How Languages Saved Me: A Polish Story of Survival

by Tadeusz Haska, Stefanie Naumann

Overview

“When I was arrested my whole world crumbled. I knew that leaders of political parties had been arrested, and never heard from again. My only chance at survival was to find a way to escape from the jail.” 

Orphaned in Poland at the age of thirteen, Tadeusz "Tad" Haska survived World War II on the run, narrowly evading the Nazis every step of the way. After the war, he daringly escaped jail by the Soviet Secret Police, fled to Sweden and launched an elaborate plan to smuggle his wife in a coffin on an all-male naval ship. Discover how Tad’s knowledge of nine languages helped him survive in the face of unspeakable adversity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633939240
Publisher:	Lone Cypress Books
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	148
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Tadeusz Haska was born in 1919 in Mikołajki, Poland and died in 2012. Orphaned at the age of 13, he used his knowledge of nine languages to survive World War II. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1949, where he earned his Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley in Linguistics in his ninth language-English. He taught, and served as chairman, in the Polish Department at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA for 35 years. His work was featured on the TV program The Big Picture.
Stefanie Naumann, Tadeusz's granddaughter, is a Professor of Management in the Eberhardt School of Business at University of the Pacific, where she has taught for 20 years. She earned her Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, and has published over 30 journal articles. She is a 20+ year member of the Academy of Management, a lifetime member of the Polish American Genealogical Society of America, and has earned awards for her research, teaching, and service. StefanieNaumann.com

Editorial Reviews

"Ably told by his granddaughter, Stefanie Naumann, this biography of Tadeusz Haska is an inherently fascinating read from cover to cover—making it an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and academic library Contemporary Biography collections.” —Midwest Book Review: March 2020, John Taylor’s Bookshelf

“A deeply moving personal account of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of war.”—Ted Mirecki, President, DC Division of the Polish American Congress; writer, translator

“An engaging true story of how life survival depended on language mastery.” —Gregory Kojak, Chairman, The Polish American Association

“Astonishing in its directness and simplicity . . . ”—Leonard Kniffel, Past President of Polish American Librarians Association & Author of A Polish Son in the Motherland: An American’s Journey Home

From the Publisher