. Prior to independence, this part of the world was ruled by Tsarist Russia during the 123 years of partition.

Sadly, the independence that Poland gained following the end of World War I was not set to last. On the 1st of September, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland from the west and the Russians crossed into Poland from the east on the 17th of that month. Supposedly, this was to restore order.

Poland was now divided, the Germans occupying the west and the Russians, the East. In February, 1940, the Russians began a programme of deporting civilians from various parts of Poland under their occupation. There seems to have been little by way of a systematic approach. The intelligentsia, figures of authority and civil servants were obvious candidates. However, there were many instances where people were taken away for no particular reason. Perhaps this was a way for the Soviets to exert their authority on the Polish population. For whatever reason, Tadeusz, my father-in-law, found himself on a train bound for Siberia.

Although I do not know the story in great detail, somehow my father-in-law managed to escape. He found his way back to Moscow, travelled across the city to find the correct terminus and hid himself under a train bound for Poland. The train guard was aware of the stowaway but would not report this fact to the authorities. It has to be said that the Russian population was, for the greater part, sympathetic to the plight of the Poles and would give assistance where possible. Russian history is marked by tyrannical rulers and over the centuries, most ordinary people learned to give lip service or ignore them. It goes without saying, though, that any such assistance had to be given very discretely. Here again, centuries of conditioning must have played their part.

I digress. My father-in-law did manage to get back to Poland, walking across the border at night. However, he was spotted by one of the locals who alerted the authorities and before too long, he was sent back to where he had started. This time, there was no escape.

In the latter half of June, 1941, the Germans launched a brutal attack on the USSR. Before long, Great Britain and the USA decided to assist Stalin's war effort, even though, there were obvious ideological differences. This would prove to be a salvation for the Poles held captive in the Soviet Union. Following negotiations with the British and Americans, Stalin declared a so called amnesty whereby the Poles were to regain their freedom. The first plan was for the Poles to fight alongside the Russians, helping them to repel the Nazi invader. This did not please Stalin. Instead, Polish army units were formed in the Middle East under British command and later served in many theatres of war.

I do not know about my father-in-law's military service in great detail, but he did find himself in Italy and was at Monte Cassino for some time. He used to drive a lorry in the army and being a young man at the time, strove to impress the young Italian girls, as any young man would. One of the tricks was to momentarily switch off the ignition while the vehicle was in motion which would allow the exhaust to fill with petrol vapour. Subsequent reactivation of the ignition would result in a very loud report from the exhaust and the aforesaid young maidens would jump up in fright! There was, apparently, considerable skill involved in this process as over zealous application could result in total destruction of the exhaust system!

At the end of the war, Stalin was granted virtual autonomy over Eastern Europe and my father-in-law's homeland became incorporated into the USSR. He decided to settle in Britain, where he met and married, Regina, my mother-in-law, but that is another story.

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