The Warsaw Underground

The German invasion of Poland in September 1939 abruptly ended author Jan Rosinski’s student life, and propelled him into an activist role in the Polish resistance organization Armia Krajowa. In short order he became a talented forger of Nazi documents, especially travel papers that allowed many refugees to escape the city. His university studies in chemistry and physics created a role for him as an effective saboteur. Narrowly escaping death on several occasions, he was fearless in his pursuits.
His dislike of the Nazi leadership was exceeded by an even greater hatred of the Soviet Army as it invaded Poland from the East less than a month later. Poland would be sealed off from the West for fifty years. Rosinski’s travails as a POW in Germany eventually led him to the Allied forces in Germany; the U.S. became the beneficiary of his brilliant discoveries in atmospheric science. Jan was accompanied on his life’s journey by his wife Barbara (d. 1993), who served as a medical officer in the underground army; Jan died in 2012.

The late Jan Rosinski authored numerous studies and research articles in atmospheric science. He lived in Boulder, Colorado.
The late Richard Hile served for nearly 30 years as a diplomat in Asia and Western Europe. He lived in Seattle, Washington.

by Jan Rosinski with Richard Hile
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 192
Bibliographic Info: 29 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7693-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1248-5
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments   vi
Preface   1
Prologue   3
1. Invasion   5
2. Family   17
3. The Underground   28
4. The Bookstore   44
5. The Governor-General   50
6. Gestapo   59
7. Barbarity   74
8. The Deserter   87
9. Four Stories, 1943   92
10. Warsaw Uprising   102
11. Prisoners of War   123
12. The Russians Arrive and We Escape   134
13. With the British and the Polish Army   142
14. England and on to America   157
Epilogue   170
Bibliography   175
Index   177