Shallow Graves in Siberia

Shallow Graves in Siberia PDF Author: Michael Krupa
Publisher: Birlinn
ISBN: 0857900234
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Michael Krupa was born into a poor family in south-west Poland, and in his teens was accepted into a Jesuit seminary. He ran away before taking his final vows and joined the army. Soon afterwards, the German tanks rolled into Poland and easily defeated her antiquated forces - the Polish cavalry were armed with sabres. Krupa survived Hitler's invasion, but was arrested in Soviet-occupied eastern Poland and accused of spying. After enduring torture in Moscow's notorious Lubianka prison, he was sentenced to ten years' corrective labour and deported to the Pechora Gulag. Most prisoners there were worked and starved to death within a year. But Krupa managed again to escape, and in the chaos following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union made one of the most extraordinary journeys of the war - from Siberia to safety in Afghanistan. Krupa's Jesuit training had given him an inner strength and resilience which enabled him to survive in the face of appalling brutality and cruelty. Luck and the kindness of strangers helped him complete his epic journey to freedom.

Shallow Graves in Siberia

Shallow Graves in Siberia PDF Author: Michael Krupa
Publisher: Birlinn
ISBN: 0857900234
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Get Book Here

Book Description
Michael Krupa was born into a poor family in south-west Poland, and in his teens was accepted into a Jesuit seminary. He ran away before taking his final vows and joined the army. Soon afterwards, the German tanks rolled into Poland and easily defeated her antiquated forces - the Polish cavalry were armed with sabres. Krupa survived Hitler's invasion, but was arrested in Soviet-occupied eastern Poland and accused of spying. After enduring torture in Moscow's notorious Lubianka prison, he was sentenced to ten years' corrective labour and deported to the Pechora Gulag. Most prisoners there were worked and starved to death within a year. But Krupa managed again to escape, and in the chaos following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union made one of the most extraordinary journeys of the war - from Siberia to safety in Afghanistan. Krupa's Jesuit training had given him an inner strength and resilience which enabled him to survive in the face of appalling brutality and cruelty. Luck and the kindness of strangers helped him complete his epic journey to freedom.

The Long Way Home

The Long Way Home PDF Author: John McCallum
Publisher: Birlinn
ISBN: 0857902342
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
At the age of nineteen, Glasgow-born John McCallum signed up as a Supplementary Reservist in the Signal Corps. A little over a year later, he was in France, working frantically to set up communication lines as Europe once more hurtled towards war. Wounded and captured at Boulogne, he was sent to the notorious Stalag VIIIB prison camp, together with his brother, Jimmy, and friend Joe Harkin. Ingenious and resourceful, the three men set about planning their escape. With the help of Traudl, a local girl, they put their plan into action. In an astonishing coincidence, they passed through the town of Sagan, around which the seventy-six airmen of the Great Escape were being pursued and caught. However, unlike most of these other escapees, John, Jimmy and Joe eventually made it to freedom. Now, due to the declassification of documents under the Official Secrets Act, John McCallum is finally able to tell the thrilling story of his adventure, in which he recaptures all the danger, audacity and romance of one of the most daring escapes of the Second World War.

History Beyond the Text

History Beyond the Text PDF Author: Sarah Barber
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135688710
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Historians are increasingly looking beyond the traditional, and turning to visual, oral, aural, and virtual sources to inform their work. The challenges these sources pose require new skills of interpretation and require historians to consider alternative theoretical and practical approaches. In order to help historians successfully move beyond traditional text, Sarah Barber and Corinna Peniston-Bird bring together chapters from historical specialists in the fields of fine art, photography, film, oral history, architecture, virtual sources, music, cartoons, landscape and material culture to explain why, when and how these less traditional sources can be used. Each chapter introduces the reader to the source, suggests the methodological and theoretical questions historians should keep in mind when using it, and provides case studies to illustrate best practice in analysis and interpretation. Pulling these disparate sources together, the introduction discusses the nature of historical sources and those factors which are unique to, and shared by, the sources covered throughout the book. Taking examples from around the globe, this collection of essays aims to inspire practitioners of history to expand their horizons, and incorporate a wide variety of primary sources in their work.

A History of the Peoples of Siberia

A History of the Peoples of Siberia PDF Author: James Forsyth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521477710
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
This is the first ethnohistory of Siberia to appear in English, tracing the history of the native peoples from the Russian conquest onwards. James Forsyth compares the Siberian experience with that of the Indians and Eskimos in North America and the book as a whole will provide readers with a vast corpus of ethnographic information previously inaccessible to Western scholars.

