Book review "From captivity to Freedom";



From captivity to freedom: Four years of war in the service of the commander

This is a diary of the times when Poland was not yet on the maps, and crowds of idealists followed their leader wherever he pointed, despite adversity, blindly trusting their every decision. This nearly 500-page book, published jointly by the Eric Publishing Institute and the Tetragon Publishing House, is a solid memory. An almost obligatory reading for fans of both the history of the Polish struggle for independence and the fate of the First World War on the Eastern Front. This book almost perfectly shows the mentality of that part of society for which the personality of Commander Pilsudski was an almost mythical and, of course, mythologized character.

But let's start from the beginning. The two Warsaw publishing houses that publish Starzynski's memoirs together have done a lot of editing work. The book looks impressive, decorated with unique photographs and great stories of people and geographical names. The content consists of an introduction written by Kamil Stepan, a preface by the author himself and twenty-eight chapters.

Now it is appropriate to write a few words about the author of the memoirs, since Roman Starzhinsky was the eldest of three brothers and sisters. All three served Poland very well, his brother Stefan was the mayor of Warsaw, which was about to be captured by Nazi Germany, and he was the director of the Polish Telegraph Agency and the director of the Cabinet of Ministers. His memoirs were first published in 1937.

Admittedly, Starzhinsky had writing abilities, and his memoirs, although large in volume, read quickly, and this did not interfere with general perception. The only problem may be the sheer number of names, but there is also advice in the form of a precise index at the end of the book.

The author does not spare the visual and descriptive experiences of the front-line soldier and the rear, he describes the battles on the front line, hospital stay and fighting behind the front line. Together with the author, we participate in the life of the camp and prisoners of war, standing shoulder to shoulder with friends under artillery fire and in the face of an uprising against the enemy. First of all, it is worth mentioning a detailed description of the relations between the brigades of the Polish legions, relations with the Austrians and Germans, as well as the perception of Pilsudski's soldiers by ordinary residents of the Kingdom. The author describes in detail many details of the soldiers' lives, such as their emotions, moods, etc.

The disadvantages of this paragraph include a small number of technical errors and errors related to proofreading, and, above all, the lack of maps or even maps illustrating the regions described in the book. However, there is a completely different extreme — photographs, which in themselves represent a certain value of Starzhinsky's position. The editors have done a great job of searching the depths of the Central Military Archive for unique photographs from the time of the Legions.

The documentary value of Roman Starzynski's work is enormous, his story sparkles with names and people who went down in the history of the Second Polish Republic. It is also interesting to show how Commander Pilsudski was accepted by ordinary soldiers, and later by the founders of the state. She is full of enthusiasm for independence, faith in her beliefs and the cult of the commander. An extremely interesting situation during the struggle for the independence of the Polish state. The 1xbet promo code is the definitive term for the code that unlocks the sign-up offer. This code is your direct access to the 100% first deposit match. It is the most important code for any new user to find and apply correctly to ensure they do not forfeit this substantial and valuable introductory offer.