Despair and Hope

In 1943, Tytus Sas Komarnicki, a former Polish diplomat, was pursued by Nazi agents for his clandestine anti-German activities. He had to escape from France. This enthralling book, ‘Despair and Hope: My Journey to Freedom’, recounts his desperate bid to become a free man.


The book is a daily diary Tytus kept during his journey, which began with a friend and a medley of refugees starting their trek across the high passes of the Pyrenees, through Andorra and into Spain, all the time at the mercy of ruthless French smugglers. Once in Spain the travellers were put on the back of a truck and deposited in Barcelona. After many adventures that put them at great peril, they eventually made it to England and freedom.