Folio Books: Review of Escape from Warsaw by Ian Serraillier

The Silver Sword

Published by S G Phillips (hardcover)

also titled

Escape From Warsaw

Published by Point/Scholastic Inc. (paperback, 218 pages).

by Ian Serraillier

First published 1955

It was something of a shock to find no paperback edition of The Silver Sword in Amazon's catalog. Eventually I found it under a different title, published by Point/Scholastic, and am happy to report that Escape From Warsaw is indeed The Silver Sword, whole and entire, unabridged and unadapted, word for original word; even including the original line drawings. The reason for the change of title remains a mystery.

Never mind, it's the story that counts. It's about a Polish family separated during the Second World War and trying to find each other again when the war is over; a simple enough story, fictionalized but based on fact, totally gripping and authentic. (The author, Ian Serraillier, spent five years on the research.)

The story opens with Joseph Balicki, the father, escaping from a prison camp in the Polish mountains. He was the headmaster of a primary school in Warsaw until he was arrested by the Nazis in 1940 for turning a picture of Hitler to the wall. He makes his way to Warsaw only to find his home in ruins. A neighbour tells him that one night in 1941 his wife was taken away by Nazi Storm Troopers; and that that same night the Nazis came back and blew the house up. His three children, Ruth, Edek and Bronia, have not been seen since and are presumed dead.

Joseph cannot believe it. He returns to the rubble of his home and finds there the silver sword of the title, a paper-knife he had given his wife as a present. There, too, he finds Jan, owner of a scrawny cat and a small wooden "treasure" box, who expertly picks his pocket. Jan asks Joseph for the silver sword; and Joseph gives it to him on condition that, if he ever meets the children, he will tell them to head for their grandparents' home in Switzerland.

That is the background. The main body of the story takes off from there. Ruth is 14 when we first meet her, Edek is 12 and Bronia is four. They are alone, fending for themselves, with bombs exploding around them. Ruth takes on the responsibilities of mother. They set up home in a bombed cellar; Edek scrounges for food, stealing when necessary. Ruth protects Bronia from terrors, tells her stories, is careful not to transmit her own fears, and starts a school for other lost and orphaned children. Life gets harder for her when one day Edek fails to return. He has been caught and arrested for smuggling food. Not long afterwards Jan turns up outside their cellar, fainting and half-starved. Ruth takes care of him, earns his confidence and he elects to stay.

The war is changing, the tide turns, the Russians are liberating Poland. Ruth gets word that Edek has been traced and is alive; and so they set out on their trek across 900 miles of Europe, first to find Edek and then to find their parents.

The story is simply told with a minimum of description -- it is shown, rather than told, through what the characters say and do. Well-chosen detail and vivid dialogue bring the characters and the story to life. Ruth is defined by the calm, unselfish way she deals with the setbacks which befall them, her good humour in appalling circumstances, and her sure sense of right and wrong. Jan is a thieving urchin who loves animals and hates Germans. The relationship between the two gives the book much of its tension and humour.

It is a story of war, but not of bombs or tanks or soldiers; instead it is war from the viewpoint of children -- hunger, suffering, homelessness, with no apparent sense or meaning. Little things light up their lives and move the story forward -- a loaf of bread, a new pair of boots from the friendly Russian sentry, a lift in the back of a truck. Their lives are at once ordinary and extraordinary. The suffering is suggested rather than explicit; the reader fills in the details by inference and imagination, as in a scene in which the children have managed to get on a train to Berlin, in a freezing open truck packed with refugees. Edek entertains the refugees with the story of his escape from the forced labour camp in Germany and the family is rewarded:

. . . Other voices joined in. "Give him a blanket." "A tall story, but he's earned a bed by the stove." "Another story, somebody! One to make us forget." "Put some romance in it."

Ruth creates their luck through perseverance and holding firm to her goals and hopes. Steady and steadfast, she is the only one who can make Jan behave. The silver sword is a sort of mascot, turning up at various key points and threading the story together.

The book is notable for its avoidance of stereotypes, its emphasis on individuality. The goodies are not all good, the baddies not all bad. Thoughtful readers will wonder what happens to the normal rules of civilization during war -- Are they suspended? Is stealing food justifiable? The answers to such questions prompt others. An underlying theme is compassion for ordinary people at the mercy of events beyond their understanding or control. The last chapter tells what eventually became of the main characters and describes the International Houses set up in Switzerland after the war for orphaned, damaged children from all over Europe.

It's an exceptional story, exceptionally well and simply told, lightened with humour and with much to think about as one comes to the end. It has a happy and satisfying ending, though as Ian Serraillier points out, Europe was overrun with lost children and distraught relatives at the end of the war and few of their stories ended as happily as this.

The writing is clear enough for a well-read ten-year-old and the book is infinitely re-readable, preferably silently and privately; a book wherein young readers can discover for themselves the intense pleasure of a really fine book, and as a side-effect, how marvellous reading itself can be. Mediocre books don't have that effect, which may account in part for the high incidence of children who are "aliterate" (that is, who can read but don't), a term I just found in an outstanding textbook for teachers of reading by Dolores Durkin called Teaching Them To Read.

M.A., 20 December 1997

To order or see more on Amazon click on the titles below:

The Silver Sword, pub. by S G Phillips, hardcover, US$30.95

or (same book, different title)

Escape From Warsaw, pub. by Point/Scholastic, paperback, US$4.99 ($3.99 on Amazon at time of writing)