Zygmunt Schwager is thirteen years old in 1936.  The small, scrappy, second son of a tailor living in a town in western Poland. As trouble starts to escalate in Europe, people in his village do not believe the conflict will reach them.  By 1939, when the stories of Hitler’s killing rampage become more frequent, Zygmunt tries to persuade his family to leave but he cannot. He decides to go alone to a bigger city to confirm these rumors for himself, never imagining he will not return, or ever see his family again. Through a series of fortuitous choices, lies, and harrowing encounters with Russian guards, Uzbek agents, German peasants and Polish troops, Zygmunt manages to avoid capture by the Nazis. Starvation, illness, loss, and fear become his companions on his 10,000 mile cross-continental search for freedom and safety. When he finally sets foot on Ellis Island, expecting to find a new life of prosperity, he discovers that life in America is not as easy as he thought it would be. More disappointments await him, but his will to survive is unchanged.

Fifty years after he arrives in New York, Zygmunt finally tells the story to his adult daughter Karinna who has been trying to persuade him to relate his war experiences for years. She cannot understand why he has kept his past a secret, or why his life has been so unhappy. When he reluctantly agrees to tell her, and she begins to absorb the magnitude of his hardships, she must face the anguish and responsibility for bringing her father's hidden memories to the surface.  As he relives them, and she becomes immersed in his past, she realizes that the unspoken truth has profoundly affected not only his life, but hers as well, providing answers to her lifelong questions, and allowing her to discover within them, the father she never knew.

Many holocaust stories depict life in concentration camps. The mostly unknown side of WWII was experienced by survivors who through cunning, luck, and perseverance were able to stay one step ahead of the Nazis.  My father was one of them.

Favorite books

The Kite Runner

All The Light We Cannot See

A Hundred Years of Solitude

in the queue

The Boys in the Boat

We Are All Welcome Here

what i'm working on

Mah Jongg Therapy

Edith's Take on Everything

Nobody's Christmas Tree

motivation for writing

“It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

Jimmy Dugan - A League of their Own