Christine Skarbek: Jocelyn
It soon became obvious she could not speak. Finally, after many attempts, I got her name out of her, Jocelyn and finally, she looked at me straight on and said in a whisper, “You know, I used to be pretty. I used to be smart.”
Christine Skarbek: Konstancin
Konstancin was the turn-of-the-century playground of the Polish wealthy and elite. Weekend trains would bustle the chic out of Warsaw to their palatial country mansions and the casino directly across … Continue reading
Christine Skarbek: A journey into self or what Auschwitz can do to the soul
I saw the cell where the Jesuit priest Maximilian Kolbe starved to near death as he attended to nine others, all Jews. He was later executed. The space isn’t bigger than my walk-in closet.
Christine Skarbek: Musings with the Nightingale
A friend in Connecticut has lost
over 40 friends and relatives to covid-19.
Overwhelmed with grief,
he can no longer speak.
Christine Skarbek: A Personal Pantheon of Phenomenal Fellows
On this Thanksgiving, I survey all the deliciously delightful people who have touched my life and kudize them all. However, there are four in my personal pantheon that are absolute standouts. Oddly, they are all men.
Christine Skarbek: Oh, Poland!
My buddy Yolanta invited me over to Park Café to listen to this wizard on the piano, a 17-yr old skinny fellow. I cannot tell you how thin this character was or, for that matter, how long and tapered his fingers and what a master he was at the ivories.
Dominik W. Rettinger & Christine Skarbek: Kommando Puff
A new novel From Poland recounts the industrialization of rape at Auschwitz. Kommando Puff is a novel that exposes the lives of two women: Anna, the German mother of an SS-officer … Continue reading
Christine Skarbek: Countess Krystyna Skarbek — Resistance Personified
The most decorated woman of WWII was – without a doubt – a free-spirited Nazi Resistance fighter. Yet, Polish Countess Krystyna Skarbek remains unheralded in her homeland, and nearly everywhere … Continue reading
Vox Populi 