Goodbye Poland

Stefan B. Maczka,

Brian Maczka (Foreword)

4.17 · Rating details · 104 ratings · 9 reviews

'A soldier's story...A concise and fascinating account with interesting detail. Good addition to other books on this subject. I enjoyed it very much.' UK Reviewer.

Stefan Maczka’s father, (also Stefan), was a cavalry officer who fought victoriously in possibly the last and greatest cavalry battle of the preceding one hundred years, the ‘Miracle of the Vistula’. It was the f ...more

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Kindle Edition, illustrated edition, 211 pages

Published February 24th 2015 by Skinnybirdproductions (first published October 24th 2014)

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Sep 27, 2018 Martine Liponoga rated it it was amazing

Or, as its full title has it: Goodbye Poland: Growing Up. Deportation and Internment in Siberia. Escape and the WWII War Years. It's quite a mouthful, but also sums up exactly what you're about to read: This is the story of the other half of Poland in the Second World War, the half few people really know about. Because while Germany swept into Western Poland and rounded up Jews, intelligentsia and anyone else they didn't really like and sent them off to the concentration camps that will forever Or, as its full title has it: Goodbye Poland: Growing Up. Deportation and Internment in Siberia. Escape and the WWII War Years. It's quite a mouthful, but also sums up exactly what you're about to read: This is the story of the other half of Poland in the Second World War, the half few people really know about. Because while Germany swept into Western Poland and rounded up Jews, intelligentsia and anyone else they didn't really like and sent them off to the concentration camps that will forever live in our collective nightmares, Russia were busy in Eastern Poland.

Soviet Russia's policy was "resettlement", and so it was that in 1940 just under 2 million citizens of Eastern Poland found themselves woken up in the middle of the night by Soviet police, given an hour to pack a few possessions, herded onto trains and taken to labour or resettlement camps in remote Russia, usually Siberia. There was no realistic escape - they had no money, no documents, no food, and where would they run? Thousands upon thousands died in the harsh conditions with impossible working hours and nothing like enough food.

What happened next for the deported Poles is nothing short of an odyssey. Two years later an amnesty was declared and every surviving Pole who was able made their way south, desperate to get to friendly soil before Soviet Russia could change its mind. (Which it did, and thousands were trapped in Russia under enforced Soviet citizenship and were never allowed to leave.) Britain then shifted as many people as possible first to Persia (now Iran), and at that point any Pole still capable of fighting joined the war effort.

Women, children and those too weak and malnourished to fight were sent onward to British East Africa to newly formed refugee camps. The Poles stayed there for years, unknowing whether they would ever leave.

This story has a massive personal resonance for me, as it is extremely similar to the story of my grandmother, who was eleven years old when this happened to her. She and her family were ripped from their home and so began the immense journey above which culminated in five years in a refugee camp in what is now Tanzania before being accepted into the UK. I came across this book when looking for similar stories to fill in details in my grandmother's account.

Goodbye Poland is the story of Stefan Maczka, who made the same journey with his parents and three siblings before joining Anders' Army, the Polish army cobbled together by General Anders made up of every Pole he could get out of Soviet Russia, and going on to fight in the Battle of Monte Cassino, among many others. Eventually, Stefan and his family also made it to the UK.

Goodbye Poland is Stefan Maczka's memoir, and it written in the first person. As such it's not spelling and grammar perfect, but you can hear his voice as he describes his experiences and that is very powerful and effective. I felt that this style of writing added to the reading experience rather than detracted from it. It also includes a prologue and epilogue by Maczka's son, which is just as moving and puts into context the far reaching effects down the generations of what these people went through. I know myself, as the granddaughter of immigrants, how being brought up with alternative cultures shapes your identity and your life. It's also a heartening reminder of how refugees can be looked after: Britain was by no means the only country which took in thousands of these homeless people: Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico took in a great many too, and so the world demonstrates that it can be kind.

This isn't a long book; I got through it in two quite short sittings. It's very concise, and not flowery or embellished, and I think that the matter-of-fact tone is very suited to the format of a memoir. When one states, without drama or ostentation, the terrible and astonishing things that one has gone through, it packs an extra punch. It also recommends other pieces of writing on the subject, which I will now be looking into.

If you have family who went through this, you absolutely must read this book, and probably many others' accounts which I am shortly going to be looking up. But if you haven't, I would still recommend it as an introduction to the lesser known side of what happened in the heart of Europe in WWII. It's an appalling piece of history which deserves to be more widely known and, as Stefan Maczka's son puts it in the foreword, "I will tell the story to anyone who will listen."
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Aug 05, 2019 Susan Williams rated it really liked it

Wow!

What a brave man he was and what a tale. I had no idea Russia deported two million Poles to Siberia in 1940 after annexing part of Poland. The author survived, escaped via the middle East, served in the army in many campaigns in Italy. He ended up in the UK with some other survivors from Siberia with much of his family intact. A very interesting story, not particularly well written due to language difficulties. Worth reading though some bits you can skim for the gist of it.

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Jan 14, 2018 P.S. Winn rated it really liked it

This is the story of the Maczka family. This book is really an important part of history that is sometimes overshadowed by the terrible atrocity of Hitler and the Jewish people. The story in this book is enhanced by wonderful pictures. Telling the story of what happened with another despicable leader, Stalin, and how the polish people were treated during a horrendous time in history. The story reminds us of the courage of people and that we should never forget the strength to overcome the horror ...more

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Oct 27, 2019 Jeff rated it it was amazing

Excellent insight

Read this very authentic book and you will come to know the story of a remarkable man and his family. It’s a very good read but it’s also not a conventional, perfect grammar read either as many others have mentioned. It’s a darn good book, regardless.

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Jan 10, 2016 Harriet Brown rated it it was amazing

Goodbye Poland

Goodbye Poland by Stefan Maczka, is an interesting book. The experience of the Polish people, during WWII, was not taught to us. So, everyone should read this book. I highly recommend it.

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