Top New Release in History of Poland — Amazon
The World That Once Was…My Twentieth Century
One Polish family's fight to preserve culture, identity, and moral duty amid the rise of 20th-century extremism.
One Polish family's fight to preserve culture, identity, and moral duty amid the rise of 20th-century extremism.
Halina Donimirska-Szyrmer's memoir is an intimate record of a Polish family resisting Nazism's rise in 1930s Germany — the human impact of its spread, in vivid detail, woven through the major historical events of the era.
Follow the Donimirski family's struggle to preserve the Polish community as intimidation and violence ramped up — a gripping true story of life resisting fascism's rise, and its lessons for navigating authoritarianism in our own polarized times.
Born in 1918 as World War I concluded, Halina Donimirska grew up on a prosperous Polish landed estate in East Prussia. But gathering forces threatened her family's cherished way of life. As Nazism's shadow lengthened over 1930s Germany, her once-peaceful community descended into violence and fear.
Growing up in the liminal spaces between cultures under the gathering storm clouds of war, Halina developed a nuanced perspective. She witnessed the persecution of Poland's minority under German occupation — and the plurality of ordinary Germans' views, even in pre-war Berlin.
The memoir highlights the singular bonds between brothers and sisters facing harrowing historic upheaval together. Out of the many family dramas woven through the account, the loyalty and affection between siblings emerges as a lifeline amid the swirling chaos.
Halina's brothers sustained her through her trials with carefree joy and a tenacious spirit — despite their own trials and tribulations, girding her for the supreme tests ahead.
"An assiduous, deeply intimate account of one Polish family's story before, during, and after WWII. Captures the small moments of life lived during enormous upheaval with precision and tactile sense."
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