Slavomir Rawicz Message Board
Lester Hunt posts on 4/5/2008 12:33:38 AM
I think we are in very serious danger of jumping to conclusions here. To go from the assumption that Yettis do not exist to the conclusion that the whole book is a hoax is quite a leap. Also, surely nothing follows from rumors of an unidentified Polish gentleman who made a similar trip and kept a diary. It's an interesting theory, but to those of us who never met this person, it is absolutely no more than that.
Barbara1953 posts on 4/4/2008 1:27:58 PM
Dear WCR. I think that I agree with Cornelius on this question. Yes neoither of us have seen or read the original notes and diary that the Polish man cloianmed he loaned to Rawicz. But from my conversation with his relative, aybe his daughter, it is clear that hte cloimbed the Himalayas at a less inclement time of year. The route he took was slightly different and no quite as gueling. The time scale was longer and htye rested in ssveral places for periods of time. Also they had quite good equipment to begin with. So, all in all, it was less dramatic than Rawicz story. And much more credible. But haveing said that I am not knocking it. It was still epic but just less epic than the version which Rawicz claims. His story has well and truly been blown out of the water now, unless you believe in yettis?
You are entitled to call anything garbage but it might be better to be more guarded in your statements. You said that lots of readers are taking all these latest stories of the Polish gentleman with a pinch of salt. How do you know? How many of them have contaced you to tell you this? Do tell... I have confidence that the latest version of events will actually ring more true to most reasonabley minded people. At least people who are not related to rawicz and thus have a vested interest in rubbishing these new stories. Are you a relative of Rawicz? Do come put of the woodwork.
W.C.R posts on 4/3/2008 10:34:52 AM
Hechter.
If this so called "original document" is sadly lost forever,how can you claim it to be a not so epic and a more believable version, when did you read it?.
You must be very careful of your claims in public.
Sadly this forum has suffered from many flippant and frivolus postings over the last few years,but thankfully
your ridiculas claims will be taken with a pinch of salt by the many serious readers,as was all the other GARBAGE.
Barbara1953 posts on 3/31/2008 1:55:33 PM
Regarding Cornelius's postings. Very exciting to have confirmation of smething that I hve known for years. I met a woman at a conferance in the mid 80s. She adh a short Polish sounding surname, maybe it began with a z but cant be suree. I happened to have the 'long walk' with me for reading material in evenings after the conferecne. She noted it and looked surprised.I asked her why she has registered surprise at me having this book. She was coy but asked me if I had enjoyed itor was enjoying it. I had begun it on the train journye and franjkly couldn't put it down. I told her this. She smiled wryly. She said that she would like to know if I liked it or not. I finsiehd it the following evening and was left with a very sad feeling but enjoyed it immensely. I have to say the yeti part was odd and some of the details were hard to imagine but I had swaloowed it fully and beleived it totally. Finally she asked me if I found some of it hard to believe. And so we enjoyed a long discussion about the book in which it emerged that dshe was a relative of the actual person who had written the manuscript for it but that it had been stolen by another Polishman, an ex-soldier. I was appalled and frankl;y did not believe her. She wouldn't say what her relationship was but I think she was the daughter of the Polish gentleman and his description sounds identilcle to the one that Corneulius mentioned. Small and white haired, round faced. She said that he gave the papers to rawicz in the late 40s about 1948. They met at a Polish club in the midlandsa where Rawicz was well thouhgt of, looked up to even. The Polish man trusted him and wanted his advice about publishing it. It was all in Polish, quite rouhg Polish she admitted. Rawicz poo-pooed it and said no one would be interested. he never gave it back. The Polishman, naive as he was left it at that, didn't make a fuss. Like today he still doesn't want to make waves about it. Anyway about 6-8 years passed before the book appeared, the Polishman had already moved to another part of England and so Rawicz was unafriad about publishing his version. It sounds to me that the previous mentions on this messageboard about other Poles doing a simliar trip could tie in with this. They could well have been his companions, the coincidence is very convincing. Thak you Corneilus for putting afew pieces of the jigsaw into place. I think it is really fascinating that perhaps now we have come across the REAl story of the Long Walk. Of course I feel sorry for the family of Rawicz bit like Cornelius I think they have already been embarrassed enough over the recent BBC revelations so its best to leave them alone.
