By Slavomir Rawicz
Lyons Press, 1997. 242 pages. Nonfiction
Rawicz was a Polish Army lieutenant who the Soviets claimed was a spy, and was imprisoned after the German-Soviet invasion of Poland. Escape seemed impossible, but life in a Siberian Gulag camp was unbearable, so he and six other prisoners made a daring escape. To get to the safety of British India, they walked out of Siberia, through China, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, and over the Himalayas. As they marched thousands of miles by foot, hunger, thirst, illness, wounds, and death marked their journey.
This is an incredible tale of endurance and teamwork. There has been a lot of controversy over the validity of Rawicz’s account, and while there are passages that seem quite unbelievable, I also know that truth can be stranger than fiction. Whether this story really is an honest account, entirely fictional, or a combination of the two, I’m not qualified to judge, but I do know it’s powerful, moving, and an incredible testament to the human spirit.
ACS
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