Thank you Pali for that informative and very moving account of the Czech and Polish escape route to France via Romania, and of its architect, General Heliodor Pika. That he should outsmart one brutal regime only to be murdered by another yet again illustrates the terrible cost paid by those countries that had the misfortune to be between those two tyrannies.
I once heard of an East German Stasi General being interviewed by an Italian female journalist. " Herr General, how do you explain the fact that you were once a very senior officer in the Nazi Security apparatus, and now fulfil the same function for a Communist one?". "My Dear; left wing, right wing, they all need policemens!".
Do you know who provided the shipping from Constanta (?) to France? I guess that France would have been heavily involved in the arrangements, and was yet to be invaded herself. That would happen soon enough of course, meaning that Viktor (my Polish nav) was on the run as soon as they disembarked.
What a wonderful photo of father and son, both so very proud of each other. What a terrible memory though for the son to bear for the rest of his life, and how the same loss was shared by countless others. I am reading of the failure between the wars of the victorious Allies to stop the descent into abject impoverishment of their ex-foe. A more enlightened attitude would have greatly ameliorated that and hence the opportunity for Hitler to persuade the population to put their trust in him. They regretted it in time, but too late, far too late.