Brookline writer brings stories of Polish WWII survivors to life

“Waiting To Be Heard (The Polish Christian Experience Under Nazi and Stalinist Oppression 1939-1955)” deals with the disruption caused by the war that tore apart Poland in 1939. The book is written by Brookline resident and historian Dr. Bogusia Wojciechowska, the daughter of a couple who found refuge in a camp outside Oxford, England, and now a dean at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston.

With Hitler’s vow to annihilate Poland, its eastern neighbor, “for German expansion,” followed immediately by Stalin’s thrust westward and the mass deportation to Siberia of whole societies, thus causing the death of millions, those who survived could not, or would not, speak of their ordeal.

This book gives voice to those Polish survivors who, in fear of their lives or in anticipation of an eventual and triumphant return, found themselves exiled across the world.

Wojciechowska had an incomplete picture of her family’s plight until she chanced upon some letters written by her grandfather. Her training as a historian gave her the confidence and the methodology to conduct more than 100 interviews with a rapidly decreasing population that had firsthand experience of both Nazi and Stalinist oppression. In the majority of cases it was the first time this diaspora had spoken at length about their suffering and their shattered dream of freedom for their homeland."

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Brookline writer brings stories of Polish WWII survivors to life - Brookline, MA - Brookline TAB