The World That Once Was: My Twentieth Century

A searing memoir of resistance and survival from the last generation to witness the fall of a world—and the terrible cost of preserving what remains.

East Prussia, 1930s. For Halina Donimirska Szyrmer and her family—Polish landed gentry in a region consumed by aggressive Germanization—every act of cultural preservation is an act of defiance. Speaking Polish in their own home. Teaching their language in secret. Maintaining their identity when the world demands they erase it. This is "organic work"—the philosophy of peaceful resistance that will define their family's fate as Europe descends into darkness.

When the Gestapo's pre-war blacklist names her father as an enemy of the Reich, Halina's childhood of pastoral estates and intellectual pursuits shatters. By 1939, her father will be murdered in Sachsenhausen. Her mother will survive the horrors of Ravensbrück. And Halina herself, barely more than a girl, will find herself tending to wounded German soldiers during the Warsaw Uprising—a devastating irony that captures the impossible moral terrain of occupied Poland.

Written with unflinching honesty and literary grace, The World That Once Was offers what few memoirs can: an intimate, eyewitness account of a marginalized history, told by someone who lived through its darkest hours. This is not simply a story of war and loss, but of the dangerous courage required to preserve a culture under calculated persecution—and a haunting reminder of what happens when identity politics and extremism are allowed to flourish unchecked.

For readers who enjoy reading memoirs, this is an essential addition to the literature of resistance: a personal testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the enduring power of cultural memory.

A primary source. An untold story. A voice that must not be forgotten.

Editorial Reviews
"An assiduous, deeply intimate account of one Polish family's story before, during, and after WWII, The World That Once Was... is a treasure trove of historical and genealogical information." --Independent Book Review

"By writing these memoirs, the author has erected for herself and her loved ones – the book's heroes, mainly distinguished Poles from Powi?le, a monument more lasting than bronze! ... In the ranks of the Home Army in Warsaw itself, Halina Donimirska passed a practical examination of her love for Poland and freedom.... The book's value lies not only in reliable factography, but also dwells in the beauty of the work's form and language."

Professor emeritus dr. hab. Jozef Borzyszkowski, PhD
Institute of History
University of Gdansk

This is the English translation. Orginally published in Polish as "Byl Taki Swiat".