Henryk Zieliński

After his high-school exit exam ("maturity diploma") he was conscripted, in summer 1938, to the Polish military service as cadet; next year, after the Invasion of Poland he was wounded during the Battle of Bzura.

Years later, a few days before his mysterious death, he told the listeners – group of his apprentices and co-workers in the University – that in 1949 he 'allowed himself to be manipulated'.

Due to the government crackdown on opposition the book was heavily censored, but the underground errata was soon realised in the form of bibuła (Russian samizdat).

Specifically, the Polish communist censorship completely removed any mention of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (Nazi Germany-Soviet alliance) and the section on the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939 together with the photo of the German–Soviet military parade in Brest-Litovsk was removed and replaced with a general note on changed borders.

Among his former students are three notable contemporary Polish historians: Marian Orzechowski, Adolf Juzwenko and Włodzimierz Suleja.