Gregori, or George as he now calls himself, was thirteen on the 6th September 1939, six days after Germany declared war on Poland. His family’s estate was in eastern Galicia that part of the Ukraine over which the polish government had tenuous control. It was to have been a wonderful birth day for him; it turned out to be a day of unforgettable horror-his neighbors, including his girl friend, murdered by the Russians, and soon afterward hi own parents brutally beaten up, his home ransacked and himself taken into the ‘care’ of the Russian secret police.
He escaped to the German forces when they invaded, and with survival and freedom his constant aim, he lived through a fantastic series of roles-zealous Hitler youth leader, enthusiastic paramour of influential German maidens, S.S. trainee. He was deeply in love with a partly Jewish girl and, to protect her, took her with him as his ‘sister’ when he traveled westwards to join the dreaded Regiment near Stuttgart. Serious illness, wounding in action, promotion to officer and a distinguish gallantry award were followed by metal breakdown and eventually escape from ruined Germany to England with one of the girls he had greatly loved.
Ingenuity, courage and a grim sense of humor characterized this amazing and vivid personal saga.