"No Place to Call Home

“No Place to Call Home” Released on Amazon
JimSam, Inc. is proud to announce the publication of “No Place to Call Home”. This non-fiction work relates the experiences of a 19-year-old Polish man who is captured by the Soviets at the beginning of World War II and sent to a Siberian concentration camp in Kolyma. It is a story that is largely forgotten in most history books today. Each prison and gulag Stanley is sent is "no place to call home". In order to survive the un-survivable, the prisoners must work in collaboration with each other. Of the unknown thousands sent to the Siberian gulags, only 583 Polish prisoners of war would reach Persia in 1942, one of them being Stanley Kowalski. This is his story. It is also the story of many who did not return.
"No Place to Call Home" is now available on Amazon and though the publisher: http://www.jimsaminc.com/jimsam/index.html

On Memorial Day, 2009, The National Military History Center in Auburn, Indiana hosted its annual Memorial Day Remembrance to honor all veterans. Featured this year was the presentation of the Siberian Cross to a Soviet gulag survivor and former Chicago resident, 89-year-old Stanley Kowalski.

The Siberian Cross (also known as the Cross of the Deported) honors the survivors of the 1-2 million Polish citizens who were deported by Stalin during the Second World War. Seventeen days after Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939, Stalin invaded the eastern part of Poland. The captured Polish soldiers were either executed in the Katyn Forest, imprisoned, or sent the concentration camps in Siberia. Within months of the invasion deportations began in Poland. Women and men, children and elderly were driven out of their homeland and deported to various labor camps in Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. No trials, no due process, no reasons were given other than to say they were "enemies of the Soviet state." Only half survived the cattle car journey and only about 250,000 ever returned from the Soviet Union. After Operation Barbarossa, Stalin granted amnesty to the soldiers who were still alive, but not the civilians.

Although democracy came to Poland in 1990, it was not until 2004 that the Siberian Cross was established to officially recognize those who had suffered. The history of the Soviet occupation was concealed by the Allies during the war to appease Stalin. After fighting alongside the Allies throughout the war years, the Poles were not even allowed to participate in the Allied victory celebrations. Even today, most history books state that WWII began when Germany invaded Poland, with little or no mention of Soviet involvement.

This is the second published book for Colorado author, Alexandra Everist. She spent six years interviewing her father, Stanley Kowalski, about his experiences. Her first published novel, “A Katrina Moment” was published in 2008. It is a fictionalized account of two lovers who remain behind in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Together with other survivors, they work together to assist in relief efforts. More information regarding both books may be found at www.alexandraeverist.com . Alexandra wrote the novel while volunteering for HandsOn New Orleans.

Born in London, England, Alexandra came to Chicago in 1960. She attended Schurz High School and received her BA in English from Alliance College in Pennsylvania. She received her MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. She owned the Oliver Twist Tea Shoppe in Libertyville, IL. She retired from Abbott Laboratories and then worked for HealthPlan Holdings in Tampa, FL. She has four sons, one daughter, two step sons, and two stepdaughters. She now lives in Colorado Springs with her husband, C. H. Cook. She has been a member of Rotary International since 1988.