The Roundup, pierwsza książka trylogii fantastyki historycznej
The Murano family saga is my primary theme. Pals Forever is published. So is The Resurrections. The third on The Eighteenth Camel is coming out any day. But the life of a cardiac surgeon and his family is not the only story I am interested in. I am expanding beyond the medical fiction. My next […]
Kraj na rozdrożu w Europie
The end of the first millennium saw the developing of conditions for future wars in Europe. Christianity slowly kept expanding, and Poland, still a pagan country, didn’t want to accept the new order from the Holy Roman Empire, our powerful Western neighbor. Instead, we asked to be baptized directly by the pope, thus separating ourselves […]
Polska walka o wolność
On this day, 83 years ago, a dark cloud descended on Poland. On September 1, 1939, the German hordes invaded our country from the West. Seventeen days later, the Russians completed the job, and marched from the East. Once again, Poland disappeared from the maps of Europe. But, as we say each time singing our […]
Mój ojciec i dorastanie w komunistycznej Polsce
My father was an honorable and a decent man. I still remember the first advice he gave me. “Don’t lie,” he said. “It’s so much easier to live your life when you don’t have to remember each version of the story you told different people.” He was honest to a fault. Never tried to manipulate […]
Tradycje. Epilog dla czytelników polskich
Dla moich polskich czytelników. Koncert w Piwnicy pod Baranami. A teraz sam autor, Jan Pietrzak. Tekst oryginalny. Jest takie miejsce u zbiegu dróg, Gdzie się spotyka z zachodem wschód… Nasz pępek świata, Nasz biedny raj… Jest takie miejsce, Taki kraj. Nad pastwiskami ciągnący dym, Wierzby jak mary, w welonach mgły… Tu krzyż przydrożny, Tam święty […]
Tradycje
Teaching kids how to cook mother’s favorite dishes. Showing them the places your ancestors are from. Telling stories about how parents met and what they’ve done before you’ve arrived. Traditions. Most of the kids don’t think about what’d happened before they were born. And if they do––it happens late in their lives. Often too late. […]
Dlaczego Polacy walczą, część 4
They were the largest group of the people participating in the Warsaw Uprising. And the only one not involved in the decision to rise. Before the war, Warsaw had a population of 1,300,000, and the city was the seventh largest of Europe. In March 1945, after the Germans evacuated, only 310,000 were left. From the […]
Dlaczego Polacy walczą, część 3
They were young, desperate, and had seen enough of German savagery. They wanted to be free and wanted to avenge the unspeakable brutality of the invaders. They knew they could die, but also knew there are worse things than death. But the youths of Warsaw weren’t the only players in this crucial moment of the […]
Dlaczego Polacy walczą, część 2.
The Museum of Warsaw Uprising is chilling evidence of the atrocity of dying Nazi experiment. Being beaten on both fronts, the Germans unloaded their rage on the essentially defenseless population of the Polish capital. Their destruction of Warsaw was symbolic and reminds me of the epic razing of Carthage by the Romans after the Third […]
