Inhuman Land

In 1941, as Germany launched an offensive against the USSR, thousands of destitute and ailing Polish men, women, and children were freed from Soviet prison camps. These individuals were given the chance to join the Polish army being assembled in Russia's southern regions. Among those who endured the challenging winter journey was the painter and reserve officer Józef Czapski. General Anders, the army commander-in-chief, tasked Czapski with welcoming the incoming Polish soldiers, documenting their experiences, facilitating their education and cultural activities, and, most crucially, probing the mysterious disappearance of numerous Polish officers. Unbeknownst to Czapski, Soviet authorities—who obstructed his efforts—had executed these officers in the Katyń forest in April 1940, a massacre for which the USSR never bore responsibility. Czapski's narrative of his post-camp years, detailing the army's formation and their difficult journey through Central Asia and the Middle East to eventually participate in the battles on the Italian front, is filled with poignant stories of Polish hardships in the USSR. It includes quotations from the Polish poetry that inspired him and his peers, meetings with literary figures such as Anna Akhmatova, and musings on the dynamics between different nationalities.