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The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt
Rare eyewitness account of early, chaotic days of WWII - Nazi invasion of Poland, Siege of Warsaw and first months of Occupation - written by a young working mother. Rulka Langer's eye for detail and lively storytelling bring to life, from her unique vantage point, the opening chapter of the struggle between good and evil which ultimately engulfed the entire globe.
468 pages
First published March 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Rulka Langer
3 books1 followerRulka Langer was born into a family of distinguished Polish intellectuals, writers and statesmen.
She was a modern "career woman" before that concept was fashionable. She attended Vassar College in the U.S. on a scholarship and upon graduation returned to Poland and worked in Warsaw as a copywriter at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency and in the Economic Research Department of the Bank of Poland.
Fleeing Nazi-occupied Poland with her son and daughter in early 1940, Langer joined her husband, who was a member of the Polish diplomatic corps posted in the U.S.
She wrote "The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt" in 1942 to help explain to Americans the devastation of World War II for the ordinary human beings caught in it.
She was a modern "career woman" before that concept was fashionable. She attended Vassar College in the U.S. on a scholarship and upon graduation returned to Poland and worked in Warsaw as a copywriter at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency and in the Economic Research Department of the Bank of Poland.
Fleeing Nazi-occupied Poland with her son and daughter in early 1940, Langer joined her husband, who was a member of the Polish diplomatic corps posted in the U.S.
She wrote "The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt" in 1942 to help explain to Americans the devastation of World War II for the ordinary human beings caught in it.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 15, 2011
This book is a rare memoir written in English about the author’s experiences during the days before and during Hitler’s invasion of Poland and it is billed as an ordinary person’s experience of this time. This book was of particular interest to me because Langer was in Warsaw during the invasion and occupation, and many parts of this book could have been written by my mother.
The good news. Langer writes well for a person who was not a professional writer. I was most impressed insofar as English was her second language and her writing style is compelling and the narrative drew me in and kept me interested throughout. It is particularly important that Polish history from this time should be more widely disseminated by any means possible, as the prevailing one manages to completely short-change (or even ignore) their suffering and their incredible heroism. Her honesty with regard to the way that she coped with the gnawing effects of hunger, both physically and emotionally, were very refreshing. Ditto her wry observations of her own status as fashion conscious Warsawian at a time and place where it made zero sense to wear high heels and walk in the rubble and craters left by incendiary devices during the invasion. Likewise what was important and intriguing is to read about a woman’s point of view, instead of a man’s. A woman would be more inclined to tell us what life was like; a man would be more inclined to tell us about the military aspects of the invasion and the exploits of the Polish army vis a vis the better equipped Germans.
The book is peppered with the most incredible (and very relevant) photographs and the publishers are to be commended for collecting them. Some might make a squeamish person squirm, but they are part of what was day by day life for the Warsawians.
Another aspect that I really liked was her more nuanced view of the German occupiers. Too often Germans are portrayed as simply evil; whereas they were actually people. They may have been deluded and they may have been following the orders of an evil leadership, but they were people caught up in that evil. Langer’s anecdotes demonstrate that reducing people to black and white is to stereotype – never a useful endeavor. Along these same lines, the little bits of early disobedience and rebellious verbal utterances, belies the myth that the occupied cringed in fear, while the occupier did not let a single word of defiance go without retribution. This latter reinforced a great deal of what both of my parents told me about the attitude of Poles under occupation. To be sure, the predominant emotion was fear of the German occupation forces and especially of the Gestapo, but the Poles did not sit on their besieged duffs cowed and trembling. After all, they established the largest underground army in history.
But I digress.
I had some problems with the book and perhaps some of these are unfair. The most potentially unfair one is that, although the story drew me in, the style left something missing. Langer describes the bombings and the fires, but there is a lack of sensuality to her descriptions that did not instill as sense of immediacy – of being there in the moment. The potential unfairness of this latter comment is that Langer was, after all, not a professional writer, and this was more of a factual memoir than anything else.
Another problem that I had was with the contention that this was what it was like for ordinary people to live through the war. Langer was anything but ordinary. She came from Polish gentry and she had a cook and maid. She lived in a large flat consisting of more than two rooms. Historians document that only 1.6% of the Warsawian population lived in flats of over 2 rooms during the occupation (see The Civilian Population and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944). Moreover, she had been educated in the U.S., was multi-lingual, and had a career and an influential husband, who eventually used his connections in the U.S. and elsewhere to effect her departure from occupied Poland. She was anything but ordinary.
