Marian Turzanski, born January 18, 1934 in Zupanie, Poland, was one of four sons in a family of Catholic land owners. He recalls good relations with the few Jews in his village, one of whom once hid in the Turzanski home. After the German invasion, hostile Ukrainians threatened to kill Marian’s father; a friendly Ukrainian intervened and urged the family to flee.In Hungary, they moved frequently, settling in Keszthely, where Marian attended a school for Polish children. His parents left their baptismal papers in Poland, to be used by Samuel Goldreich, the Jew they once sheltered.

Life in Hungary after German occupation is detailed: terrorization by the Arrow Cross and German soldiers, ghettoization of Jews and Poles, deportation of Jews and Gypsies. Marian’s father was active in the underground, together with Hungarian Jews and other Christians; Marian and his brothers became messengers. He describes the family’s deportation to Germany in sealed cattle cars, December 31, 1944 to Wilhelmshaven work camp near Berlin, in great detail. Contrasts conditions there with conditions at other camps he mentions briefly - Strassof, Bayreuth, Newmarkt. He describes brutal treatment by Ukrainians at Newmarkt. After liberation by Americans in 1945, he lived in displaced persons camps at Newmarkt, Hochenfels, Annsbach and Wildflecken. He was also in the former German barracks at Heilbronn, Ludvigsburg and Bremerhafen. He came to the United States August 27. 1949, after losing all of his relatives, outside of his immediate family.