Slavomir Rawicz—a modest man's struggle against the tides of war and oppression

John B Adams
Wednesday May 5, 2004
The Guardian
posted by permission

In the early 1950s, Slavomir "Slav" Rawicz, who has died aged 88, met a journalist, Ronald Downing. So taken was Downing with the epic story of Slav's escape from a Siberian labour camp in 1941 that he persuaded him to write about his experiences.

In 1955, The Long Walk was published. It was the story of a good and gentle man caught up in the savageries that followed Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, when that country was partitioned between the Nazis and the Soviet Union.

Slav's account started in the notorious Lubyanka prison in Moscow, as he was sentenced to 25 years' hard labour for "spying", after the 12 months of interrogation that had followed his arrest on November 19, 1939. Dispatched to Siberia, he and thousands of others were transported in open cattle trucks, in sub-zero temperatures, to the end of the line at Irkutsk, where, chained together, they were force-
marched hundreds of miles to Camp 303—which the survivors had to build from scratch.

In April 1941, with the aid of the camp commandant's wife, Slav and six others escaped in a blizzard. They then walked 4,000 miles south, living off the land, through the Gobi desert and over the Himalayas, until they reached India and were rescued by a Gurkha patrol. Sheer determination had overcome bitter cold, suffocating heat, thirst, starvation and injury. It took them a year. Three of the seven died on the way.

By the end of his ordeal, Slav weighed 5 stone. He never recovered his full health, but his humane will never betrayed it. After a period in hospital, the four dispersed, never to meet again.

Slav, the son of a landowner-cum-artist, was born near Pinsk, in western Poland (now Belarus). His mother, an accomplished musician, was Russian, and he grew up to speak the language fluently. As an adventurous boy, he roamed the glades and rivers of the Pripet marshes, fishing, sailing, making shelters and trapping his own food, all of which helped in his later, testing years.

Following private education, from 1932 to 1938 he studied architecture and surveying in Warsaw. In 1937, he joined the Polish reserve army, qualifying at the cavalry cadet officers' school the following year. In summer 1939, he married. The young couple had 48 hours together before Slav was mobilised as Germany invaded Poland. He never saw his wife again.

Poland's valiant defence ended after three weeks. Slav returned to Pinsk, where he was arrested by the advancing Soviet forces. He never saw his parents, siblings or home country again.

After India, in 1942 he was sent to Iraq, then to Palestine, where he taught at the Polish cadet school, helping at an orphanage in his spare time. Personally recommended by Lieutenant General Wladyslaw Anders, legendary commander of the Second Polish Corps, he came to Britain in 1944 to train as a pilot with the Polish air force.

After the war, he settled in the Nottingham area, where he worked as a school handicraft and woodwork instructor, as a cabinet maker and in store display. In the 1960s, he was employed by the Nottingham building and design centre.

After the centre closed, in the early 1970s he became my technician—I was a lecturer—on the architectural ceramics course at Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University) school of art and design. Our friendship developed across the ensuing decades, but a heart attack forced him into early retirement in the mid-1970s.

Slav had met Marjorie Needham at a dance in 1944. They were married in 1946, as soon as a special dispensation was obtained for the uncertainty about his first wife's survival. Marjorie, a librarian, helped with The Long Walk, which, never out of print, has been published in more than 25 languages, including, since 1990, Russian and other eastern European tongues.

From the royalties, Slav and Marjorie bought a ruined but delightful historic house on a hilltop near Nottingham, which they pulled into shape over the years while raising five children. There was never any spare money, but they managed with their Catholic faith, ingenuity and love.

Retirement was not a concept Slav entertained. Besides keeping a large garden in order for almost half a century, each year he received hundreds of letters from people all over the world, inspired by his book, often school children. With Marjorie's help, he answered them all. He gave talks, emphasising his watchwords, the "precious heritage of freedom".

Marjorie died three months ago. Their two sons, three daughters, 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren survive him.

·Slavomir Rawicz, escaper and crusader for freedom, born September 1 1915; died April 5 2004

The following reviews are from amazon.co.uk.

Once I started to read this book I quite literally couldn't put it down. Slavomir's inhuman treatment in Russian prisons after his arrest was quite graphic. The 3-week rail journey taken by the prisoners to Eastern Siberia in the depths of winter with almost no food or water meant that older or weaker men died quickly in the icy cold box-cars. Those who survived that ordeal then had to walk 1000 miles to their camp in the far north.

The story really begins with the escape—an adventure of truly epic proportions follows as they journey to India some 4000 miles away. Always they meet with people who have little themselves but are willing to share their homes and their food with the strangers. Several of them die on the journey . . .

As remarkable a tale of human endurance as any. ( )

This is the heartfelt memoir of a Polish man who escaped from a Russian work camp. What a wonderful thing it is that an account like this is now preserved in published form! This is a very emotional work and also a very well-written one. The writing style is rather vivid and even to a degree poetic. Either the author is a very talented writer or he got some good assistance! I'm afraid this review can't do justice to the book. Get it and read it yourself! ( )

This was my form 3 English novel, way way back. It blew me away as a 13 year old, and it blows me away still. The Eastern European names are hard to master, but this incredible true account of stoic survival and an awe-inspiring journey will move you. ( )

Quite possibly the most inspiring book I've ever read. This thing is awesome from start to finish.

The author was a Polish officer, captured in the forgotten war when Stalin invaded Eastern Poland as Germany attacked the West. This true story is not just an extraordinary escape from one of Stalin's Siberian camps, across the cold of Siberia, a crossing of the Gobi desert and the Himalaya, all by foot, but also a story of hardship and injustice.

Polish cavalry officer, captured by the Bolsheviks, imprisoned in the USSR, tortured, dispatched to Siberia [somewhere near Yakutsk]—from where he escaped with six others.

Together, they WALKED to freedom, via the Gobi desert and the Himalayas, picking up a part Polish part Ukrainian farm girl on the way who had also been exiled and escaped alone from a kolhoz. Some died on the way, but some made it to Calcutta.

As part of the research into the book Rawicz wrote, we did a lot of digging of our own, and we did succeed in finding a former British army officer stationed in Calcutta who remembered the group's arrival, their internment in the camp hospital, and their subsequent departure for different destinations.

Rawicz himself is utterly convincing, and absolutely never contradicts himself. He has not made a lot of money from his story which by now has been translated into more than 25 languages and he refused to sell movie rights to this story.

Slawomir Rawicz constantly pushes the line that we should all be thankful for the freedoms we enjoy. A man to be admired. ( )

The Long Walk—Slawomir Rawicz. An extraordinary story about four men who trekked the Siberian tundra, Gobi Desert and Himalayas without a compass or gear . . . ( )