Back to Holocaust Memoirs | Back to MIGS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

I. The Early Years

II. Moscow 1915-1919

III. Finally, Fatherland (?)

IV. The Twilight Zone

V. Goodbye, Accursed Country

VI. First Steps into the Wide, Wide World

Afterword

Postscript

Volume 16

Michael Zimmermann

How I Survived the Wars and Peace:
My Life in the Gulag

Key Words

Warsaw. Moscow. Bolshevik Revolution. Polish student anti-Semitism. German Invasion of Poland. Vilna, city 180 km northwest of Minsk. Lvov, city near western border of the Ukraine. NKVD. Maryiska Soviet Republic. Yoshkar-Ola, city 250 km east of Gorky. Soviet lumber camp. GULAG. Arkzamas, regional city. Gorky, city 400 km east of Moskow. Sukhobezvodnaya, Gulag camp. Leningrad. Karelo-Finnish Republic. General Sikorski. Polish Government in Exile. General Anders' Army. Buzuluk Bashkirian Republic. Tashkent, capital of Uzbeck Republic. Chkalov (Orenburg), city east of the Urals. Kokand, city 180 km southeast of Tashkent. Namangan. Ferghana Valley. Chust. Chust orphanage. Uzbekistan. Przemysl, Polish town. Prof. Zbigniew Brzezinski. Wroclaw(Breslau). Kielce. Czechoslovakia. Displaced Persons Camp. Austria. Riedenburg DP camp. ORT. Salzburg. Hallein, Austrian town. Montreal, Canada.

Abstract

The memoir begins with an account of the author's family in Warsaw, Poland. He was born in 1907 and wrote this personal history between August and November, 1995. He depicts Jewish life in Poland as oppressive, subject to the constant pressure and prejudices from the majority Catholic population. Reports on the discriminatory practices in most areas of Polish society, particularly in the field of education where the author describes his experiences at the Warsaw Polytechnic where he studied and graduated as an Electrical Engineer. Reports on the violent antiSemitic activities of the Polish student body. Recalls his father business ventures and, with the outbreak of World War I, the family move to Moscow, where they live from 1915 to 1919. Depicts the wartime conditions in Moscow and the onset of the Bolshevik Revolution. Family moves back to Warsaw. At the outbreak of World War II and the German invasion of Poland, great masses of people seek to escape the German onslaught by moving to the eastern border with the USSR. Gives detailed report of the chaos that resulted. Author and companions make their way to Lvov where they are arrested by Soviet police and transported by prison car to the north-east region of the Soviet Union. Arrives at a concentration camp where inmates work at felling trees and preparing lumber. Describes the camp conditions. Organizes attempt to escape the camp, but the attempt is foiled and he is arrested by the NKVD and sent to prison. Transported to several Gulag work-camps. With German invasion of the USSR in June, 1941, shipped to eastern region beyond the Urals. Following the German advances, transported to the central Asian republics, and to Tashkent in the Uzbeck Republic. Experiences life and work on several cooperative agricultural farms. Describes NKVD attempt to recruit him as informer. Russian agreement to allow displaced Polish citizens to join General Anders' army. At war's end travels back to Poland. Describes the work of organizations who aid displaced persons. Reports on the prevalent antiSemitic attitudes and acts perpetrated against Jews returning to their former homes. He and his surviving family make their way to Austria where he works as teacher and principal at an ORT school. In 1950, he and his wife and child, emigrate to Canada.

In a postscript, describes his post retirement employment as a translator and interpreter to Canadian professional groups who cooperate with Soviet agencies in a mutual agreement pact for cooperation in various fields of science and technology. Over a number of years he visits the USSR many times and reflects on the irony that while he had suffered at the hands of the Soviet regime, nonetheless he had them to thank for his surviving. Had he remained in Poland under the Nazi occupation he undoubtedly would have perished in the death camps, as had his family.