Slavomir Rawicz

A modest man's struggle against the tides of war and oppression

Slavomir Rawicz

A modest man's struggle against the tides of war and oppression

In the early 1950s, Slavomir "Slav" Rawicz, who has died aged 88, met a journalist, Ronald Downing. So taken was Downing with the epic story of Slav's escape from a Siberian labour camp in 1941 that he persuaded him to write about his experiences.

In 1955, The Long Walk was published. It was the story of a good and gentle man caught up in the savageries that followed Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, when that country was partitioned between the Nazis and the Soviet Union.

Slav's account started in the notorious Lubyanka prison in Moscow, as he was sentenced to 25 years' hard labour for "spying", after the 12 months of interrogation that had followed his arrest on November 19 1939. Dispatched to Siberia, he and thousands of others were transported in open cattle trucks, in sub-zero temperatures, to the end of the line at Irkutsk, where, chained together, they were force-marched hundreds of miles to Camp 303 - which the survivors had to build from scratch.

In April 1941, with the aid of the camp commandant's wife, Slav and six others escaped in a blizzard. They then walked 4,000 miles south, living off the land, through the Gobi desert and over the Himalayas, until they reached India and were rescued by a Gurkha patrol. Sheer determination had overcome bitter cold, suffocating heat, thirst, starvation and injury. It took them a year. Three of the seven died on the way.

By the end of his ordeal, Slav weighed 5 stone. He never recovered his full health, but his humane will never betrayed it. After a period in hospital, the four dispersed, never to meet again.

Slav, the son of a landowner-cum-artist, was born near Pinsk, in western Poland (now Belarus). His mother, an accomplished musician, was Russian, and he grew up to speak the language fluently. As an adventurous boy, he roamed the glades and rivers of the Pripet marshes, fishing, sailing, making shelters and trapping his own food, all of which helped in his later, testing years.

Following private educa-tion, from 1932 to 1938 he studied architecture and surveying in Warsaw. In 1937, he joined the Polish reserve army, qualifying at the cav alry cadet officers' school the following year. In summer 1939, he married. The young couple had 48 hours together before Slav was mobilised as Germany invaded Poland. He never saw his wife again.

Poland's valiant defence ended after three weeks. Slav returned to Pinsk, where he was arrested by the advancing Soviet forces. He never saw his parents, siblings or home country again.

After India, in 1942 he was sent to Iraq, then to Palestine, where he taught at the Polish cadet school, helping at an orphanage in his spare time. Personally recommended by Lieutenant General Wladyslaw Anders, legendary commander of the Second Polish Corps, he came to Britain in 1944 to train as a pilot with the Polish air force.

After the war, he settled in the Nottingham area, where he worked as a school handicraft and woodwork instructor, as a cabinet maker and in store display. In the 1960s, he was employed by the Nottingham building and design centre.

After the centre closed, in the early 1970s he became my technician - I was a lecturer - on the architectural ceramics course at Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University) school of art and design. Our friendship developed across the ensuing decades, but a heart attack forced him into early retirement in the mid-1970s.

Slav had met Marjorie Needham at a dance in 1944. They were married in 1946, as soon as a special dispensation was obtained for the uncertainty about his first wife's survival. Marjorie, a librarian, helped with The Long Walk, which, never out of print, has been published in more than 25 languages, including, since 1990, Russian and other eastern European tongues.

From the royalties, Slav and Marjorie bought a ruined but delightful historic house on a hilltop near Nottingham, which they pulled into shape over the years while raising five children. There was never any spare money, but they managed with their Catholic faith, ingenuity and love.

Retirement was not a concept Slav entertained. Besides keeping a large garden in order for almost half a century, each year he received hundreds of letters from people all over the world, inspired by his book, often school children. With Marjorie's help, he answered them all. He gave talks, emphasising his watchwords, the "precious heritage of freedom".

Marjorie died three months ago. Their two sons, three daughters, 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren survive him.

· Slavomir Rawicz, escaper and crusader for freedom, born September 1 1915; died April 5 2004