He spent 18 months in a Soviet labor camp for trying to reach the Polish army in France. Gustaw Herling-Grudziński was arrested by the NKVD in 1940, survived Yertsevo, and turned that frozen hell into "A World Apart"—the 1951 memoir that Bertrand Russell called essential reading for understanding totalitarianism. He wrote from Naples for decades, a voluntary exile who refused to return until Poland was free. He died in 2000, having outlived the system that tried to break him. The witness survived to tell what the executioners wanted forgotten.
Your Personalized History Pack
Born on July 4, 2000
On the day you were born,
What happened on July 4, 2000
The world on this day
Famous birthday today
Calvin Coolidge
Your full 2000 pack
Page 1 above is yours free. The full 5-page pack continues with a cultural snapshot, top baby names, your day across history, and the economy of 2000.
$29.99 for Yearly members — save $10 on every pack. Sign up Yearly $59.99 →
Other popular years
"There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em."
— Louis Armstrong