Oh, how I wanted to believe the story. I am a trusting person. I am convinced that we as humans can accomplish feats far beyond our imagined capacity. Although I doubt that I could execute such an endeavor, Mr. Rawicz's story inspired me to do much better.
The book was actually written by a ghost writer, Ronald Downing, a British journalist who was researching the abominable snowman, or Yeti. Someone told him of a Pole living in England who had seen a similar creature while walking through the Himalayas. Upon meeting Slavomir Rawicz, the journalist quickly became fascinated with the story as a whole. The two agreed that it was time for the account to be told.
The book is very well written, with an intriguing emphasis on detail. Whether it is being handcuffed to a heavy steel chain during a forced march through Siberia, or the sight of a Pavel Bure silver watch carried by a Mongolian nomad, Rawicz seems to have an amazing memory.
While crossing the Gobi Desert, two members of their party die and are buried. To survive, the remaining men catch snakes for food and suck water from a scarce section of mud. At one point, they go thirteen days with no water.—And this is where the skeptics come in.
They will point out that it is impossible to survive that long without quenching your thirst. And a sighting of an abominable snowman . . . . nonsense! Furthermore, they will point out that the Soviet Union listed his name as being released in 1942 and sent to Persia. And, where are the remaining four survivors who fled with him? Why haven't they stepped forward and told their story? Why hasn't he kept in contact with them?
These are valid concerns. A quick Google search will uncover a small “Long Walk controversy.” Both sides seem to be equally represented. People would like to know: Did Slavomir Rawicz really travel thousands of miles to escape the Soviet Gulag, or is it an epic tale that is well crafted, but a fabricated lie?
My first question in rebuttal is obvious: What would Mr. Rawicz have to gain by making up such a story? Some might suggest praise. But it was Ronald Downing who approached Slavomir with the proposal. Even after that he was hesitant because when the book was published (in 1956), the Soviet Union was still enthralled in Communism and he still had family that lived there.
Some might discredit him because of the vivid details in the account, claiming that no one could recall such facts accurately. If that charge were being made against me, they would be correct. Although, from my life experience, there are those who can, with accuracy, recall vast details from events that happened seventy years in the past. It is as if the incident happened yesterday. I believe Slavomir Rawicz is one of those people. He accused his ghost writer, Mr. Downing, of embellishing some parts. So, if you combine a vivid memory with a very good writer, you are apt to get a novel with lots of intricate details.
Concerning the thirteen days without water, maybe it did, or did not happen. I don't know. Perhaps this was a detail that was blurred with time, and what was “many” days morphed in “13 days.” Or, maybe the account is accurate and these men accomplished a feat which most would consider humanly impossible. I have read many accounts of people who did extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances. Such a story is easy to dismiss when we are such a soft society. We life a life of luxury and comfort and can't fathom such a hardship, let alone surviving it.
The sighting of the abominable snowman, or yeti, might lead some to believe this is a work of fiction. Sightings like this are not unheard of: Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster and mermaids to name a few. I have a friend who once claimed he saw a herd of mountain goats in the Virgin River Gorge. “Impossible,” I told him. “That's at least 150 miles from their closest habitat!” But he held firmly to his claim and gave an accurate description of the goats.
In his book, Slavomir Rawicz describes the experience of seeing the yeti: “They were enormous and walked on their hind legs. . . . Their faces I could not see in detail, but the heads were squarish and the ears must lie close to the skull because there was no projection from the silhouette against the snow. The shoulders sloped sharply down to a powerful chest. The arms were long and the wrists reached the level of the knees. . . . It would have been easy to have seen them waddle off at a distance and dismissed them as bear or big ape of the orangutan species. . . . There was something of both the bear and the ape about their general shape but they could not be mistaken for either. The color was a rusty kind of brown. They appeared to be covered by two distinct kinds of hair—the reddish hair which gave them their characteristic color forming a tight, close fur against the body, mingling with which were long, loose, straight hairs, hanging downwards, which had a slight grayish tinge as the light caught them.”
You may choose to believe or not, but just because you may disbelieve doesn't mean the incident didn't happen or that the observer didn't see something that was unexplainable. And, I might add, if Slavomir Rawicz was intent on selling a fabricated story to the world, why would he throw in such an unbelievable encounter with the abominable snowman?
According to a BBC report in 2006, Russian documents have come forth “proving” that Rawicz had been freed from the Soviet Gulag Camp in 1942, which would have been during the same time he would have been making The Long Walk. ——I guess the debate is over. The Russians, whom everyone knows wouldn't lie, have produced evidence from their meticulous records, during a time when the masses were being rounded up in cattle cars. —— I don't think so.
Another allegation, apparently made soon after the initial book release, was made by a few people familiar with the Himalayas, including a Mount Everest leader, Eric Shipton. He cites inconsistencies, which make it in his eyes a hoax. Again, I will state as I have previously that time or weakness may have blurred some of the details reported by Rawicz. I also can't help but to remember a project I did in High School in which we had to analyze a map and include the general direction of a geological feature. I chose Grand Gulch and used a detailed map that my dad had. I stated that the primary canyon ran southeast to northwest. When I got my corrected paper back, my arrogant teacher (whom lived in another town because the class was broadcast over a television) wrote “unlikely” on my paper because “Grand Gulch ran northeast to southwest.” It turns out we were both right, but because my map focused in on a tighter geographical region, it only showed a portion of the canyon that ran opposite to the rest. —My point in all this is that even though a so-called expert may think he knows all about the Himalayas, no one will know it perfectly, and Slavomir Rawicz's trek may have been different than most others.
Lastly, I would like to mention a book written by Linda Willis, entitled Looking For Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith was an American and a member of Rawicz's group. Her research led her to believe that Slavomir Rawicz did not make The Long Walk, but perhaps another person did, and Slavomir just stole his story.
Enter into the mix Witold Glinski, a Pole whose story is nearly identical to that of Rawicz, minus a few embellishments. She suggests that Mr. Rawicz found his story among official papers in the Polish Embassy and used it to concoct his own story. Glinski didn't even tell his wife about the escape until 2003, just a year before Rawicz died. I find it possible that Glinski was a member of Rawicz's group, but that Rawicz changed his name to protect him. I also find it ironic that Ms. Willis finds Glinski's account believable and Rawicz's unbelievable, when the two stories are nearly identical, including the trek through the Himalayas.
The story of Slavomir Rawicz ends happily. After the trek he moved to England where in 1946 he married his wife, Marjorie, and had five children together. In spite of his ill-health, he was able to find employment, first as a woodworking instructor, then as a cabinet maker. He and his wife also ran a guest house in Castle Donington. After the publication of his book, he was able to buy a house that was big enough for their children and farm animals. Later he worked as a technician at Nottingham College in the arts and ceramics department. He retired from there in 1975 after suffering a heart attack. During his retirement he spent time restoring furniture and looking after their large garden.
Slavomir Rawicz passed away peacefully on April 5, 2004 at the age of eighty-eight. ♠
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| Slavomir Rawicz. |
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