Because the memory of feelings and impressions is stronger than the memory of facts, I have had to take liberties to fill in certain facts to make the feelings and the impressions more understandable. Some people, whom I remember as being present, and who were an essential element of the story, cannot be eliminated from the narrative, though I have no memory of their personalities. These have had to be fictionalized. Since this may well do injustice to these individuals, I have changed the names of many characters and some places, and ask that the reader accept this as the somewhat fictionalized account of a true happening. In addition, in order to give the reader a better flavor of the Polish culture, I have used a phonetic spelling for many proper names. My own name, Julian, for example, though it happens to be spelled the same way in Polish, I have spelled Yulian to approximate the Polish pronunciation. Its commonly used diminutive, as Joe is used for Joseph, would be Yulek. A further diminution, as Joe might change to Joey, is Yulechek or Yul.