All in all, I think that this is a wonderful book for the reasons given above, but it is not, amazing, and for this I did not give it 5 stars. It has amazing aspects to it and it has tremendous value as an introduction to people who know little about this time. And it is not an amazing story; simply a one among stories of extraordinary bravery and resilience of Poles fighting for their freedom. What was amazing is that she wrote it down. For those, such as myself, who had parents who lived through these times, there was not much new. My parents told me far more vivid and hair-raising stories than I found here. Again, this is perhaps an unfair and personal remark. But there are a great many of us displaced Poles in the U.S. and most of us heard this and worse from our parents who could bring themselves to speak about their war and exile experiences.
There is an interesting commentary from George, Rulka Langer’s son, at the back of the book. I was surprised to hear that George does not speak Polish. One would have thought that Langer, who was a Polish patriot, and multi-lingual, would have seen to it that he preserved his first language. There were Polish immigrants post WW II who actually spoke nothing but English to their progeny in the U.S. The ones who I knew and know, said they did it so that their children would not be stigmatized. Too bad. When one takes away one’s language, one takes away part of one’s identity, as the Nazis and Soviets well knew.
The good news. Langer writes well for a person who was not a professional writer. I was most impressed insofar as English was her second language and her writing style is compelling and the narrative drew me in and kept me interested throughout. It is particularly important that Polish history from this time should be more widely disseminated by any means possible, as the prevailing one manages to completely short-change (or even ignore) their suffering and their incredible heroism. Her honesty with regard to the way that she coped with the gnawing effects of hunger, both physically and emotionally, were very refreshing. Ditto her wry observations of her own status as fashion conscious Warsawian at a time and place where it made zero sense to wear high heels and walk in the rubble and craters left by incendiary devices during the invasion. Likewise what was important and intriguing is to read about a woman’s point of view, instead of a man’s. A woman would be more inclined to tell us what life was like; a man would be more inclined to tell us about the military aspects of the invasion and the exploits of the Polish army vis a vis the better equipped Germans.
The book is peppered with the most incredible (and very relevant) photographs and the publishers are to be commended for collecting them. Some might make a squeamish person squirm, but they are part of what was day by day life for the Warsawians.
Another aspect that I really liked was her more nuanced view of the German occupiers. Too often Germans are portrayed as simply evil; whereas they were actually people. They may have been deluded and they may have been following the orders of an evil leadership, but they were people caught up in that evil. Langer’s anecdotes demonstrate that reducing people to black and white is to stereotype – never a useful endeavor. Along these same lines, the little bits of early disobedience and rebellious verbal utterances, belies the myth that the occupied cringed in fear, while the occupier did not let a single word of defiance go without retribution. This latter reinforced a great deal of what both of my parents told me about the attitude of Poles under occupation. To be sure, the predominant emotion was fear of the German occupation forces and especially of the Gestapo, but the Poles did not sit on their besieged duffs cowed and trembling. After all, they established the largest underground army in history.
But I digress.
I had some problems with the book and perhaps some of these are unfair. The most potentially unfair one is that, although the story drew me in, the style left something missing. Langer describes the bombings and the fires, but there is a lack of sensuality to her descriptions that did not instill as sense of immediacy – of being there in the moment. The potential unfairness of this latter comment is that Langer was, after all, not a professional writer, and this was more of a factual memoir than anything else.
Another problem that I had was with the contention that this was what it was like for ordinary people to live through the war. Langer was anything but ordinary. She came from Polish gentry and she had a cook and maid. She lived in a large flat consisting of more than two rooms. Historians document that only 1.6% of the Warsawian population lived in flats of over 2 rooms during the occupation (see The Civilian Population and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944). Moreover, she had been educated in the U.S., was multi-lingual, and had a career and an influential husband, who eventually used his connections in the U.S. and elsewhere to effect her departure from occupied Poland. She was anything but ordinary.
