Guarded by Angels is a thrilling story of how three young Polish Jews survived both Hitler and Stalin. It tells of how my father, Eugene Elsner, his younger brother Mark and a cousin were arrested by the Soviets in Lvov in 1940 and sent to brutal Gulag camps in Karelia, hundreds of miles north of the Arctic Circle, where they were put to work cutting down trees. They barely survived the experience.
Set free almost two years later, they spent the next months wandering around the Soviet Union, through the cities of Central Asia, looking for safety. They eventually found shelter in a Cossack village but just six months later were occupied by Nazi forces. Forging their identity papers, the brothers tried to keep one step ahead of the Germans while aiding the resistance.
When the Nazis retreated, they began the next step of their adventure by being drafted to the Red Army where both became officers. After advancing through Eastern Europe with Soviet troops, my father was gravely wounded in an ambush and taken prisoner by the Germans. Miraculously, he survived.
This is a heart-warming and inspiring story of survival and a testament to the human spirit. Published by Yad Vashem, with foreword by historian David Cesarani.
