91 Essential Books about Poland and World War II

Memory Unfolded

 

The following list was compiled by William Szych and his friends at the the Facebook group “The Way Back — Stories of Poland’s Rape, Murder, Enslavement 70 Years Ago.”

 

 

The introduction was written by Mr. Szych:

This living bibliography is dedicated to all in Poland who suffered so much during WWII…those who died, those who lived through untold horrors, those who lost their country and found refuge through out the free world, and those who fought so bravely within Poland and with the Allied forces to free Poland.

The books below (now over 80 in number) are linked to amazon or other sites where you can read reviews of the book. Remember you can usually request your local library to get books for you through regional book-lending agreements.

If you know of other books you think should be added, let us know.

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32

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1. The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom [Paperback]

by Slavomir Rawicz

(Note: It has been recommended that this book be removed from this list because of the controversy and allegations that this is not a true story. But that is exactly the whole point of this book list…to have people think about what happened in Poland…what is true, what is lie, what is omission.

What we know: Stalin’s Gulags existed and Polish citizens were enslaved there and in the Siberian labor camps and collective farms. We know millions of Polish citizens perished both in Siberia and in occupied Poland (Jews and Christians) including the 1940 murder of 23,000 Polish officers on orders from Stalin, initially an ally of Hitler and fellow invader of Poland.
We also know that many Poles fought bravely in conventional land and air forces with the Allies in key battles of the war and in the underground resistance forces in Poland. We know that Polish children were stolen and sent to Germany never to see their familites again and we know that many women were raped by both Germans and Soviets. And we also know that at the end of the war, Poland was handed over to Stalin leaving many Polish people without a country.

The name of this Group includes “The Way Back” for reason. It is not just to acknowledge and commend the movie by that same name which depicts the brutality of the Soviet Gulag. It is, rather, to note that a long journey must begin to take the “way back” to the truth of what really happened to Poland just 70 years ago.

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1. When God Looked the Other Way: An Odyssey of War, Exile, and Redemption by Wesley Adamczyk (May 15, 2006)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_29?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=when+god+looked+the+other+way&sprefix=when+god+looked+the+other+way

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1. Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation 1939-1944 [Paperback] Richard C. Lukas (Author), Norman Davies (Foreword)

http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Holocaust-German-Occupation-1939-1944/dp/0781809010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294004995&sr=1-1-spell

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1. Katyn: Stalin’s Massacre and the Triumph of Truth [Paperback] by Allen Paul

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1. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder (Oct 12, 2010)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_43?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=bloodlands+europe+between+hitler+and+stalin&sprefix=bloodlands+europe+between+hitler+and+stalin

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1. Waiting to be Heard: The Polish Christian Experience Under Nazi and Stalinist Oppression 1939-1955 [Paperback]Bogusia J. Wojciechowska

http://www.amazon.com/Waiting-Heard-Christian-Experience-Oppression/dp/1449013716/ref=pd_sim_b_3

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1. Stolen Childhood: A Saga of Polish War Children [Paperback]

Robert Twele (Author), Lucjan Krolikowski (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Childhood-Saga-Polish-Children/dp/0595168639/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294008458&sr=1-1

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1. The Ice Road: An Epic Journey from the Stalinist Labor Camps to Freedom [Hardcover] Stefan Waydenfeld

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-stefan-waydenfeld/the-ice-road-my-life-in-a_b_499248.html Article by the author.

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1. The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt: War Through a Woman’s Eyes 1939-1940 [Paperback] Rulka Langer (Author)

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1. Quiet Hero: Secrets from My Father’s Past [Hardcover] Rita Cosby

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1. Code Name: Żegota: Rescuing Jews in Occupied Poland, 1942-1945: The Most Dangerous Conspiracy in Wartime Europe [Hardcover]

Irene Tomaszewski Tecia Werbowski (Authors)

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1. The Officer’s Daughter by Zina Rohan (FICTION–NOVEL)

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1. 303 Squadron: The Legendary Battle of Britain Fighter Squadron

http://tinyurl.com/303Squadron

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1. A Long Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brigidpasulka.com%2F&h=fa9af

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1. The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story [Paperback]

by Diane Ackerman

We’re sorry. We weren’t able to load the preview.