All in all, I think that this is a wonderful book for the reasons given above, but it is not, amazing, and for this I did not give it 5 stars. It has amazing aspects to it and it has tremendous value as an introduction to people who know little about this time. And it is not an amazing story; simply a one among stories of extraordinary bravery and resilience of Poles fighting for their freedom. What was amazing is that she wrote it down. For those, such as myself, who had parents who lived through these times, there was not much new. My parents told me far more vivid and hair-raising stories than I found here. Again, this is perhaps an unfair and personal remark. But there are a great many of us displaced Poles in the U.S. and most of us heard this and worse from our parents who could bring themselves to speak about their war and exile experiences.
There is an interesting commentary from George, Rulka Langer’s son, at the back of the book. I was surprised to hear that George does not speak Polish. One would have thought that Langer, who was a Polish patriot, and multi-lingual, would have seen to it that he preserved his first language. There were Polish immigrants post WW II who actually spoke nothing but English to their progeny in the U.S. The ones who I knew and know, said they did it so that their children would not be stigmatized. Too bad. When one takes away one’s language, one takes away part of one’s identity, as the Nazis and Soviets well knew.
September 21, 2010
Originally published in 1942, Aquila Polonica has reprinted this in a stunning new edition. The first thing that jumps out at you is pictures! Lots and lots of pictures, particularly focused on the Siege of Warsaw, which is the focus of the book. In addition, maps and timelines assist in understanding the events before and during WWII.
First off, the female author adds a unique voice to the usually male-dominated subject of wartime. She also explains immediately why her story is different from what a war correspondent for the news might write. Her presence as a mother with an extended family gives her a different viewpoint:
"A war correspondent, when he runs to that gigantic fire (her example), does not leave his own children behind in his hotel room. When caught in an air raid, he doesn't tremble for the life of his own old mother. His brother has not vanished somewhere on the crowded roads...it isn't his own house, the house in which he was born and has lived for years, that has been set on fire by an incendiary. And if he himself goes through the agony of mortal fear, none of his readers will ever know about it."
As a narrator of the horrors, Langer is ideal. For a time before all this occurred, she had lived in the United States and had attended Vassar, and then became a copywriter for an advertising agency. After marrying and having a child, her husband became the Commercial Attache at the Polish Embassy. Eventually he resigned and they went back to Poland, but in 1938 he had another opportunity to work in the US. She remained in Poland, on a temporary basis, planning to rejoin him. However, as WWII heated up, she ended up in a small town with her mother and extended family, hoping to wait out the storm.
The book goes on to detail the fears that residents had, as well as the thread of suspicion that wove through daily life. At one point, when she travelled to try and find a way to get to Warsaw, she was arrested by a band of women with pitchforks who assumed she was a German spy (her missing passport didn't help her case). While many Warsaw residents had fled the city, Langer and her mother actually decided to return there, because the refugees who fled were equally endangered, and the prospect of travelling with small children seemed questionable. They returned to an apartment thoroughly shelled, without windows, and with its contents turned to rubble. Here they tried to reclaim their life and wait out the Siege.
It's this personal aspect that makes the book most involving. As a mom, hearing how she attempted to feed her children and create some semblence of normalcy, no matter how fragile, was amazing. Entertaining them, distracting them from their fears, and still maintaining a sense of calm is hardly imaginable. When a fire began on their roof, it took 48 hours to get help. Without panes of glass in the windows, they nearly froze in their apartments. Small details jump out the most: how a copy of Gone with the Wind seemed to inspire her to hold on to her old clothes lest she have to use the drapes for fabric. How rumours and gossip made fear escalate even more. And how, even in extreme danger, women will still bicker over the price of produce!
Another intriguing part of the book involves her creation of a new business to try and make money. Since newspapers no longer circulated, and the Poles desperately needed items that would normally be offered in the classified ads, Langer used her advertising background and a friend's help to create posters of small items for sale. Despite interference from the German's occupying Warsaw, they still found a way to post these and make a small amount of money.
In all, her family suffered greatly during the Siege and family members was tragically killed. But Langer and her children survived and were able to get to Vienna. Soon after, they left for America. I'm most amazed at how readable this is compared to other books about the war experience. Suitable for all ages, it would make an excellent resource in a classroom and a stepping stone to further study on the Siege of Warsaw. Hearing from a survivor about the human capacity for resilience and inner strength is motivating, especially in a time when nothing made sense.
