From the Author

Having spent nearly ten years writing my memoirs, originally in Polish, I hope that with this English edition they will reach a wider circle of readers. They span more than eighty years of turbulent world history and when is such history not turbulent?--and include details which may not be familiar to many readers.

Those acquainted with the epoch I am describing may wander, before picking up the book, whether it is yet another retelling of an often described drama, the subject already of myriad historical classics. I would say, yes, but it is a retelling with a twist. This book is, above all, a tale of exceptional good fortune, which, in contrast to the experiences of many others of my generation, has been my oddly lucky lot.

I have lived on the edge of a precipice, yet have somehow managed to miss the worst fate. I have been steps away from death, a refugee fleeing deportation, starvation, and death camps. While fighting on two fronts during World War II, I had been shot at innumerable times; while in combat, I have without a doubt caused the death of others. After the war's end, living under a Soviet-imposed communist regime, I was spared torture and prison. And I did not choose emigration, but circumstances forced me and my wife and daughter to accept it.

Luckily, we found ourselves in America land of promise. Ironically, however, we arrived here during a difficult period of social upheaval and racial unrest. Political conflict, assassinations, bombings, and the tragedy of an interventionist war in Indochina formed the backdrop of our new life in our adopted country. Later, working in the Middle East, I witnessed the early seeds of the conflict that now besieges us all.

Looking back, I can hardly believe that through it all my luck held out, and that I was able to write my memoirs in the peace and quiet of my own home. And I trust that you will enjoy reading them--the story of an incorrigible optimist.