| abstract | - Szlama Grzywacz was born in Wołomin, Poland in 1909, to a working-class family. He was obliged to work from a young age. At 16 years old, he joined the Jeunesses communistes (communist youth) where he became an active militant. In 1931, he was arrested by police of the Pilsudski regime and condemned to five years in prison. Invigorated by his incarceration, he resumed his activism on release. His friends advised him to leave Poland to escape persecution by the police. Grzywacz arrived in Paris in 1936 but soon left for Spain, where he fought in the international brigades against the worldwide threat of Fascism. After the defeat of the republican army, he spent time in the concentration camps of Gurs and et Argelès-sur-Mer, but managed to get away.
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