DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR the Russians sent many prisoners to the deathly cold Siberia and forced them to do back-breaking labor. Rav Yankel Galinsky ՆՅՔՑՐ was one of those prisoners taken to Siberia.
While he was there, a non-Jewish, a broad seven-foot-tall man, joined the prisoners. This particular man was put to work doing the hardest labors possible from morning until night. It was horrendous. They also brutally beat him. At the end of the day this man collapsed from exhaustion, completely wiped from the day’s work.
But there was one thing that got Rav Yankel Galinsky very curious. There was a sack that he had hidden that he guarded and protected very well. One day Rav Yankel didn’t fall asleep, and at midnight he saw this tall strong individual pull out his sack and look around to make sure that no one was awake.
Then he pulled out a neatly pressed and polish uniform, and donned it over his prisoner’s garb. Rav Yankel then saw him make a few motions, a forward march, and then the inmate quickly removed the uniform folded it and placed it back into his sack.
The following day, Rav Yankel could not resist, and he asked the man the reason for his strange behavior the night before. The man quickly looked around to make sure that no one was listening, and Rav Yankel promised that no one would find out, he would keep it a secret. The man looked around again to make sure all was clear and he said as follows:
‐I was the highest general in the Polish army. As you see, I was captured by the enemy, the Russians. These terrible people want to break my spirit in every way. They are working me to my last strengths, and giving me degrading positions and jobs. Why? They want to break me! However, friend, I am not budging, I will stay fierce like a lion and by no means will I let them break my spirit NO MATTER WHAT THE CASE MAY BE! That is why every night I don my general’s uniform and I remind myself of where I came from and who I really am. I don’t want to ever forget my roots.‐
Rav Yankel concluded the story, ‐We can learn from this Polish general, that every Yid has to remember who he is and where he came from.‐