The Urals and Western Siberia in the Bronze and Iron Ages

The Urals and Western Siberia in the Bronze and Iron Ages PDF Author: Ludmila Koryakova
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139461656
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
This book is the first synthesis of the archaeology of the Urals and Western Siberia. It presents a comprehensive overview of the late prehistoric cultures of these regions, which are of key importance for the understanding of long-term changes in Eurasia. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, the Urals and Western Siberia are characterized by great environmental and cultural diversity which is reflected in the variety and richness of their archaeological sites. Based on the latest achievements of Russian archaeologists, this study demonstrates the temporal and geographical range of its subjects starting with a survey of the chronological sequence from the late fourth millennium BC to the early first millennium AD. Recent discoveries contribute to an understanding of issues such as the development of Eurasian metallurgy, technological and ritual innovations, pastoral nomadism and its role in Eurasian interactions, and major sociocultural fluctuations of the Bronze and Iron Ages.

Victims of Stalin and Hitler

Victims of Stalin and Hitler PDF Author: T. Lane
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230511376
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
In contemporary Britain there are substantial ethnic minorities of Polish and Baltic origin, who arrived here shortly after World War II. Using official records and the words of survivors and their children, the author explores the reasons for their savage uprooting at the hands of Stalin and Hitler, their subsequent odysseys, and the reasons for their resettlement in Britain. This is a study of totalitarianism, political asylum, and the relationship of ethnic minorities to the host society, combining first-hand accounts with historical analysis.

The Tom Rob Smith Collection

The Tom Rob Smith Collection PDF Author: Tom Rob Smith
Publisher: Hachette+ORM
ISBN: 1455518891
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 628

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Book Description
Child 44: A relentless page-turner. A terrifying evocation of a paranoid world where no one can be trusted. A surprising, unexpected story of love and family, of hope and resilience. Child 44 is a thriller unlike any you have ever read. Stalin's Soviet Union is an official paradise, where citizens live free from crime and fear only one thing: the all-powerful State. Defending this system is idealistic security officer Leo Demidov, a war hero who believes in the iron fist of the law. But when a murderer kills at will and Leo dares to investigate, the State's obedient servant finds himself demoted and exiled. Now, with only his wife at his side, Leo must fight to uncover shocking truths about a killer--and a country where "crime" doesn't exist. The Secret Speech: Soviet Union, 1956. It is a period of wrenching change. Stalin is dead, and a regime once held together by fear is beginning to fracture, creating a lawless society where the police have become the criminals and the criminals take vengeance against them. A series of murders now has all of Moscow on edge, and no one--no matter how powerful or connected--seems safe. With his new and secretive homicide department, Leo Demidov investigates--only to find that he, his wife, and his two adopted daughters may be in grave danger. For Leo is a former state security officer who arrested and condemned many of his fellow citizens, and despite all his efforts to atone for his past, he cannot escape the long shadow of his former career. To save his family, Leo must make a desperate choice and face an impossible journey that may bring his redemption...or shatter their fragile future.

American Soldiers in Siberia

American Soldiers in Siberia PDF Author: Sylvian G. Kindall
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description


In Search of Staszewski

In Search of Staszewski PDF Author: Kenneth Fedzin
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1783063513
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
“However horrible the past may have been, forgetting it would make the future even worse.” International Historical-Enlightenment Human Rights and Humanitarian Society Memorial, Moscow. Set around the time of the 1863 Uprising and World War II, In Search of Staszewski is a powerful and moving real life account of a Polish family’s six-year ordeal and fight for survival under Soviet Oppression. Focusing on a family that were victims of Tsarist Russia’s oppression, the book also investigates Stalin’s brutal regime and the dreaded Gulag system where, in addition to millions of Russian citizens, hundreds of thousands of innocent Poles died as a result. Some survived and escaped the Soviet ‘paradise’, going on to fight courageously alongside allied forces during World War II. Investigated and told by the son of a survivor, who only learned the truth after the sudden death of his father, two strands of detailed investigation are woven into an emotional journey of discovery, uncovering the shocking details his father was so reluctant to speak about. In Search of Staszewski is not only the story of a fight for survival by four generations of one family, but also of a people’s struggle to preserve their cultural and national identity in the face of powerful neighbours. Inspired by authors such as Norman Davies, Orlando Figes, and Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Applebaum,In Search of Staszewski uncovers the truth surrounding a little known and largely untold episode of World War II history that will surprise and shock fans of historical and biographical non-fiction works.

The Polish Deportees of World War II

The Polish Deportees of World War II PDF Author: Tadeusz Piotrowski
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786455365
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Among the great tragedies that befell Poland during World War II was the forced deportation of its citizens by the Soviet Union during the first Soviet occupation of that country between 1939 and 1941. This is the story of that brutal Soviet ethnic cleansing campaign told in the words of some of the survivors. It is an unforgettable human drama of excruciating martyrdom in the Gulag. For example, one witness reports: "A young woman who had given birth on the train threw herself and her newborn under the wheels of an approaching train." Survivors also tell the story of events after the "amnesty." "Our suffering is simply indescribable. We have spent weeks now sleeping in lice-infested dirty rags in train stations," wrote the Milewski family. Details are also given on the non-European countries that extended a helping hand to the exiles in their hour of need.