Changes

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, a complicated set of alliances was established amongst the nations of Europe, in the hope of preventing future wars (either with Germany or Soviet Russia). With the rise of [[Nazism]] in Germany, this system of alliances was strengthened by the signing of a series of "mutual assistance" alliances between [[France]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]], and [[Poland]] (Franco-Polish Alliance and Anglo-Polish Alliance). This agreement stated that in the event of war the other allies were to fully mobilize and carry out a "ground intervention within two weeks" in support of the ally being attacked<ref name="Ajnenkiel"> {{cite book | author =Andrzej Ajnenkiel | title =Polsko-francuski sojusz wojskowy | year =2000 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Academy of National Defence | location =Warsaw | id = | url = | format = | accessdate = }}</ref><ref name="Ciałowicz"> {{cite book | author =Jan Ciałowicz | coauthors = | title =Polsko-francuski sojusz wojskowy, 1921–1939 | year =1971 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe | location =Warsaw | id = }}</ref><ref name="Raczyński">{{cite book | author =Edward Raczyński | title =The British-Polish Alliance; Its Origin and Meaning | year =1948 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =The Mellville Press | location =London | id = }}</ref>

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, a complicated set of alliances was established amongst the nations of Europe, in the hope of preventing future wars (either with Germany or Soviet Russia). With the rise of [[Nazism]] in Germany, this system of alliances was strengthened by the signing of a series of "mutual assistance" alliances between [[France]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]], and [[Poland]] (Franco-Polish Alliance and Anglo-Polish Alliance). This agreement stated that in the event of war the other allies were to fully mobilize and carry out a "ground intervention within two weeks" in support of the ally being attacked<ref name="Ajnenkiel"> {{cite book | author =Andrzej Ajnenkiel | title =Polsko-francuski sojusz wojskowy | year =2000 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Academy of National Defence | location =Warsaw | id = | url = | format = | accessdate = }}</ref><ref name="Ciałowicz"> {{cite book | author =Jan Ciałowicz | coauthors = | title =Polsko-francuski sojusz wojskowy, 1921–1939 | year =1971 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe | location =Warsaw | id = }}</ref><ref name="Raczyński">{{cite book | author =Edward Raczyński | title =The British-Polish Alliance; Its Origin and Meaning | year =1948 | editor = | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = | publisher =The Mellville Press | location =London | id = }}</ref>

Samuel Pisar was born in 1929 in the northeastern Polish town of Białystok. His parents were educated in a post-partition Polish territory that had been part of the Russian Empire since the early nineteenth century—they attended a Russian school, spoke Russian, and were part of the overarching [Imperial Russian]] cultural sphere. After a brief interregnum between the two world wars, the nascent [[Second Polish Republic]] was again partitioned under the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]]. Białystok initially fell under [[Soviet]] control, his father’s local taxi business was nationalized, and a young Pisar was sent to a Russian-language school where he joined the youth division of the [[Soviet Communist Party]] and developed an interest in Russian literature—many decades later, he said that he is still able to quote Russian poets [[Pushkin]] and [[Lermontov]] by heart.

{{Anchor|Samuel Pisar}}

'''Samuel Pisar''' was born in 1929 in the northeastern Polish town of Białystok. His parents were educated in a post-partition Polish territory that had been part of the Russian Empire since the early nineteenth century—they attended a Russian school, spoke Russian, and were part of the overarching [Imperial Russian]] cultural sphere. After a brief interregnum between the two world wars, the nascent [[Second Polish Republic]] was again partitioned under the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]]. Białystok initially fell under [[Soviet]] control, his father’s local taxi business was nationalized, and a young Pisar was sent to a Russian-language school where he joined the youth division of the [[Soviet Communist Party]] and developed an interest in Russian literature—many decades later, he said that he is still able to quote Russian poets [[Pushkin]] and [[Lermontov]] by heart.

Białystok was [[Operation Barbarossa|occupied by the Germans in 1941]]. Amid massacres against the [[Jewish]] population, Pisar’s father was arrested and executed for taking part in a resistance group and Samuel was transferred along several concentration camps throughout the war. He was evacuated from [[Auschwitz]] to [[Dachau]] following the [[Red Army]]’s westward offensive. While on a death march near [[Munich]], he said that he and fourteen others fled into the woods after a ground strike by an [[American]] bomber squadron that allegedly mistook his four-thousand-man prisoner convoy for [[German]] soldiers. He was rescued by the [[U.S. Army]] shortly thereafter.

Białystok was [[Operation Barbarossa|occupied by the Germans in 1941]]. Amid massacres against the [[Jewish]] population, Pisar’s father was arrested and executed for taking part in a resistance group and Samuel was transferred along several concentration camps throughout the war. He was evacuated from [[Auschwitz]] to [[Dachau]] following the [[Red Army]]’s westward offensive. While on a death march near [[Munich]], he said that he and fourteen others fled into the woods after a ground strike by an [[American]] bomber squadron that allegedly mistook his four-thousand-man prisoner convoy for [[German]] soldiers. He was rescued by the [[U.S. Army]] shortly thereafter.