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| Katchmar Family Passport Photo, 1936 |
In a working class town in Pennsylvania, Sam Katchmar's family has little growing up. When his father Steve dies after a tragic coal-mining accident, life for the Katchmars goes from bad to worse. Suddenly faced with raising six children alone with little money, Sam's mother Paraska relocates the family to her native village in Southeast Poland. Her American children adjust to the pastoral lifestyle, and the Katchmars make the best of the situation.
Life takes a dramatic turn just three years later, when the Nazis occupy Poland and World War II begins. Sam and his family suddenly find themselves living in a war zone, only to confront their greatest challenge after the war ends. It is in the years following the war that Poland's Ukrainians face the horrors of ethnic warfare and forced deportation at the hands of communist oppressors.
A poignant tale written by a survivor who lived it, "Sam's Story" is an important eyewitness account of a little-known ethnic cleansing campaign called Akcja Wisla (Operation Vistula.)
