HELP ME SOLVE A POLISH PUZZLE
My dad will always be a hero in our family’s eyes, because despite everything that was done to him, he survived.
My dad was born a Jew called Mendel Popinski, on 17 March 1916, in a small town in Poland called Brzeziny (pronounced Bjergenie), near Ëódz.
When the war began in 1939 he went into the Polish Army, which despite everything probably saved his life. He was captured by the Russians and sent to a labour camp in Siberia. If he had been an officer, he would probably have been shot.
When he and the others got to Siberia, they had to build their own camp and there was little or no food. He told us that one day someone stole his bread, and he picked up a knife and threatened them to get his bread back because he was so hungry.
When the Germans invaded Russia and Russia became one of our allies, my dad was freed and joined the Army again. He drove an ammunition truck all over Europe and the Middle East until the war ended.
At the end of the war, Polish troops had a choice: return to Poland or live in England. Mendel chose the
