The Polish Prince

In 1939, 13-year-old Zbigniew learns how to survive in eastern Poland when WWII breaks out. As the war progresses, he is caught between Nazi-German oppressors, the resisting Polish Home Army, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, as well as Soviet guerilla, with bullets and bombs flying all around him. Through his memoirs, he tells the story of survival, being captured and sent to concentration camps, escaping, and of falling in love. It's an honest tale of the effects of war, which still resonate today in that part of the world, and a must-read if you want to understand the background of the geopolitical issues facing our world today.

A Ukrainian illustrator created all of the maps in this book. At the time of making the illustrations, she lived in Kharkov, which in 2022, has been under constant shelling from the Russian Army. It was last taken over by the Russians in 1943. See her testimony below:

"...We lived in Kharkov. My house was on the outskirts of the city in the direction of the Russian Federation. On the morning of the 24th, we woke up from the fact that bomb explosions were heard around... and the windows were shaking. After days of bombing, with difficulty... and in despair, we left the city."

-Victoriia Riabova

May 2022

Also includes a Foreword by BARTOSZ GRODECKI, Polish Deputy Minister of the Interior:

"...Zbigniew (Zbyszek) Janczewski, growing up in the multicultural melting pot of the city of Rivne, now in Ukraine, was an eyewitness to the atrocities of war, losing many friends and loved ones in the process. His fate is a story of wandering through militarily occupied territories, while developing interpersonal and international relationships on both sides of the equation, escaping death on many accounts. Along the way, he endures a wide variety of emotions caused...