The survival of love

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For the first time, the author recounts his wartime experiences, beginning with his mobilization into the Polish army in August 1939 and his marriage to Eileen, a British visitor in Warsaw. Their harrowing separation occurred when the German invasion forced Eileen to stay in Warsaw while Józef fought at the front. After being wounded, he reunited with Eileen, who was working in a military hospital. Together, they joined the Polish underground, engaging in a covert battle against the Gestapo. In April 1943, Józef was betrayed by a former schoolmate, arrested, and sent to Auschwitz without evidence of guilt. Meanwhile, Eileen endured the Warsaw Uprising of August and September 1944, which claimed 250,000 lives. Following the Red Army's invasion, she fled to Odessa in a Russian cattle-truck, the only woman among freed British prisoners, and eventually reached Glasgow in April 1945. Józef also survived, despite a severe bout of typhus fever that nearly derailed his quest for Eileen. After a long journey through Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Paris, he was finally reunited with her in London. This narrative serves as both a significant historical document and a poignant testament to love's ability to triumph over immense adversity.