Vengeance of the Swallows: Memoir of a Polish Family's Ordeal Under Soviet Aggression, Ukrainian Ethnic Cleansing and Nazi Enslavement, and Their Emigration to America [Hardcover]

Tadeusz Piotrowski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1995 | ISBN-10: 0786400013 | ISBN-13: 978-0786400010 | Edition: First Edition

Forced to endure occupation by both the Soviets and the Nazis, the author's family also faced the terror of Ukrainian "ethnic cleansing" by nationalist forces. The horror of the Nazi forced-labor camps wherein millions of Europeans were enslaved by the Third Reich is vividly recounted, as is the family's time in displaced person's (DP) camps. The author's family along with hundreds of thousands of refugees, unable or unwilling to return to their countries of origin, waited for their opportunity to emigrate in these camps under the American Occupation Forces. Piotrowski also details their subsequent immigration to America. The author based his research on family memories and recorded accounts; U.S. interviews and European published oral histories; informal discussions; published English, Polish, Ukrainian, German and Russian sources; U.N. documents and Nuremberg testimonies; and recent information from Warsaw.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The author was born in the village of Ryswlanka, in what was then eastern Poland, on February 10, 1940, five months after Germany and Russia invaded Poland at the start of World War II--and on the day that the summary executions and mass deportations to Siberia began. Soon the family was split and its members deported to various forced-labor camps, where they were subjected to malnutrition, epidemics, and Allied bombs. Piotrowski writes of the reign of terror foisted on the civilian population of Poland's eastern territories by the Ukrainian nationalists, who had close ties with the Nazis. The family managed to survive, Piotrowski's three sisters were repatriated, and the rest of the family (the author, his parents, and his two brothers) emigrated to the U.S. after spending five years in displaced persons camps in West Germany. Piotrowski's eloquent memoir explores the fate of the non-Semitic population of Europe during the war, complementing the memoirs and history dealing with the Jews during the Holocaust. George Cohen

Review

"Piotrowski's eloquent memoir explores the fate of the non-Semitic population of Europe" -- Booklist/RBB

"a truly fascinating book...uncommonly readable and rich in scholarly documentation" -- Polish Heritage

"among the most eloquent and best documented memoirs" -- The Samaritan Review

"blends a scrupulous narrative...with the experiences of a Polish family...a greater impact on the informed reader than more detached studies" -- Choice

"remarkable" -- Zgoda

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 263 pages
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub; First Edition edition (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786400013
• ISBN-13: 978-0786400010
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,329,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A riveting story, heartwrenching., November 12, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (London, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vengeance of the Swallows: Memoir of a Polish Family's Ordeal Under Soviet Aggression, Ukrainian Ethnic Cleansing and Nazi Enslavement, and Their Emigration to America (Hardcover)

When reading this book, I had the impression that I was there, sitting with the author at the kitchen table, or living room, as he recounted his experiences in the last war. Just like I would stay up all night listening to the author talk, I found I could not put the book down.

At times I found myself in shock. At times, horrified. Yet, I also found myself rejoicing as they made their way to a new life in the United States.

It's part of the Second World War that seems to be missed or forgotten, yet a part that should not be forgotten, and it must be told. Those people experienced horror unimaginable, and unthinkable. At times, almost unbelievable. This is a must have for anyone who wants to know more of what happened in the occupied territories of Poland.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tells the Truth About the Ukrainian Genocide of the Poles, April 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Vengeance of the Swallows: Memoir of a Polish Family's Ordeal Under Soviet Aggression, Ukrainian Ethnic Cleansing and Nazi Enslavement, and Their Emigration to America (Hardcover)

During World War 2, Ukrainian-fascist-nationalists (the UPA, the so-called Ukrainian Insurgent Army), imitating the German Nazis, murdered over 100,000 Polish civilians in the most brutal manner imaginable. After collaborating with the Germans in the genocide against the Jews in 1942, the Ukrainian nationalists abandoned German service and formed genocidal bands directed at defenseless Polish civilians. Children were impaled on stakes, and adults were quartered, etc. This was no "liberation of the Ukraine", as Ukrainians had voluntarily co-existed with Poles for centuries on territories which had possessed a mixture of Poles and Ukrainians for centuries, if not from antiquity.

2 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book Falls Short, January 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Vengeance of the Swallows: Memoir of a Polish Family's Ordeal Under Soviet Aggression, Ukrainian Ethnic Cleansing and Nazi Enslavement, and Their Emigration to America (Hardcover)

Mr. Piotrowski has written an important book on a little-known subject. Great many Poles had perished during and after WWII in Poland's eastern territories at the hands of the Red Army and the Soviet Union. However, Poland's conflict with Ukrainians is a different matter, and must be seen in the context of the Ukrainian struggle for independence - against Polish colonialism - in western Ukraine. Centuries of Polish oppression against the Ukrainian people come to an end during this period at a great cost to both Ukrainians and Poles.