POSTCARD FROM TRUSKAWIEC – SPA

About the Book

Emilla Rubinstein is the only child of a wealthy entrepreneur in pre-war Poland. She leads a carefree, privileged life, and while vacationing in Truskawiec meets the handsome, young Czartoryski, presumably of noble birth. They fall in love. Czartoryski charms his way into the Rubinstein family, claiming his own family lost all wealth.. The Rubinsteins object to their relationship due to the difference in religion. Nonetheless, they help him financially for the sake of their pampered daughter. The hot romance is soon interrupted by the outbreak of W.W. II. Emilia is caught into the web of Holocaust and is forced to mature very quickly. She becomes separated from her parents and every day is a struggle for survival. She assumes an Aryan name of Jadwiga (Jadzia) Slowikowska and joins the Underground. She exhibits great heroism. At the same time, Czartoryski’s greed and anti-Semitism brings out his opportunistic nature. Jadzia (Emilia) learns to her dismay, that her former lover is responsible for the death of her parents. Czartoryski denounces her to the Gestapo. Sent to Treblinka she manages to escape from the train. Wounded, she is being taken care of by a 14 year old peasant girl, whom she later adopts. She rejoins the partisans and eventually joins the Polish-Soviet Army where she ultimately rises to a high ranking position. In Jadzia’s survival, increases her determination to free her country and bring the guilty to justice. In the Army she meets Capt. Lucjan Lisowski , who proves to be her true love. Together they hunt down Czartoryski, who claims to be the victim. His criminal activities are exposed and appropriate punishment is meted out. Jadzia and Lisowski get married and having overcome many hurdles , escape the Communist Poland via Czechoslovakia and Germany. Lisowski a Catholic is very sympathetic to the plight of Jews and is willing to emigrate to Israel, however they wind up in Australia and become very successful.

About the Author

GEORGE OSCAR LEE was born on Sept. 1st, 1924 in Drohobycz, Poland. In June of 1941 he ran away to Russia just ahead of invading German troops. Shortly after he was arrested by the NKVD. Released as a Polish citizen, he joined the Polish Army at the end of 1943. He participated in the Liberation of Warsaw, street fights in Kolberg, Stettin, reaching Berlin in May 1945. After the war he came to D.P.Camp Foehrenwald, where he met his future wife, whom he married in Brooklyn in 1949. The union was blessed with two children, a daughter with U.N. and son attorney at law and four grandchildren. Having been a Vice-President of a Chemical Company, he retired to South Florida. He is the author of four books and many short stories and poems published in FORWARD, BIALYSTOKER SHTIME and in SLOWO ZYDOWSKIE, ZIEMIA DROHOBYCKA in Polish. He is a member of the Jewish War Veterans, guest speaker and lecturer.