Katrina Shawver - HENRY: A Polish Swimmer’s True Story of Friendship from Auschwitz to America

HENRY

A POLISH SWIMMERS

TRUE STORY OF

FRIENDSHIP FROM

AUSCHWITZ TO AMERICA

KATRINA SHAWVER

VIRGINIA BEACH
CAPE CHARLES

Henry:
A Polish Swimmers True Story of
Friendship from Auschwitz to America

by Katrina Shawver

Copyright 2017 Katrina Shawver

ISBN 978-1-63393-520-4

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the author.

Published by

210 60th Street

Virginia Beach, VA 23451

800-435-4811

www.koehlerbooks.com

Praise for

HENRY

Katrina Shawver, a well respected journalist and public speaker, has used her interviewing skills to write a solid biography on Auschwitz-Buchenwald-Death March-Dachau and Communist Poland survivor Henry Zguda. She weaves his memories with historical research to tell an important story of courage and tenacity. It is presented so that everyone will learn, and will not want to lay the book down. Additionally, there are numerous photos that greatly enhance the story, helping readers visualize the people and horrors as well as the beautiful times of Zgudas life. We know that we should never forget the Holocaust, and Shawver is ensuring that we wont.

JOHN LIFFITON, Professor and Director Genocide Conferences, Scottsdale Community College

Katrina Shawver has done something rare. With her journalistic eye, she has created a book of outstanding research, divine instincts and the most human of components. Our hero, Henry Zguda, lives an extraordinary life filled with enough examples of strength and loyalty to warrant medals. As a non-Jewish survivor of concentration camps during WWII, this story deserves to be part of history. It is told with urgency and tolerance. A remarkable feat of writing! Bravo for humanity!

MARCIA FINE, author of Hidden Ones, The Blind Eye, and Paper ChildrenAn Immigrants Legacy

Henry Zguda is a man you would like to know. When you read Henry, the interview-based story of his life, you will indeed come to know this hardy and hopeful soul, from his youthful days as a champion swimmer to his post-war life in Communist Poland and, finally, in the United States of America. However, it is the harrowing personal experiences of this Catholic Pole as a prisoner in the German concentration camps of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Dachau that yield information found nowhere else and keep the reader riveted to the page. Highly recommended.

JAMES CONROYD MARTIN, author of The Poland Trilogy, and IPPY Gold Medal Winner, The Boy Who Wanted Wings

By painstakingly reconstructing Henry Zgudas remarkable story of survival, Katrina Shawver sheds light on one of the darkest chapters in human historyin particular, on the plight of Catholic Poles who found themselves in concentration camps like Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Henry is both poignant and inspiring.

ANDREW NAGORSKI, author of The Nazi Hunters and Hitlerland

This sensitively crafted narrative is a vital contribution to the documentation of the suffering inflicted on Polish people during the Holocaust. Katrina Shawver has collected the memories of Henry Zguda, beginning with his arrest in Krakow in 1942 and ending with their blossoming friendship in 2002. His own words are skillfully sewn together with Shawvers observations and research, and the result is a compelling tale of anguish and the triumph of hope against all odds. This labor of love deserves a wide readership as the last Holocaust survivors pass away, taking their stories with them. We are fortunate that Shawver had the presence of mind to bring Zgudas story to the world.

LEONARD KNIFFEL, author of A Polish Son in the Motherland and the blog PolishSon.com, member of the Board of Directors of the Polish American Librarians Association and the Polish Museum of America in Chicago

Elie Wiesel said, When you listen to a witness, you become a witness. Katrina Shawvers luminous non-fiction, Henry: A Polish Swimmers True Story of Friendship from Auschwitz to America, is a beautifully rendered act of witness and love about an extraordinary Pole, Henry Zguda, a Christian, a political prisoner in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Shawvers compelling narrative illuminates Henrys memories as well as his heart and his enduring humor. She has rescued Henrys vital piece of Holocaust history so that we dont forget, and as an immunization against recurrence. Everyone who reads Henry becomes a witness.

JACK MAYER, Vermont writer and pediatrician, author of Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project, a non-fiction about the Warsaw ghetto, and a new historical fiction about the rise of the Third Reich, Before the Court of Heaven

Henry is an exceptional read! If you are into real life World War II survival stories that are very detailed this is your book! Katrina Shawvers ability to transport the reader back into time is truly remarkable! Every chapter makes you want to keep on reading about this truly remarkable man that survived so much and yet was so humble. Best book I have read on Auschwitz!

J. R. SHARP, CDR USN (ret), author, Feeding the Enemy

World War II survivors are resilient, unique figures but here, Shawver reveals a remarkable, rare gem of a human who would have otherwise gone unnoticed in the aftermath of German-occupied Poland. She weaves together a riveting, unforgettable tale that captures the unstoppable flight of the human spirit.

GREG ARCHER, author of Grace Revealed and Huffington Post columnist

I worked as a counterintelligence agent in Germany for twenty-five years. During that time, I spoke with thousands of Germans who survived the horrors of World War II. Most claimed falsely that they knew nothing about the concentration camps and never supported the Nazi party. From those who were victims of the Nazis or those who spoke honestly about their experiences, I can attest that Shawver knows what she is talking about.

ROBERT DUKELOW, author of Four Strong Women: A Glimpse of Germanys Untold History 1938-1957

Those brave souls who survived World War II are some of the finest examples of courage in our lifetime. Fortunately, Katrina Shawver knew exactly how to bring Henry Zgudas courage to life. In this fascinating, terrifying and inspiring book, HenryA Polish Swimmers True Story of Friendship from Auschwitz to America, readers are transported to a time and place where survival seems impossible. What a stellar tribute to Henry and those whose lives he changed.

JUDITH L. PEARSON, author of The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of Americas Greatest Female Spy

Henry: A Polish Swimmers True Story of Friendship from Auschwitz to America by Katrina Shawver is the story of Henry Zguda, a Catholic Pole and political prisoner of Nazi Germany who survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Based on her interviews with Henry, Shawver tells his first-person account in vivid and, at times, alarming detail. Indeed, Henry serves as a witness to history about the millions of innocent people, and not only Jews, who suffered at the hands of the Nazis. It should not be forgotten.