Preliminary Thoughts on Dr. Miguel Faria’s Latest Book by Michele Klimecki

I started reading Stalin, Mao, Communism, and their 21st-Century Aftermath in Russia and China (2024), and like each of your books, I haven’t been able to put it down. Thank you, Dr. Faria, for bearing witness to the strength and struggles our common history represents, especially those of us who came here to America in an effort to flee repression and communism and seek the freedom in America that the Founding Fathers of these United States established.[1]

Incidentally, you speak of the fight against Nazism and communism. In a different narrative, you also specifically mentioned General Józef Piłsudski, who was Poland’s Chief of State from 1918, when Poland regained its independence, until 1922. You wrote in a private note to me that during 1919-1921, General Piłsudski commanded Polish forces fighting the Bolsheviks, and that in August 1920, he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when he repelled the invading Soviets at the Battle of Warsaw.” I recalled and wanted to add that I believe my grandfather, Wladyslaw Klimecki, fought as a young officer in the Polish Soviet War of 1920 during that pivotal moment when Piłsudski saved Poland.

As you discussed in your book, the Nazi and Soviets invaded and partition Poland in 1939 after Piłsudski’s death. Both Nazis and communists committed untold atrocities. For example, the Katyn Forest massacre was a Soviet infamy that will not be easily forgotten.

My father, Wocjiech Alexander Klimecki, was born in 1920 into an elite Polish family. He was taught the requisites of societal expectations—everything from classical music and playing the piano to all that was required to submit to and pass Catholic expectations. This was a great burden as he was an only child.

Captured by the Soviets, he was fortunate to survive and participate in an amnesty extended by the Soviets during the early part of World War II. Years later, he referred to it while speaking to me when I was an adolescent. On the internet, I recently found this relevant narrative about the amnesty he participated in:

I have to mention today’s anniversary as I know Sybiracy’s descendants living in all corners of the world. On 12 August 1941, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree on “amnesty” for Polish citizens. This decree embraced prisoners of war (from 1939, including officers murdered in Katyn, internees, prisoners, and their families). Many people accused General Sikorki that he agreed to use the word ‘amnesty,’ but he explained that he simply wanted to free as many of our countrymen as possible. As we know, almost 120,000 soldiers and civilians were evacuated from the USSR in 1942. Those who didn’t leave with General Anders, either died earlier, didn’t know about “amnesty,” were too weak to travel to recruitment points or were too late and ended up in the so-called Berling’s Army. As you’re probably (children or grandchildren of Sybiracy), Polish civilians were sent to many refugee camps around the world. In my travels, I managed to visit locations of two former camps, in Rosa and Mexico.[2]

I don’t recall my father ever mentioning General Anders. But my father and a few others made it out the prison camps—by foot, by hook or by crook, or by the kindness of strangers—to Persia. He had then become affiliated with the British Eighth Army and fought in North Africa during the rest of World War II. My father came to this country in 1952 and he met my mother. I was born in Detroit.

Thank you also for the kind words to the effect that “Poland has had much sadness but also some glorious history—and Catholicism has sustained her.”

You sir have also fostered a home in your Facebook page and website as havens for others coming from different lands to unburden themselves after having suffered in totalitarian regimes as well as for discussing modern politics, many of which are mirrored from the past. Liberty must be preserved.

I am over the moon pleased with the result of your tremendous efforts to bring light to these darkest of events…bearing witness to the truth of many families including my own family’s suffering. Hopefully it will be food to feed the minds of those who seem indifferent and to serve as instruction for those presently so unwise.

Dr. Faria, you have renewed my faith in humanity with your bold steps away from a lucrative profession and becoming an author of relevant history and social studies books, such as Stalin, Mao, Communism, and their 21st-Century Aftermath in Russia and China to address neglected critical issues of our time that need addressing as well as to bring understanding. Only through knowledge can we prevent heinous episodes in history from happening again.

References

1. Miguel A. Faria, Jr., Stalin, Mao, Communism, and their 21st-Century Aftermath in Russia and China  (Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024). https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-6437-4.

2. Polish Traces Around the World. https://www.facebook.com/100063680064868/posts/5245082708931134/.

Written by Michele Klimecki

Michele Klimecki is an American patriot of Polish descent who now lives in North Carolina.

This article may be cited as: Klimecki, M. Preliminary Thoughts on Dr. Miguel Faria’s Latest Book. HaciendaPublishing.com, March 21, 2024. Available from: https://haciendapublishing.com/preliminary-thoughts-on-dr-miguel-farias-latest-bookby-michele-klimecki/.

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