I Survived Hitler's Hell
by Alexander Peter Gwiazdowski
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alexander Peter GwiazdowskiEdition: Library Binding
Audio: English (Unknown)
Published: 1954
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 182
Publisher: Meador
Book Reviews of I Survived Hitler's Hell
Book Review: A Polish-American Metallurgist in German Captivity
Summary: 5 Stars
Alek Gwiazdowski, the author of several books on metal engineering, moved back and forth between the US and Poland before WWII. Trapped in German-occupied Poland, he spent years in German prisons in East Prussia. He had to wear the white "P", and this served as an enticement for the German guards to beat him and other Poles simply for pleasure (p. 67).
Alek's nightmare began with his fellow citizens: "The Germans, some of whom did not even speak German, had lived there among the Poles for centuries in comfort and security. Now they prepared lists of Poles who might be dangerous to Nazi rule. Alek's name was included...they called themselves Volksdeutscher." (p. 49). (This cautions us about Jewish reports of Poles betraying Jews. The fact that the betrayers spoke impeccable Polish and/or spoke no German does not prevent them from having been Volksdeutschers.)
In a frank discussion with a German guard, Alek commented: "The biggest mistake your leaders made was the wholesale murder of the chosen people." (p. 59). This adds refutation to the silly argument that postwar Polish authors ignored Jewish deaths or mixed up the deaths of Poles and Jews.
It is well known that Germans saw Jews as vermin. But they also thought that way of Poles. In prison, Alek met a German who had once been honored by Hitler with the Cross of Blood, but was now imprisoned for having stolen from and killed Poles and Slavs without authorization: "This man numbered his killings in the thousands; and the sadistic old rake told Alek in one of his confidential moods that he simply LOVED to kill those HUMAN MICROBES--meaning, of course, Jews, Poles, and Russians--while under the influence of liquor." (p. 123).
Much has been made in recent years about Poles acquiring post-Jewish properties. Yet Poles also suffered property confiscations under German rule. Alek's blacksmith's shop was taken by the Germans in order to pay the expenses of his incarceration. (p. 121).
In the end, Alek observed the privations and evacuations of East Prussian civilians in the face of the advancing Red Army in January 1945 (pp. 138-145). The prisoners were then also forcibly evacuated on foot in bitter cold. The fact that he was an American citizen was at least part of the reason that he wasn't shot as a straggler when he couldn't keep up with the marching column.
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