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1. Inside a Gestapo Prison: The Letters of Krystyna Wituska, 1942-1944 [Paperback] Krystyna Wituska

(Author), Irene Tomaszewski (Author)

(note: she was executed by the Gestapo in her early twenties)

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1. A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II [Paperback] Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud (Author)

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1. World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West [Hardcover] Laurence Rees

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1. My Dear Mr. Stalin: The Complete Correspondence of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph V. Stalin by Susan Butler (Jan 10, 2006)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=My+Dear+Mr+Stalin

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1. Hollywood’s War with Poland, 1939-1945 [Hardcover]

M.B.B. Biskupski (Author)

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1. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Tadeusz Borowski (FICTION by a Camp survivor)

(Author), Barbara Vedder (Editor, Translator), Michael Kandel (Translator), Jan Kott (Introduction)

http://www.amazon.com/This-Ladies-Gentlemen-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140186247/ref=tag_stp_s2f_edpp_url

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1. I Saw Poland Betrayed: An American ambassador reports to the American people (The Americanist library) by Arthur Bliss Lane (1965)

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1. No Greater Ally: The Untold Story of Poland’s Forces in World War II

Kenneth K. Koskodan (Author)

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1. DUPES: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century [Hardcover] Paul Kengor

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1. Books by Norman Davies

Europe at War 1939-1945
Europe: A History
Rising ’44: The Battle for Warsaw
White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War 1919-20
God’s Playground: A History of Poland (Volume I & Volume II)
Heart of Europe: A Short History of Poland

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1. Suggested by John Bartoszynski

Stalin and the Poles; An Indictment of the Soviet leaders [Hardcover]

Bronislaw Kusnierz (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/Stalin-Poles-indictment-Soviet-leaders/dp/B000L9A5SC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294255784&sr=1-2-fkmr0

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1. Suggested by John Bartoszynski

THE RAPE OF POLAND, Pattern of Soviet Aggression. Whittley House, 1948, 309 pages H/B

Stanislaw Mikolajczyk

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1. Suggested by John Bartoszynski

AN ARMY IN EXILE the Story of the Second Polish Corps [Hardcover]

LT. GENERAL W. ANDERS (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/EXILE-Story-Second-Polish-Corps/dp/B000H48LFU/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294281050&sr=1-2-fkmr1

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1. Poland Betrayed: The Nazi-Soviet Invasions of 1939 (Campaign Chronicles) by David Williamson

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1. Warsaw 1920: Lenin’s Failed Conquest of Europe by Adam Zomoyski

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1. Genocide and Rescue in Wolyn: Recollections of the Ukrainian Nationalist Ethnic Cleansing Campaign Against the Poles During World War II by Tadeusz Piotrowski

http://www.amazon.com/Genocide-Rescue-Wolyn-Recollections-Nationalist/dp/078644245X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

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1. Other books by Tadeusz Piotrowski

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=tadeusz+piotrowski&x=11&y=21

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1. Story of a Secret State [Paperback] Jan Karski (Author)

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1. Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust [Paperback]

E. Thomas Wood (Author), Stanislaw M. Jankowski (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/Karski-How-Tried-Stop-Holocaust/dp/0471145734/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294382166&sr=1-3

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1. Irena Sendler: Mother of the Children of the Holocaust by Anna Mieszkowska (Hardcover – Nov 18, 2010)

http://www.amazon.com/Irena-Sendler-Mother-Children-Holocaust/dp/0313385939/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294382620&sr=8-2

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1. Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War [Paperback]

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1. The Polish Club in San Francisco Recommends Movies and Books…

http://www.polishclubsf.org/Recommended.htm

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1. “Poland in the Rockies” recommends…

http://www.polandintherockies.com/recommended-reading

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1. Maps and Shadows by Krysia Jopek

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1. Polish Greatness Book List (some repeats from above, but many new ones also)

http://polishgreatness.blogspot.com/p/polish-greatness-book-store.html

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1. Escaping Danger by Dorothy Dubel (HISTORICAL FICTION)

http://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Danger-Dorothy-Dubel/dp/1436383781/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294789108&sr=1-1

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1. Via Krysia Styrna Facebook Page

Tell The West, Jerzy G Gliksman (Author), 1948

For Recent review see:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798432,00.html

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1. The Ghosts of Europe by Anna Porter

http://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Europe-Central-Europes-Uncertain/dp/0312681224/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295057614&sr=1-1

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1. The Polish Officer by Alan Furst

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1. Escape from Warsaw by Ian Serraillier

http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Warsaw-Original-title-Silver/dp/0590437151/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295490573&sr=1-1

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1. The Black Devils’ March – a Doomed Odyssey: The 1st Polish Armoured Division 1939-45 [Paperback] by Evan McGilvray

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1. Lightning and Ashes by John Guzlowski

Poems about his Polish Catholic parents who were taken as slave laborers to Nazi Germany.

