Customer Reviews

Surviving Freedom: After the Gulag

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Surviving Freedom, Bardach describes what it was like to try to make a life for himself after his (early) release (in 1945) from a forced labor camp in Siberia. He heads to Moscow to meet up with his Polish Army officer brother (who was instrumental in obtaining his early release) and finally learns the fate of his family, who chose to stay in their home and suffered for their decision. He decides he must return to Poland, a difficult task because of the political situation, where he reunites with old friends and visits his family's former residences. Back in Moscow, with encouragement from his brother, he gets in to medical school, becomes involved with a Russian woman (made difficult by laws against such relationships) becomes a doctor, and moves to Iowa where he eventually becomes Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa.

What struck me most about the book was Bardach's brazen behavior. I expected his demeanor towards Russians to be sort of subservient and cautious after the Camps to avoid another sentence and possible return. Not so. Having learned the way to deal with the true criminals (murderers, thieves) of his former forced labor life, he repeatedly uses this knowledge to his advantage afterwards, though shows the necessary restraint when most warranted. I confess I worried through most of the book that he'd make an irreversible error (in speech or action) that would land him back in camp - ack! Surviving Freedom, unfortunately not published after the author died (at age 83), is an engaging story about one man's post Gulag path. Also good: Man is Wolf to Man by Janusz Bardach, The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman, and The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Russia by Tim Tzouliadis.

Janusz Bardach was barely out of his teens when he was sentenced to Stalin's gulag. Although Dr. Bardach's first book, "Man is Wolf to Man," describing his life in the gulag, is an extraordinary read, in many ways I think "Surviving Freedom," describing the years after he was released from prison and living under Communism, is a much more important book. This book is about Janusz Bardach's life upon his release from prison and his life up to and including going to medical school in Russia as a Jewish Polish student.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to live under Communism, you have only to open the pages of this book to read about a life of anti-semitism, terror, fear and uncertainty, mistrust, disappointment, betrayal, etc., in Communist Russia and Poland. The authors transported me to another world, one where you had to watch every word that came from your lips, where a simple joke could land you in jail, where neighbors and even family and friends could not be trusted.

From pg. 187-188: "I first noticed a change in public behavior toward Jews in the buses and metro stations and in the lines in food stores. Before the war, anti-Semitic slurs had been a crime, but by 1948-1949, Jews were being openly insulted. The few people who expressed indignation and condemned the vulgar remarks were called "Jew-lovers" and were ridiculed, even physically attacked. One day I was standing in line at a bakery waiting for fresh bread to be unloaded from a truck. The manager of the store, a middle-aged Jewish woman, came out from the back of the store and announced that the sale would start in five or ten minutes. As she returned to the back room, two Russian women rushed to the counter and shouted, "You Jewish whore! Open the door so we can see how much you steal!" An elderly man in an army uniform joined in, shouting, "Don't let those bloodsuckers steal and cheat. It's time to be done with them." Finally a young army officer stepped in and told everyone to shut up. "I don't know her or you," he said, addressing the trio at the counter. "But I don't like what I see or hear. we're not Nazis.

"In the following months newspapers became more virulently anti-Semitic, accusing Jews of nationalism and connections with western imperialism. More famous writers and intellectuals were arrested, ...."

pg 248: "Life in Poland was not easy. The communist regime there established the same authoritarian rule as the one in the Soviet Union. As a newcomer, a professor from Moscow, and a Jew, I provoked strong reactions in people--open hostility in some and blind subservience in others. ....."

"The culmination of years of rabid anti-Semitism came in March 1968. It was inspired by a group of Polish nationalists led by General Mieczyslaw Moczar. I was targeted by many of my colleagues. I thought I could weather the tide, but as my Jewish friends and colleagues left Poland, I, too, began to feel the need to seek refuge for my family and myself in another country."

Written by Janusz Bardach (now deceased) and Kathleen Gleeson, the book is extremely well written. What a gift to leave for humanity!

Skip this book and just read "Kolyma Tales" or "Man is Wolf to Man." The author is genuine and sincere but rambles on endlessly about information that is quite boring and not pertaining to his life in the Gulag. It was difficult to follow his ideas after chapter 2.