Paylie Roberts spent the first eight years of her life living under communist rule in Poland. From age eight on she grew up in the US and became so Americanized that she refused to acknowledge her native Polish heritage, including her birth name. Only after researching the history of why her family was exiled from Poland by the communist government did she realize the tremendously important and unique lessons that the Polish Solidarity movement offers about overcoming tyranny, oppression, and corruption, and how these lessons are imminently relevant and applicable to America today. Paylie combines her personal story with historical facts and sheds light on the many unnerving similarities between growing up in communist Poland in the early 1980s and life in the US now, in a way that is engaging, insightful and inspiring. She recounts her memories of living under the Soviet Union’s rule over Poland, as her family struggled along with most other Poles just to survive. This book also includes memories that are only told by Poles as they were never recorded in “official” history due to media censorship during those years. Paylie wrote this book not only to honor the brave Polish people (including her parents) for defeating tyranny using largely non-violent means, but also with the hope of spreading knowledge that could help prevent her worst fears from manifesting regarding what the future in “free” America may hold.
Targeted Age Group:: Adult
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I kept seeing similarities that I wasn’t able to explain without writing an entire book. I realized it was because of my history that I was one of the few that recognized what was happening, so I started jotting down my thoughts, and why I thought that way. A year later, the book was done.
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
nonfiction
Book Sample
At the time we received the telegram, we had no idea what my father had been through. It wasn’t until I was older that I learned of what happened. At the time of his disappearance, he and many others were rounded up after being arrested at a Solidarity meeting. Those who refused to sign a “loyalty document” produced by the Communist Polish government were threatened with being sent to internment camps. The loyalty document basically stated that the activists would cease all activity that the communist government thought was a threat to their control. Some people signed the document as their circumstances offered them little choice, but many did not, as they didn’t want to violate their principles or compromise on their cause. Signing such a document would essentially make them traitors to the Solidarity union, and to the true country of Poland. My father was rounded up with about fifty-five other Solidarity members who refused to sign. They were put on a bus with no windows, and shipped off in the middle of the night.
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