First off, the female author adds a unique voice to the usually male-dominated subject of wartime. She also explains immediately why her story is different from what a war correspondent for the news might write. Her presence as a mother with an extended family gives her a different viewpoint:
"A war correspondent, when he runs to that gigantic fire (her example), does not leave his own children behind in his hotel room. When caught in an air raid, he doesn't tremble for the life of his own old mother. His brother has not vanished somewhere on the crowded roads...it isn't his own house, the house in which he was born and has lived for years, that has been set on fire by an incendiary. And if he himself goes through the agony of mortal fear, none of his readers will ever know about it."
As a narrator of the horrors, Langer is ideal. For a time before all this occurred, she had lived in the United States and had attended Vassar, and then became a copywriter for an advertising agency. After marrying and having a child, her husband became the Commercial Attache at the Polish Embassy. Eventually he resigned and they went back to Poland, but in 1938 he had another opportunity to work in the US. She remained in Poland, on a temporary basis, planning to rejoin him. However, as WWII heated up, she ended up in a small town with her mother and extended family, hoping to wait out the storm.
The book goes on to detail the fears that residents had, as well as the thread of suspicion that wove through daily life. At one point, when she travelled to try and find a way to get to Warsaw, she was arrested by a band of women with pitchforks who assumed she was a German spy (her missing passport didn't help her case). While many Warsaw residents had fled the city, Langer and her mother actually decided to return there, because the refugees who fled were equally endangered, and the prospect of travelling with small children seemed questionable. They returned to an apartment thoroughly shelled, without windows, and with its contents turned to rubble. Here they tried to reclaim their life and wait out the Siege.
It's this personal aspect that makes the book most involving. As a mom, hearing how she attempted to feed her children and create some semblence of normalcy, no matter how fragile, was amazing. Entertaining them, distracting them from their fears, and still maintaining a sense of calm is hardly imaginable. When a fire began on their roof, it took 48 hours to get help. Without panes of glass in the windows, they nearly froze in their apartments. Small details jump out the most: how a copy of Gone with the Wind seemed to inspire her to hold on to her old clothes lest she have to use the drapes for fabric. How rumours and gossip made fear escalate even more. And how, even in extreme danger, women will still bicker over the price of produce!
Another intriguing part of the book involves her creation of a new business to try and make money. Since newspapers no longer circulated, and the Poles desperately needed items that would normally be offered in the classified ads, Langer used her advertising background and a friend's help to create posters of small items for sale. Despite interference from the German's occupying Warsaw, they still found a way to post these and make a small amount of money.
In all, her family suffered greatly during the Siege and family members was tragically killed. But Langer and her children survived and were able to get to Vienna. Soon after, they left for America. I'm most amazed at how readable this is compared to other books about the war experience. Suitable for all ages, it would make an excellent resource in a classroom and a stepping stone to further study on the Siege of Warsaw. Hearing from a survivor about the human capacity for resilience and inner strength is motivating, especially in a time when nothing made sense.
December 28, 2011
Excellent ! I recommend this book to anyone who reads about World War 2 .I come from the city of Mermaid and it did put tears in my eyes when I was reading this book.
September 14, 2022
An amazing account of a (temporarily) single mother and her small children surviving the Warsaw invasion and occupation. Well told in simple language that only made me think of what Ukrainian mothers must be going through.
May 21, 2018
This rare eyewitness account of the early, chaotic days of World War II, stretching from the relatively halcyon days prior to the onset of World War II, through the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, and the siege of Warsaw, to the first few months of the Nazi occupation is told from the perspective of a young working mother. The book has already scooped the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Silver Award in the nonfiction category of the Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book, as well as being a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, the History Book Club, and the Military Book Club. This second edition of the work includes over 100 black-and-white photos, maps and illustrations (of which some have never before published) and other supplemental material not included in the original, which was published in 1942.
Rulka Langer came from a family of distinguished Polish intellectuals, writers and statesmen. After surviving the first five months of the war in Poland, Rulka fled the Nazi-occupied country together with her young son and daughter, aged 8 and 3, in early 1940 to join her husband, who was, at that time, a member of the Polish diplomatic corps posted in the United States. Having a background in political and economic writing, as well as in research for the Bank of Poland, she soon became a popular lecturer, writing The Mermaid (the official symbol of Warsaw) and the Messerschmitt: War Through a Woman’s Eyes, 1939–1940 in 1942 in an attempt to explain to Americans the devastation wrought by the War for ordinary human beings caught up in it.