Recent review: http://venusfebriculosa.com/?p=505

http://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Ashes-John-Guzlowski/dp/0974326453

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1. As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me by Josef Bauer

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1. Suggested by Danusha Goska

Bieganski: The Brute Polak Stereotype in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture (Jews of Poland) by Danusha Goska

http://www.amazon.com/Bieganski-Stereotype-Polish-Jewish-Relations-American/dp/1936235153/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295821557&sr=1-1

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1. Suggested by Stephen Stelmaszuk

The Lion and the Eagle: Polish Second World War Veterans in Scotland (Voice of war series) by Diana M. Henderson

http://www.amazon.com/Lion-Eagle-Polish-Veterans-Scotland/dp/095350364X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295881664&sr=1-3

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1. A Blog by Group Member John Guzlowski

Writing the Polish Diaspora — News and information for Polish Writers and Writers of the Polish Diaspora

http://writingpolishdiaspora.blogspot.com/

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1. Victims of Stalin and Hitler: The Exodus of Poles and Balts to Britain [Hardcover] by Thomas Lane

http://www.amazon.com/Victims-Stalin-Hitler-Exodus-Britain/dp/1403932204/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1295885578&sr=1-2-fkmr2

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1. A Blog by Group Member Martin Stepak

Polish Legacy Poems

http://polishlegacypoems.blogspot.com/

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1. Suggested by John Burke

Man Is Wolf to Man: Surviving the Gulag [Paperback]

Janusz Bardach (Author), Kathleen Gleeson (Author), Adam Hochschild (Foreword)

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Wolf-Surviving-Gulag/dp/0520221524/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

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1. Suggested by Denise Jachimowicz Coughlin

Dragon In My Pocket [Hardcover]

Denise Coughlin (Author), Bill Kastan (Illustrator)

http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-My-Pocket-Denise-Coughlin/dp/0976590506/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295915604&sr=1-1

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1. Suggested by Stephen Stelmaszuk

Lost Between Worlds: A World War II Journey of Survival

by Edward H. Herzbaum

http://www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=1347
Amazon books link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Between-Worlds-Journey-Survival/dp/1848766033/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Web Site: http://www.lostbetweenworlds-herzbaum.com/

1. By Parachute to Warsaw by Marek Celt

http://home.teleport.com/~flyheart/tadeusz.htm

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1. Memoir of Stanisław Jaskólski — Victim and Witness to German Death Camp during WWII

http://wewillspeakout.blogspot.com/2011/01/memoir-of-stanislaw-jaskolski-victim.html

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1. Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum

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1. Polish Civilians Killed in World War II: Janusz Korczak, Rutka Laskier, 108 Martyrs of World War Two, Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Meir Balaban [Paperback] Books LLC (Editor)

http://www.amazon.com/Polish-Civilians-Killed-World-War/dp/1155385810/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296257985&sr=1-1

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1. Soldiers Of Evil — The Commandants of the Nazi Concentration Camps by Tom Segev

http://www.amazon.com/Soldiers-Evil-Tom-Segev/dp/0425121712/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296264647&sr=1-1#

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1. Andrzej Pityński Sculpture [Hardcover]

Anna Chudzik (Editor), Andrzej K. Olszewski, Irena Grzesiuk-Olszewska (Introduction)

http://www.amazon.com/Andrzej-Pity%1Aski-Sculpture-Anna-Chudzik/dp/8375760218/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296320686&sr=1-1

Can be directly ordered from the publisher: Wydawnictwo Bosz, email: biuro@bosz.com.pl

web site is http://www.bosz.com.pl Andrzej has been called the leading Polish American sculptor and has created many memorials directly related to Polish American and Polish interests

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1. The Samaritans: Heroes of the Holocaust

Wladyslaw Bartoszewski (Author), Zofia Lewin (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006CF8YK/ref=cm_rdp_product ( For Reviews )

Out of print but used copies are available at:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=The+Samaritans%3A+Heroes+of+the+Holocaust&x=70&y=12

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1. Witold’s Report (Episodes from Auschwitz)

http://www.amazon.com/Witolds-Report-Episodes-Auschwitz-2/dp/8361618031/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296416122&sr=1-1

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1. Et Papa tacet: the genocide of Polish Catholics.: An article from: Commonweal [HTML] [Digital]

http://www.amazon.com/Papa-tacet-genocide-Catholics-Commonweal/dp/B000BQFM56/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296416332&sr=1-1

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1. War Through Children’s Eyes

http://www.amazon.com/War-Through-Childrens-Eyes-Deportations/dp/0817974725/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296418474&sr=8-1

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1. The Polish Army, 1939-45 (Men-at-arms) [Paperback]

