by Julian Bronholc (Author)
My memoir depicts the outbreak of World War II and the German invasion of my birth town, Suwalki, in northeastern Poland. Fleeing Hitler's invading forces compelled my family to illegally cross the Russian border. My father's refusal to accept Russian citizenship culminated in the arrest of my entire family by the Russian secret police. My family was escorted to a Russian gulag in Siberia. My memoir also includes a description of the living conditions we experienced, including rampant typhus, lice, malaria, dysentery, subzero cold, hunger, and a daily struggle to stay alive. It also details our return to postwar Poland after a prolonged stay in Kyrgyzstan for almost four years. I detail the loss of my mother at an early age and leaving Poland for a second time following the Kielce pogrom. My memoir also includes a description of cataclysmic events during my childhood, which shaped the later portion of my adult life.