Posted by Peter Ceresole on March 06, 2006 at 13:30:51 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: POWs (was CC w/o a map) posted by Jock on March 06, 2006 at 01:09:40:
Poles:
But for most the 'choice' of what to do after the war had been made by Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill at the Tehran and Yalta conferences when the borders of Poland were first adjustd and then their homeland was handed over to the Soviets 'sphere of influence'.
Even so, most chose to return. You can understand why; they were homesick. Who wouldn't be? And it wasn't total hell. I met several of them in East Germany during the Gomulka years- 1978 or thereabouts. At a Rostock reception I met the Polish news agency rep for east and west Berlin. 'Ah, BBC? I read the news in Polish several times at Bush House during the war.' He'd been s sergeant; his wife, who was with him, was charming as only Polish women can be; she'd been a Lieutenant and they had married in London. 'Wasn't there a problem, Jerzy being an NCO and you an officer?' 'Oh no, he joined the paratroops and everything was all right.' Bravery and beauty were definitely equivalent.
He said the early post-war years had been tough, but that after 1956 things changed much for the better. He'd never regretted going back.