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1. First to Fight: Poland’s Contribution to the Allied Victory in WWII

http://www.polishforcesmemorial.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=76

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1. The Forgotten Few: The Polish Airforce in WWII

http://www.amazon.com/FORGOTTEN-FEW-Polish-Force-World/dp/1848841965/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296693649&sr=1-1

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1. Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg

http://www.amazon.com/Poland-1939-Birth-Blitzkrieg-Campaign/dp/1841764086/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296693288&sr=1-2

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1. The Polish Campaign 1939

http://www.amazon.com/Polish-Campaign-1939-Steven-Zaloga/dp/087052013X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296693144&sr=1-1

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1. Polish Resistance in WWII Collection of essays, articles, links, and an excellent readking list of dozens of books too numerous to list here

http://www.polishresistance-ak.org/FurtherR.htm

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1. Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw, 1940-1945 [Hardcover]

by Dr. Gunnar S. Paulsson

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300095465/ref=cm_rdp_product

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1. The Mass Deportation of Poles to Siberia: A Historical Narrative Based on the Written Testimony of the Polish Siberian Survivors by Michael Carolan

http://www.amazon.com/Mass-Deportation-Poles-Siberia-Historical/dp/1615848118

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1. Polish Poetry from the Soviet Gulags: Recovering a Lost Literature [Hardcover] Halina Ablamowicz (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0773449345?tag=everythisjake-20&camp=213381&creative=390973&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0773449345&adid=0JCE5CPZ6FMV4VZFK2Y0&

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1. Legacy of the White Eagle; Includes a CD at the Back of Book [Paperback] by Julian Kulski

http://www.amazon.com/LEGACY-WHITE-EAGLE-Back-Book/dp/142430525X

also available at: http://www.poloniatoday.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PTOS&Product_Code=JK-PT-4

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1. Exiled to Siberia [Hardcover] By Klaus Hergt

http://www.amazon.com/Exiled-Siberia-Klaus-Hergt/dp/0970043201/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

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1. Children of the Katyń Massacre: Accounts of Life After the 1940 Soviet Murder of Polish POWs [Abridged] [Paperback] Teresa Kaczorowska

http://www.amazon.com/Children-Katyn-Massacre-Accounts-Soviet/dp/0786427566/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

also at: http://www.jacketflap.com/bookdetail.asp?bookid=0786427566

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1. Out of the Cross by Rev. Charles Jan Di Mascola

http://www.polamjournal.com/News/Reviews/reviews.html (Scroll down to get to the review and name of publishers…book is not avalible through Amazon unfortunately) This book is about the 108 members of the Polish Catholic clergy designated as WWII martyrs.

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1. The Civilian Population and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 [Paperback] by Joanna K. M. Hanson

http://www.amazon.com/Civilian-Population-Warsaw-Uprising-1944/dp/0521531195/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298485962&sr=8-1

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1. Your Life Is Worth Mine: How Polish Nuns Saved Hundreds of Jewish Children in German-Occupied Poland, 1939-1945 [Hardcover] by Ewa Kurek

http://www.amazon.com/Your-Life-Worth-Mine-German-Occupied/dp/0781804094

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1. Wojtek the Bear: Polish War Hero by Aileen Orr

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/aileen%2Borr/wojtek%2Bthe%2Bbear/7756094/

Also http://www.amazon.com/WOJTEK-BEAR-Polish-War-Hero/dp/1841588458

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1. Enigma: How the Poles Broke the Nazi Code (Polish Histories) [Hardcover]

Wladyslaw Kozaczuk (Author), Jerzy Straszak (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/Enigma-Poles-Broke-Polish-Histories/dp/078180941X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

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1. The report of the Anglo-Polish Historical Committee: Intelligence co-operation between Poland and Great Britain during World War II

http://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-Co-Operation-Between-Poland-Britain/dp/085303656X

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1. Fighting Warsaw: The Story of the Polish Underground State 1939-1945

by Stefan Korboński

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1. The Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom

By Andrzej Paczkowski

http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Will-Be-Ours-Occupation/dp/0271023082

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1. Night of Flames: A Novel of World War II [Hardcover]Douglas W. Jacobson

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1. A World Apart: Imprisonment in a Soviet Labor Camp During World War II [Paperback]

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1. In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer (9780553494112): Irene Opdyke

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1. DPs: Europe’s Displaced Persons, 1945-1951 and

Round-Trip to America, both by Mark Wyman

and

http://www.amazon.com/Round-Trip-America-Immigrants-1880-1930-Paperbacks/dp/0801481120/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299035981&sr=1-.

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http://lightning-and-ashes.blogspot.com/2011/03/91-essential-books-about-poland-and.html