Product Description

'An exceptionally moving, inspiring and terrifying testament' Martin Amis: An inspiring, heroic account of one man's struggle to survive the brutalities of the Russian gulag; When Janusz Bardach, a young Polish Jew, fled the Nazis to join the Red Army, he found himself enmeshed instead in the dangerous, paranoid world of Stalinist Russia. Falling foul of the regime, he was sent to Kolyma, the harshest of all the Siberian gulags. In this devastating memoir he describes in intimate detail the terror, cruelty, near-starvation and back-breaking physical labour of prison life. It is a moving testament to human endurance under unimaginable oppression.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50438 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1941, accidentally rolling a Soviet tank while fording a river was considered a capital offence by the Red Army. Unfortunately for young Janusz Bardach, he committed just such an error; luckily for him an old acquaintance from his hometown in Poland had enough rank and influence to commute the court-martial penalty from death to 10 years hard labour in Siberia. For the next four years, Bardach endured hellish conditions in various labour camps--first a logging camp, then a gold mine in the frozen north. Frigid temperatures, inadequate food and clothing combined with physical and spiritual malaise to bring prisoners first to the edge of despair and then to the brink of suicide. Bardach survived by turning his mind off, by refusing to remember happier times or to anticipate the future. He became, simply, a beast of burden, shuffling through the hours of his slavery until he could fall into the brief oblivion of sleep.

Ironically, it was a near brush with death that proved to be Bardach's salvation. After surviving an explosion, he was sent to a prison hospital where he managed to talk his way into a job as a medical assistant. There he gained both a new lease on life and a future profession. Released from his sentence early, in 1945, Bardach went on to become a surgeon. His memoir, Man Is Wolf to Man, is more than just an account of his sufferings in a Russian labour camp; it is also a meditation on the will to survive in the face of hopelessness, the occasional kindnesses of strangers in unexpected places, and above all, the struggle to remain human under the most inhumane conditions.

About the Author
Janusz Bardach was a world-renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeon. He died in 2002.

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Read
As I'm dyslexic I'm a slow reader so hopefully this review will be of use to anyone in a similar position.

I found this book to be an utterly compelling read. The title really does not prepare you for Janusz adventures in both Poland and Russia.

The harrowing description of the Gulags really is only half the story. Details of the author's life before and during the Nazi occupation of Poland, and his incredible journey including time spent in the Russian army makes fascinating reading.

This book is an excellent insight into how some people can adapt to deal with the most intolerable circumstances. Janusz paces the action very well, although this may be more down to the fact, his story really is so incredibly interesting and he has so much fascinating material.

If I absolutely had to find a negative I was a little disappointed with how the book fizzles out. It's a true story, so the authors can't be blamed. This did very (and I mean very) slightly diminish my reading experience.

An excellent story. You will NOT be disappointed!!!

Outstanding ! inspiring !
This is an outstanding book taking us through a most remarkable life, of a man I'd never heard of, but who survived the inhumanities of Stalin's Russia and brought hope and comfort to many after he came through his ordeal. We see the young Janusz Bardach of the Red Army facing first execution and then a totally unjust sentence to labour in the gulag ; his long and horrendous train journey to the camp ; the brutality of camp existence and his will to survive intact ; and (briefly)his eventual release and the start of a new and distinguished career (just put his name in a search engine) transforming many people's lives. The brutalities of the Stalinist regime, and the human will to survive it, have rarely been detailed so well, and I can recommend this book without reservation.

An extraordinary account of survival against all odds
The manner in which the author copes with the seemingly endless brutality and humiliating torture is a lesson to us all. The fact that he survived at all is unbelievable and that he could recall these horrifying events with such clarity defies description. Reading this amazing tale both saddens one that human beings can act like this towards one another, while also shows the extent to which inner strength and belief can prevail. This man's strengh is all the more impressive as he has risen to the top of his chosen profession in medicine and has only chosen now, some fifty years on, to relate this quite remarkable story. This is the stuff of legends.