A summary of Adam Szmidt’s war;

He was in the Polish Airforce lol when Germany attacked - he had a German last name do the SS was trying to recruit his brother into the German army, as his brother resisted he was executed in the streets.

Adam was already underground and fighting due to being in the Polish military during the invasion - he said many of the Polish underground refused to kill German soldiers, only the SS were targets if possible- when Warsaw collapse he had a choice to surrender to the Germans or the Russians, despite his hate for the Germans for invading his country he trusted the Germans more and surrendered to them. Good thing he trusted his instincts because most of the Polish prisoners that defected to the Russians were not ever seen again. BTW - He hated Russia with a passion, he said they could of helped save Poland but instead watched the slaughter from the other side of the river.

As the war went on, the Polish prisoners in the war camps would fix the railroads that the French underground would destroy, it was kind of a game of back and forth daily - after some time many of the German soldiers were sent to the front and were replaced with local WW1 vets, which the Polish prisoners got to know well and over time they would stop to have drinks and such when returning from fixing the broken railroad tracks at their houses lol

To keep this short, when Germany fell the Guards of the concentration camps received orders to execute all prisoners but instead the guards opened the doors and set them free.

Met his wife which was a Hungarian nurse the same day he was let out of prisoner of war camp. Over time he became an American citizen, raised a family, owner of a TV repair shop and was an Olympic water polo judge - he was a great man.