When God Looked the Other Way: An Odyssey of War, Exile, and Redemption [Paperback]

This shocking account of a wartime treatment at the hands of the Soviet authorities is impressively recounted through the eyes of a Polish child. Often graphic in its depiction of indignity, near-starvation and inhumane treatment, Adamczyk’s account deserves to be read but not all about this book is satisfactory.

A British reader may be forgiven thinking that the British are ungenerously treated here. Whilst expressly (and rightly) qualifying his contempt of the Soviets with accounts of acts of individual generosity and kindness by Russians, no such words are lost on the British people after the war. Despite blaming the Allied nations for “complicity” in the massacre of Polish PoWs at the hands of the NKVD at Katyn and for abandoning the Polish Nation at the end of the war, Adamczyk’s treatment of the British and Americans could not be more different. The treatment of the American people is generous and grateful whereas the author’s view of the British is particularly ungracious – he describes refugees having defiled the Aquitania with human excrement and apparently shares their “resentment” of the British without ever explaining his grievance.

One cannot fail to be moved by the enormous personal suffering endured by the author and his family – or to marvel at the courage, particularly of Anna Adamczyk, the author’s mother – but there is a child-like lack of maturity in some aspects of this narrative. It is not always clear who is writing, the child or the adult writer. Adamczyk states that, following a tour of London “I began to have a clearer idea of how badly the British had suffered, and my attitude toward them softened as a result” but never explains what grievance against the British people he has.

The shortest chapter in this book is entitled “Making Peace with God” and this too lacks maturity (one paragraph involves the author curiously thanking himself). This chapter and the title reflect the narrator’s inability to deal with some of the themes of this book raises and it is questionable whether it was right of the author to tackle subjects rather than sticking to the narrative. Evil; the inextinguishable nature of good; mankind’s relationship with God; free will – one cannot help but conclude that this book applies a cursory and inadequate glance at these issues.

It is a pity that the book skips most of the author’s adult life in the United States. The subtitle (“An Odyssey of War, Exile and Redemption”) is really unsubstantiated, since the “redemption” is never really revealed to the reader. The choice of the words “redemption” and “odyssey” both appear somewhat misplaced – redemption implying something spiritual (which appears almost entirely lacking in the narrative) and it seems singularly inappropriate to describe the events which are depicted as an “odyssey”.

Nevertheless, a personal, powerful and graphic account of the triumph of hope over adversity.

I am very grateful to Wieslaw Adamczyk for writing the book which shows his unstoppable determination and personal drive to account for this part of our European history which became his personal experience and unhealed wound to this day. I cannot escape the thought that relationships between nations are strongly marked by historical facts and experiences. We know that some (regretably most) politicians and influential diplomats will always want to achieve success by compromising common values and moral questions. But the accounts of people like Wieslaw who suffered because of that remind us that we have a responsibility to reveal the truth and show without destortions. The least we can do now is to have the courage to admit the full truth about the human cost and openly apologise to those who suffered because we wanted to delay facing the uncomfortable truth. I think that teenage Wieslaw struggled with the thought that decent adults disappointed him with the lack of courage to admit the truth at least in a tacit or symbolic way - e.g. by treating the refuges with more welcoming approach, by giving them one more blanket to keep them warm, more food and so on. The adult Wieslaw cannot stop pondering on the fact that the Polish army was not invited to march at the defilade in London commemorating the allies victory in 1948. The adult Wieslaw almost cries out with disappointment that such a strong nation ''where the Sun never sets'' could not try harder when the War was over to at least tacitly support Polish government on exile to reveal the truth about murdered Polish officers and educated elite and send a stronger and united message to unveil the truth when the immediate threat was over. I think that in this context we can treat the comments on the 'human excrement in the British ship' as a symbolic and emotional message of disappointment that a dearer and closer friend did not try harder than others to pass the test of loyalty and friendship. That's what is behind this grievance. I do not doubt for a second that the majority of the British people are the ones who do remain loyal to principles of truth and honour and I see many who support Poles unreservedly in their endeavour to give history its justice.

To bring it all to today's time I think all decent people in the world remain perplexed with this reflection how quickly we turn to forget other peoples' misery when we end our own. Wieslaw's wound has remained open because he expected more courage and support from Poles and Poland's ,,friends'' (democratic allies) to press for the truth and to help him put his family history in its proper grave with dignity after the WWII. I hope that we will be able one day to pay a united tribute to all WWII victims (including those buried in Katyn, Miednoje, Charkow) in our EU Parliament. We should also aim to account for the true complexity of WWII conflict in our school textbooks to reveal the full price all nations paid to have peace and democratic Western Europe in 1945 and finally independent central Europe with Poland in 1989. A sincere apology from our governments on our behalf for such a shameful delay in revealing the truth wouldn't hurt either.

I have read extensively about the Jewish holocaust,factual,memoirs,and a few novels,i own 100+books.This story is another little known fact,a holocaust all of its own in the Jewish shaddow of persecution and annihilation.The title drew me to it not knowing what it would reveal about ordinary everyday Polish people,little known victims of Communist Soviet barbarism.
I am of Polish origin born after WW11,61 years old now,father ex Polish army[fought at Monte Cassino,etc,with the Allies] whom i know nothing about,for the remainder of his life he never returned to his homeland SAD but true.As a child growing up in Devonshire,England i recall my family telling me my father and many of his colleague,s could not return to Poland after the war because of what the Russian,s,Stalin,would do to them,at that time i never understood the reasoning for this.Having now read this book i fully understand,Stalin never needed any reason to murder his own and many other 1,000,s of innocent people,s.
This is another story on the scale of the Jewish Holocaust brought to light more recently,of murder,starvation,depravity and inhumanity.
At the start of the war when Hitler and Stalin joined forces they had a pact,to take and divide half of Poland between them under their own rules.This book is the personal story of one of the many ordinary familys who suffered under them,two tyrannical dictators,intent with murder on their minds.Having read this book was enlightening to me,i now know also of the suffering of the poles,Stalin was as evil as Hitler,to what he called the bourgeois class in Poland,everyone in fact.
The father of the boy telling the story was taken away almost as soon as the Russian,s invaded,one of the many 20,000+Polish Army Officers murdered in the Katyn forest in May 1940[thats another story]although the family never knew for sure until many years later.It is a story of a nightmare,of a separated familys deportation to Soviet Siberia an inhospitable place,of robbery,of property,money life and degradation.
This is a MUST READ for anyone remotely connected to Poland,wishing to know the facts of persicution put on these people,sent to hell but innocent of any crimes.I personally found this book an engrossing read i now understand my heritage in more detail,more fully,but not all by any means.
I understand the writers feelings towards my country,WE,not the Americans went to war to supposedly help Poland, thats why their men fought with us,for FREEDOM for them.What did we do at the end,we handed Poland to the Russians,WHY,dont get me wrong i love my country,but we deserted the poles,unforgiveable,they were then under oppressive rule for decades,so i can appricate his sentiments,try to imagine yourself in his shoes,when you and i live in a free country,then and now.
To Mr Adamczyk i want to say,on behalf of my government we let Poland down badly,i want to apologise to you personaly myself and on their behalf,maybe one day they might do the same.