A very personal memoir, tracing the history of Poland through the eyes of a child born in Lvov in what was then eastern Poland. Life on an estate, witnessing the Russian and German soldiers battle for control, as well as living through the raise and fall of the Communist regime.
The story begins before the Second World War in Lvov, where I was born in 1938. The city then belonged to Poland, but as the result of post-war agreements between the victorious powers (Russia, the United Kingdom and the US), it was given to the Ukraine and so was the adjacent territory. Polish people from those areas were forced to relocate mainly to the western part of the country, which, also as the result of the war, was taken away from the defeated Germany. German people were told to leave without delay.
Poland unfortunately had nothing to say about all these arrangements; the western powers left Poland, as well as other countries in the so called Eastern Europe within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. Before any truly democratic government could emerge in Poland, Joseph Stalin sent Moscow trained communists of Polish origin into Poland. They immediately seized power and crushed any opposition.
This situation lasted until 1989 when communist regimes started to crumble in the entire eastern bloc.
The story begins before the Second World War in Lvov, where I was born in 1938. The city then belonged to Poland, but as the result of post-war agreements between the victorious powers (Russia, the United Kingdom and the US), it was given to the Ukraine and so was the adjacent territory. Polish people from those areas were forced to relocate mainly to the western part of the country, which, also as the result of the war, was taken away from the defeated Germany. German people were told to leave without delay.
Poland unfortunately had nothing to say about all these arrangements; the western powers left Poland, as well as other countries in the so called Eastern Europe within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. Before any truly democratic government could emerge in Poland, Joseph Stalin sent Moscow trained communists of Polish origin into Poland. They immediately seized power and crushed any opposition.
This situation lasted until 1989 when communist regimes started to crumble in the entire eastern bloc.
