- Description: Slavomir Rawicz was a Polish officer sentenced to 25 years of forced labor in a Siberian gulag. "Twelve months had passed since my arrest in Pinsk on November 19, 1939, and that day was to be significant for me: I was about to be tried before the Soviet Supreme Court. Just a year earlier, when during a gathering organized by my mother to celebrate my return, the men of the Russian secret police appeared; I was Lieutenant Rawicz of the Polish cavalry: twenty-four years old, slim and elegant in a well-tailored uniform, with shiny boots." Following the trial, Slavomir Rawicz was sentenced as a spy to 25 years of forced labor in Siberia. The journey from Moscow to the prison camp lasted three months, in the heart of winter. Many prisoners died during the journey; Rawicz survived and in the following spring organized an escape with six other inmates. In June 1941, they crossed the Trans-Siberian railway and headed south. The march lasted almost a year, covering more than 6'500 kilometers on foot through some of the most inhospitable territories on earth, including deserts and ice fields. Those who survived the extreme hardships of the journey reached India in March 1942, where they were rescued and cared for by the British. Reading about the harrowing odyssey faced by Rawicz and his companions, one feels as if they are there with them, enduring hunger, thirst, and freezing cold, while also sharing moments of intense human warmth, generosity, and pure heroism. There is no concrete evidence confirming the actual completion of the journey
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: -
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: Poland, Polonia, Polonie
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: 1915-2004
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: On foot, A piedi, A pied
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Various, Diversi, Différents
- Internet: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82awomir_Rawicz
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q563218
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Rawicz, Slavomir. 2011. Tra noi e la libertà. Milano: Corbaccio. Ne è stato tratto un film The Way Back, girato da Peter Weir nel 2012.
Con un inspiegabile ritardo di due anni, esce venerdì 6 luglio nelle sale italiane “The Way Back” di Peter Weir, un film con una fotografia seducente e location spettacolari (di cui parlo su Panorama Travel di luglio, in edicola). Il regista si è ispirato a una storia vera: quella di Slawomir Rawicz (1915-2004), prigioniero polacco in Siberia nel Gulag 303, da lì fuggito nel 1941 con alcuni compagni e – dopo un viaggio tanto avventuroso quanto incredibile di 6500 chilometri a piedi – approdato nell’India britannica, dopo aver varcato l’Himalaya. La sua storia è narrata nel libro The Long Walk (1956), riedito in italiano da Corbaccio in occasione dell’uscita del film con il titolo Tra noi e la libertà.
