Those who Trespass Against Us: One Woman's War Against the Nazis

Name: Those who Trespass Against Us: One Woman's War Against the Nazis
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)

ISBN-10: 1844134172
ISBN-13: 9781844134175
Series: Those Who Trespass Against Us
Pages: 341
Language: English
Published: 2005
Publisher: Pimlico
Author: Karolina Lanckoronska

Description

Born in Vienna in 1898, Karolina Lanckoronska was an aristocrat and art historian who taught at the University of Lwow, then part of Poland. When the Soviets came to occupy Lwow, Lanckoronska became active in the Polish resistance and was arrested in Kolomyya in 1942, imprisoned and later sentenced to death; incarcerated first in Stanislau, then in Lwow and Berlin before being placed in a concentration camp in Ravensbr-ck. As a Countess, Lanckoronska was subjected to varying treatment, suffering near starvation at times only to receive extra food and medical care at others according to the fluctuating and often conflicting concerns of the authorities in Berlin. With the intervention of some influential friends and the honourable actions of one Nazi, she was saved from death on numerous occasions and after efforts by the Swiss diplomat and Scholar Professor Carl J. Burckhardt (whose correspondence with Heinrich Himmler was found among Lanckoronska's personal belongings), she was released. She then took a public relations position with General Anders's Second Polish Corps in Rome and used her family's wealth to found the Polish Historical Institute. Throughout her imprisonment, Lanckoronska remained defiantly resilient, loyal to Poland and committed to her fellow prisoners. Her magnetic personality and superb story-telling makes this a powerful narrative and sustains our interest through harrowing reading. Her ability to view her own horrific situation with objectivity gives us insight into the motives and behaviour of the Soviets and the Germans not simply as oppressors, but as human beings. Hers is an extraordinary story of courage and will.