Aryan Papers

In the early days of World War II, author George Dynin and his family escaped from Lodz, Poland, to Vilnius, Lithuania. The Soviets took his father away, and the family embarked upon a treacherous journey. In this memoir, he narrates how they survived by acquiring false documents and becoming Polish aristocrats by changing one letter in their surname. With new identities, Count Jerzy Dunin, his mother (Countess Dunin), and young sister, traveled to Horodyszcze, Belarus. Through many powerful and thought-provoking episodes, Aryan Papers shares stories of those harrowing days, including how George's mother became a secretary/translator to the mayor of the town, a Nazi collaborator. Mother and son joined the Polish Underground. His mother spied on the Germans and provided information to Jerzy, who passed it on to other members of the Underground, thereby sabotaging the Nazis and saving lives. With stark honesty, Aryan Papers describes, through the eyes of a teenage boy, the lives of his family surviving the atrocities of World War II. It captures and chronicles this period in history and what he and his people endured. It demonstrates how even the worst possible situation can be conquered with hope, determination, and action.