Richard posts on 3/30/2008 3:27:51 PM
iF YOUR COMMENTS MADE ANY SENSE WE COULD ALL UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO SAY GET THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THESE ACCUSATIONS TO CRAWL OUT FROM THE WOODWORK !
Cornelius Hechter posts on 3/30/2008 1:23:53 PM
Richard, what is it that I wrote which you would term rubbish? The non-existence of yettis? Surely not. So I can guess that you do not accept that this old Polish gentleman is telling the truth. Can I turn the tables on you and ask you what proof do you have that he is lying? None whatsoever. You are entitled to call what he said rubbish. But you have no proof that Rawicz ever did that journey. Over 60 years later no proof has ever turned up. Rather odd. The only documentary proof that turns up contradicts his version. Very suspicious. But what the Polish gentleman says does fit in with the facts. Rawicz clearly was not in that part of the world when he said he was according to the BBC's evidence. So he lied. He lied about there being yettis. He lied about climbing the Himalayas in winter... need I go on.
The old Polish gentleman tells a much more believeable story. He did not climb the Himalayas in winter, did not see yettis and he has the humility to admit that the group who did the journey from Siberia were well equipped, rested often and did the trip in a more credible time period. There are less heroics in his story, though it is still remarkable.
I have two other interesting accounts regarding the story of Rawicz having plagerised and stolen the Polish gentleman's manuscript. One woman, Margaret, used to holiday with her grandmother in Derbyshire in the 1970s. Next door there was a Polish man, aged about 55-60 or so, and her grandmother told her that he had written a book and someone had stolen it. In the young Margaret's imagination she didn't quite understand what it meant to steal a book but her grandmother said that the Polishman had done a great deed, walking from Russia to India and wrote about it but then another man, also Polish, used the story and said it was his own. Margaret got the name of the book, got it from her library and as a 12 year old child read it. Her grandmother said the Polishman was not bitter about it and that the man who had stolen it was much cleverer than him, maybe an aristocrat. This would fit in with Rawicz being from a land owning family and having a private education.
Margaret stresses that the Polishman did not necessarily live in this home in Derbyshire but was maybe a frequent visitor. She has seen the photos of Rawicz from the Internet and says that the Polish gentleman looked nothing like him, so she is not getting them mixed up. The Polish gentleman was smaller and white haired, and quite round faced. Now this proves nothing definite but it is certainly very interesting in view of the story the Polishman has claimed. There is a more definite story regarding another account of Rawicz and the Polish gentleman but I shall tell this one another day if you want to hear it. It is more definite.
keith posts on 3/29/2008 6:53:03 PM
confused and astounded... Keith here. If you contact allreaders.com and write to steve in feed back... he should be able to connect us. thanks...
Richard posts on 3/29/2008 12:23:05 PM
If you make accusations you should put your name on them not hide away,what shread of proof do you have ,dont try to back away after having spoken such utter rubbish!
Cornelius Hechter posts on 3/29/2008 12:19:24 PM
Richard, you seem to be getting a little too excited about this matter. Could it be that you are a relative of Rawicz? If so, I do understand your reaction. However, facts are facts. By his own hand he wrote those documents that were unearthed by the BBC and thus showed he was not where he said he was at the material time. That, from anyone's point of view, constitutes a lie. This undermines much, if not everything, of what he wrote. I understand the family's concern because if, as seems likely, the book is now viewed as untrustworthy, then it could lose sales. Therefore the Rawicz family could well lose money. That is understandable. I think that new versions of the book should make clear that it is a story based on someone's else's version, but still worth reading. How much is fact and how much is fiction? This question seems to devalue the book in many ways. Do you believe that he actually saw yettis? If so, then you are probably in a very small minority. If he lied about seeing yettis then the whole book becomes a nonsense, does it not? What else was exagerateded?It makes me really reluctant to read such a book. Would you buy a book if on the cover it told you that some of the contents were unreliable, maybe outright lies? I think not. I think that the old Polish gentleman has the right idea. He doesn't want to make a fuss and has no desire to cause trouble for the Rawicz family. Let's leave it at that, shall we?
Richard posts on 3/29/2008 2:40:51 AM
Its a little late to be concerned now after making such defamatory accusations.Where is your proof !
Click Here for Messages:
1 - 10
11 - 20
21 - 30
31 - 40
41 - 50
51 - 60
61 - 70
71 - 80
81 - 90
91 - 100
101 - 110
111 - 120
121 - 130
131 - 140
141 - 150
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the posters.