Written from a young, fashion-conscious woman’s angle, it is all the more poignant, as it reveals how the average civilian had their world literally dug up from under their feet by the unexpectedness of the onslaught of one of the mightiest forces that has ever besieged Europe. Who can, for example, forget Rulka’s initial embarrassment, on first volunteering for air raid shelter digging: “I felt rather silly with my high heel shoes, a pert hat cocked over my right eye, and a spade on my shoulder. I was also at a loss how to handle my red handbag and gloves.” Soon all personal concerns are lost, though, as Rulka becomes caught up in the heroic, though relatively short-lived, attempt made by the Varsovians to defend their city from the invading militaristic might of one of the cruelest powers ever to dominate large portions of Europe.
All those who enjoyed the adventures of the Von Trapp family in The Sound of Music are likely to enjoy Langer’s writing, which has much in common with the former work, in terms of descriptions of loving relationships and noble deeds of outwitting the enemy, despite all odds. Although there are undertones of the savagery and brutality of the War, these are not the major concern of the work, which is generally upbeat in tone, telling more about the daily trials and tribulations experienced by those living in an urban environment under siege. The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt: War Through a Woman’s Eyes, 1939–1940 is a wonderful, heartwarming read, which, nevertheless, does not try to cover up the harshness of the conditions to which the average civilian was subjected during World War II.
Rulka Langer came from a family of distinguished Polish intellectuals, writers and statesmen. After surviving the first five months of the war in Poland, Rulka fled the Nazi-occupied country together with her young son and daughter, aged 8 and 3, in early 1940 to join her husband, who was, at that time, a member of the Polish diplomatic corps posted in the United States. Having a background in political and economic writing, as well as in research for the Bank of Poland, she soon became a popular lecturer, writing The Mermaid (the official symbol of Warsaw) and the Messerschmitt: War Through a Woman’s Eyes, 1939–1940 in 1942 in an attempt to explain to Americans the devastation wrought by the War for ordinary human beings caught up in it.
Written from a young, fashion-conscious woman’s angle, it is all the more poignant, as it reveals how the average civilian had their world literally dug up from under their feet by the unexpectedness of the onslaught of one of the mightiest forces that has ever besieged Europe. Who can, for example, forget Rulka’s initial embarrassment, on first volunteering for air raid shelter digging: “I felt rather silly with my high heel shoes, a pert hat cocked over my right eye, and a spade on my shoulder. I was also at a loss how to handle my red handbag and gloves.” Soon all personal concerns are lost, though, as Rulka becomes caught up in the heroic, though relatively short-lived, attempt made by the Varsovians to defend their city from the invading militaristic might of one of the cruelest powers ever to dominate large portions of Europe.
All those who enjoyed the adventures of the Von Trapp family in The Sound of Music are likely to enjoy Langer’s writing, which has much in common with the former work, in terms of descriptions of loving relationships and noble deeds of outwitting the enemy, despite all odds. Although there are undertones of the savagery and brutality of the War, these are not the major concern of the work, which is generally upbeat in tone, telling more about the daily trials and tribulations experienced by those living in an urban environment under siege. The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt: War Through a Woman’s Eyes, 1939–1940 is a wonderful, heartwarming read, which, nevertheless, does not try to cover up the harshness of the conditions to which the average civilian was subjected during World War II.
July 9, 2009
This is a new edition of an exceptionally well-written contemporaneous account of the first six months of World War II, which is being issued to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II which started with the Nazi German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939.
The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt presents an unusual viewpoint of modern war -- that of a civilian, a career woman and mother -- which is both universal and timeless, and therefore still of relevance today.
The author, Rulka Langer, was born and raised in Poland, graduated from Vassar College in the U.S., and was working in the Economic Research Dept. of the Bank of Poland when the war broke out. With an extremely engaging style of writing, her story spans the first six months of the war, from the last peacetime summer, through the Nazi invasion of Poland, the Siege of Warsaw, and the first few months of the Nazi occupation. In early 1940, she fled Nazi-occupied Poland with her two young children, ages 3 and 8, to join her husband who was at that time a member of the Polish diplomatic corps posted in the U.S.
This new edition includes more than 100 historical photos, maps and illustrations (some never before published), as well as other supplemental material. The original edition had no illustrative material at all.
