I find it questionable to rely upon Soviet documents to determine the veracity of someone (Slavomir Rawicz) who was imprisoned, tortured, and transported to be worked to death by Stalinist ghouls. Not knowing exactly what the British and American researchers found, which is not mentioned in the news stories, I would simply ask in general, wasn't there an overwhelming ulterior motive for the Soviet machine to declare thousands of Polish soldiers released to join the Polish Army wherever it existed, and then ship their non-paper-version prisoners to the gulag in Siberia? That is known in America as a whitewash and constitutes an admirable use of paper in authoritarian societies.
On the matter of Witold Glinski's escape, very similar to the book's, the question I must ask is why he kept his saga hidden for fifty years if someone else was pretending to be him? Having known Rawicz, I never thought of him as an impersonator or a man with a surpassingly brilliant imagination.
An analogous case concerns the post-WWII captured Swedish ambassador Wallenburg, who the Soviets insisted, during the Gorbachov thaw, that their records showed to have died of pneumonia in 1947. Another paper thin explanation apparently, because when an American military figure was being held in a prison outside Moscow in the '70's, he heard a voice shout "Taxi!", to call the elevator up after his few minutes of fresh air. "Are you American?" the American called. "No, Swedish," said the voice. But in the black is white world of totalitarian Russia, he had been dead since 1947. In my view, his "death" and the claimed "freedom" of Rawicz and so many others must be understood as political inversions of the truth.
It is interesting to see this tread revived after several month's dormancy, but I also want to thank Mr. Ray for making comments that are very much worth considering.
The BBC found extensive records in Belarus which proved nothing by themselves but gave samples of his handwriting.
To quote the BBC article:
Our next find came at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London, a treasure trove of Second World War memorabilia.
We found Rawicz's military record, which clearly says he had rejoined the Polish Army in Russia. We wondered how this could possibly fit with the story of The Long Walk.
The missing link came through documents discovered by an American researcher, Linda Willis, in Polish and Russian archives. One, in Rawicz's own hand described how he was released from the gulag in 1942, apparently as part of a general amnesty for Polish soldiers. These are backed up by his amnesty document and a permit to travel to rejoin the Polish Army.
These papers make it almost impossible to believe that Rawicz escaped, unless there is a case of mistaken identity. However, the name and place and date of birth all match.
So we have his book from which he handsomely profited, a book one can fairly describe as "unbelievable!" (Yeti, impossible distances without water, etc) plus no documentation that it is true plus documents from two different countries showing beyond a reasonable doubt that it couldn't be true. Take away the fact that the story would be fun to believe, and I don't see a good rational reason to believe it.
I read the book a looong time ago when Jack recommended it on another website. I don't know if its true or not -- or just has some exaggerations -- but I found it to be a good read and a lot more interesting than the typical a.t. thru hiking book or online journal.
I found it incredibly hard to believe that he and his troupe would be able to survive as long as they did without water. It seemed very far-fetched to me.
GA←↕→ME: 1973 to 2014
well, as I recall the book, they didn't all survive the desert trek. There's also the story of the crew of the "Lady Be Good" in WW2 which came down in the desert. Most of their bodies were recovered after the war and from diaries it appeared that some of them at least did survive for a few days at least.
Which of course has nothing to do with the truth or absence of truth of the book.
Dyslexics Untie!
Looks as if the book has been made into a movie, starring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris. The title is "The Way Back" and its release date is December 29, 2010.
Newsweek article.
RainMan
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[I]ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: ... Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit....[/I]. Numbers 35
[url]www.MeetUp.com/NashvilleBackpacker[/url]
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Path Withouut Destination - by Satish Kumar
Take Me With You - Brad Newsham
Best hiking books I've ever read. . .
[I]ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: ... Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit....[/I]. Numbers 35
[url]www.MeetUp.com/NashvilleBackpacker[/url]
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I read books once, but that was before Netflix.
Here is a similar story, also purported to be true. Not bad, but some parts were also hard to believe.
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/As-Far-...ry-Me/70068024
No Yeti in this one, though.
http://www.amazon.com/Touching-Void-...ref=pd_sim_b_1
A good TRUE story of survival.
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread.
-Edward Abbey
This article tells the story of three young men who followed the general route that Rawicz claimed to have followed. They say this:
So as for the Gobi, Mongolia, the Himalayas –we were there, we saw it, we experienced it. And I can say that, to my disappointment, at least this part of the “Long Walk” was written by somebody who has never been there…
They do feel, however, that another Pole may have made a similar journey. See the link for more information.