Review - How Languages Saved Me

​​How Languages Saved Me:  A Polish Story of Survival

​​By Tadeusz Haska with Stephanie Naumann

​​Release date 9/24/2019

​​146 pages

​​4 out of 5 stars

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​​Thank you to Smith Publicity for my copy!  All opinions are my own.

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​​According to the publisher, “Orphaned in Poland at the age of thirteen, Tadeusz "Tad” Haska survived World War II on the run, narrowly evading the Nazis every step of the way. After the war, he daringly escaped jail by the Soviet Secret Police, fled to Sweden and launched an elaborate plan to smuggle his wife in a coffin on an all-male naval ship. Discover how Tad’s knowledge of nine languages helped him survive in the face of unspeakable adversity.”

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​​While I was lucky enough to be gifted a copy of this, even if I hadn’t, the title of this book alone would have caught my attention!  As I have mentioned a few times, I speak French and Italian, so any book focused on the importance of language and linguistics is immediately going on my To Be Read list.  As someone who has studied multiple languages, the fact that Tadeusz spoke nine languages fluently is truly mind-boggling, and shows what a talented and intelligent man he was.

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​​This book tells the story of Tadeusz’s life, from childhood, to WWII, to the Russian occupation of Poland, his life as a refugee, and finally, his happily ever after in America.  In each season of life, Tadeusz found himself in some sort of pickle that he only managed to emerge unscathed from due to his skill in various languages.  In my own experience, the biggest test that my language skills were ever put to was writing tedious college papers; I can’t imagine not only the skills, but the trust in one’s skills, that it would take to be able to talk your way out of literal life-and-death situations in your second or third language.

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​​How Languages Saved Me is written from Tadeusz’s first person point of view, though it is important to note that he sadly passed away before he could complete his autobiography.  His granddaughter, Stephanie Naumann, continued where he left off, and she did so seamlessly.  The entire book reads as if you are sitting in Tadeusz’s living room, listening to him reminisce about the many adventures he had once upon a time.

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​​This technique was both a plus and minus for me.  While the story telling was so free flowing that you could picture Tadeusz there, genially speaking with you, I felt that many details were relayed too casually.  At times, Tadeusz would mention something that, from my own perspective, seemed like a huge event in his life, like the time he was almost kidnapped by the Russian secret police, that would not be elaborated on at all.  There were several instances where I desperately wanted to know more, but were glossed over as if they were not that significant.

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​​Overall, I highly recommend this book.  Tadeusz lived a very interesting life, and I’m happy that I got to know him, albeit only through his book, and I learned much more about the Polish WWII and post-War experience than I have ever been exposed to in the past.  If this story doesn’t seem like it’s your particular cup of tea, I still encourage you to seek out other nonfiction accounts such as this one.  I think it can be easy to slack off on learning about WWII history because it is so widely fictionalized in the media, but we do not often give individual experiences the attention they are due.  As time goes on, there are fewer and fewer witnesses left to share their experiences with us.   As George Santayana said, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it,” and we are so very privileged to have the opportunity to learn from people like Tadeusz. 

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