Polish War

The Second World War began on 1 September 1939, when German tanks, trucks and infantry crossed the Polish border, and the Luftwaffe began bombing Poland’s cities. The Polish army fought bravely but could not withstand an attacker superior in numbers and technology; and when the Red Army invaded from the east - as agreed in the pact Hitler had concluded with Stalin - the country’s fate was sealed. Poland was the first to fight the German aggressor; it would be the first to suffer the full murderous force of Nazi persecution.

Following the end of the First World War, Poland was wedged uncomfortably between the two dominant nations of Germany and the Soviet Union. Poland was obliged to plot and negotiate to try and prevent them from realizing their ambitions to eviscerate the country. As well as bitter ethnic battles between Germany and Poland for the political control of Upper Silesia, there were also the burning ambitions of Weimar Germany, and later Nazi Germany, to reclaim lands incorporated into the new state of Poland at Versailles.

Po sierocym dzieciństwie i latach upokorzeń Maks próbuje ułożyć sobie życie u boku odnalezionej matki. Szybko jednak przekonuje się, że rodzinne ciepło bywa pozorne, a nałogi i bieda potrafią zrujnować każdy dom. Ucieczka na Ziemie Odzyskane, praca na kolei, potem służba wojskowa i powojenny chaos – to codzienność chłopaka, który wciąż szuka miejsca dla siebie. W tle akcja „Wisła", wypalone wsie, pamięć o Majdanku i niespełniona miłość do Hani. Czy Maks znajdzie w sobie dość siły, by przerwać krąg krzywd?

No longer war, but not yet peace. A fascinating journey through 12 months of fear, hope, euphoria, and disappointment. A journalistic story about the most dramatic year of the 20th century. Grzebałkowska examines the fate of the last living witnesses of that time. She gives voices to the victims, but also the oppressors, especially when she can use them to show the post-war blending of roles and fates. 1945: War and Peace won the 2016 Nike Literary Audience Award.