Highly recommended!
In the interests of full disclosure, I am one of the publishers of this new edition of The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt, which we chose to publish, and spent more than a year researching and licensing the historical photos, etc., for all the reasons above:-)
The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt presents an unusual viewpoint of modern war -- that of a civilian, a career woman and mother -- which is both universal and timeless, and therefore still of relevance today.
The author, Rulka Langer, was born and raised in Poland, graduated from Vassar College in the U.S., and was working in the Economic Research Dept. of the Bank of Poland when the war broke out. With an extremely engaging style of writing, her story spans the first six months of the war, from the last peacetime summer, through the Nazi invasion of Poland, the Siege of Warsaw, and the first few months of the Nazi occupation. In early 1940, she fled Nazi-occupied Poland with her two young children, ages 3 and 8, to join her husband who was at that time a member of the Polish diplomatic corps posted in the U.S.
This new edition includes more than 100 historical photos, maps and illustrations (some never before published), as well as other supplemental material. The original edition had no illustrative material at all.
Highly recommended!
In the interests of full disclosure, I am one of the publishers of this new edition of The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt, which we chose to publish, and spent more than a year researching and licensing the historical photos, etc., for all the reasons above:-)
October 5, 2009
This brilliant account takes us from the last days of peace in August 1939 to February 1940 - a fairly short time in terms of days and weeks - but what a lot this family lives through in that time. The place is Poland, and in particular the city of Warsaw, the destruction of which was truly awful. Our narrator is Rulka a young mother and career woman, whose husband is in America at the time war breaks out. Rulka and her children are living with her mother, during the seige of Warsaw and the first uneasy days of the German occupation. What they must put up with in terms of hunger, cold and very real fear, brings it home to the reader just how completely life was turned upside down in a matter of days. Rulka is resourceful though, and even manages to start up her own business within just a couple of months of the Germans moving in. She is not the only tough customer we meet, people help each other, including running along burning streets to warn people they are in danger from the fires. At one point Rulka says to a friend just returned to Warsaw, how war brings people's true nature's out - they are in effect unable to pretend - you see people for who they are at such times. This is a fascinating, hugely readable, hard to put down book, I came to love the Rulka's family and neighbours. So many fabulous photographs in this edition bring Warsaw and it's people to life, and show the utter devastation of a beautiful city. So very glad I had the chance to read this book.
August 12, 2010
Rulka Langer was educated at Vassar but returned to her native Poland before the Nazi Blitzkrieg. She was lucky enough to have a diplomat husband assigned to the U.S. who got her out before the U.S. and Germany were at war, and what a story she tells of what happened to her between those times: invasion, flight, bombings, fire bombs, air raids, terror, horror, hunger, endless anxiety about her children, a city collapsing around her. She's brutally honest about her own fear and failings, and quietly humorous when she can find the right subject. It was published in English in 1942 and has been republished with photos and maps. Must-read for anyone interested in World War II.
September 12, 2011
This book came to me through the Early Reviewers program. The author is a Polish woman who finds herself in Warsaw during the German Invasion and occupation. It should be kept in mind however that the book is focused on the years 1939-40, and as such there is not very much mention of the treatment of the Jewish people. Which was interesting in itself as it opened my eyes a bit to the difficulties of everyday life of all people in Poland during this time. Daily air raids, food shortages, and people being deported. Anyone who lived through war like this is a testament to survival.
September 30, 2009
Travel back in time to WW2 and see through the eyes of someone who was actually there. Learn about the invasion of Poland and the Siege of Warsaw from a young mother's point of view. In a desperate times, true colors shine. When this woman is faced with some life's most difficult challenges, she truly rises above it.
This book is brilliantly written. You can't help but connect with the author and see what she sees and feel what she feels. Truly amazing.
February 25, 2011
How people can react and behave under the incredible stress of bombardment and hunger as in the siege of Warsaw. as a day to day account it was well written and really riveting. I highly recommend it.
November 27, 2009
I read the original 1942 (Roy Slavonic Publications) edition. Compelling story of the bombardment of Warsaw in 1939.
August 9, 2010
A gripping first hand account of the first month WWII. I had no idea Warsaw was so heavily bombed so early in the war.
Want to read
March 26, 2014Believe I own a first edition.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews