The Last Lancer : A Story of Loss and Survival in Poland and Ukraine EPUB

An intimate story of a Polish family torn apart by war: of heartbreak, loss, and survivalagainst the odds.

Julian Czerkawski was born in 1926 near Lwow, in Polish Galicia, on a farm with fertile grainfields and orchards. He was the son of a Polish lancerone of the famous cavalrymen whocarried forward the legacy of the hussar knights.

But there would be no idyllic childhood for young Julian. Soviet annexation and then, in1941, the German occupation of Lwow changed everything. At the age of 18, he was sent toa labour camp. Fortunate to escape after the war with his life, eventually he made his wayto the UK, where he married and started a family. But an ache remained for the people andplaces of his childhood memories, even if he spoke of them only rarely.

In 2022, Putins war in Ukraine and the sight of refugees passing through Lvivthe formerPolish city of Lwowadded urgency to his writer daughter Catherines project of a lifetime,to try to uncover for herself everything that had been lost a generation before.

The Last Lancerpieces together glimpses of how the Czerkawski family lived and died in aregion with a proud but turbulent history. It sheds light on their trauma, at the same timeoffering a deep and very personal understanding of a troubled place.