From the Soviet Gulag to Arnhem

Caught Between Nazis and Soviets, Stanislaw Kulik was a man who dodged death.

After the Russian occupation of Poland, Stanislaw Kulik, aged 15, was deported to the Soviet gulags and put to work. If you didn’t work, you didn't eat. While many died, Stanislaw managed to survive. Following the Nazis’ invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, he was given an opportunity to join the Polish army being formed somewhere in the Soviet Union, but nobody knew where. After months travelling on his own through central Asia, through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Stanislaw finally reached Iraq, where he worked in a camp which processed Polish refugees. Too young to join up, the Army faked his age and eventually he was then taken by ship to Great Britain via India, where he joined up with the Polish Parachute Brigade. After qualifying as a paratrooper in Scotland, he dropped at Arnhem, in Operation Market Garden, where he found himself trapped behind enemy lines. Thanks to the Dutch underground he avoided capture by the Nazis.

This thrilling memoir is an inspiring story of a triumph of resilience and courage against great odds.