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| Polish hero, General Sikorski |
When I
mention "The Dark Side of the Moon" to most people younger than me
they assume immediately I am referring to a rock band, but what I have in mind
is far from entertainment of any kind.
It is the title of a book published in London in 1946, with a preface
written by T.S. Eliot. The real author
was to have been Polish General Wladyslaw Sikorski, who died unexpectedly in a
plane crash off the coast of Gibraltar on July 4, 1943.
The General had collected many personal
testimonies of Poles who had been subjected to the most unthinkable horrors at
the hands of the Russians who took them captive and used them as slave labor
and worse. It is widely speculated that
the crash was in fact not an accident, but rather an assassination. As long as their beloved leader was alive,
the hopes of the Polish army held captive by the Russians was also alive and
well and the possibility of having them transfer this loyalty to the Russians
against the Germans didn't stand a chance.
Without his inspiration and the dream of regaining their country, they
would fight anyone, alongside anyone, simply to survive.
