Martin Gray (writer) facts for kids

Martin Gray, a writer who shared his experiences from World War II.

Martin Gray monument in Uccle, near his former home in Brussels.

Martin Gray (born Mieczysław Grajewski; April 27, 1922 – April 24, 2016) was a Holocaust survivor. He moved to the West and wrote books in French about his experiences during World War II. His family was killed in Poland during the war.

His Early Life and World War II

Martin Gray was born in Warsaw, Poland. When he was 17, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland in 1939. His mother and brothers died in the Treblinka extermination camp. His father was killed during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943.

Gray later wrote that he escaped from the Treblinka camp during a very dangerous time of the Holocaust. He then joined the Soviet Red Army as they fought back against the Nazis. He became an officer in a special police unit in August 1944.

Life After the War

In 1946, Martin Gray moved from Europe to the United States, where his grandmother lived. About ten years later, he became a businessman. He sold copies of old artworks in the U.S., Canada, and Cuba. In 1960, he moved to the South of France.

In 2001, Gray moved to Belgium. He passed away on April 24, 2016, just three days before his 94th birthday. He was found in his swimming pool at his home in Ciney, Belgium.

His Books and Stories

Martin Gray's first book, For Those I Loved (in French, Au nom de tous les miens), became a very popular book. He wrote 11 more books over the years. All of his books were first written in French, and some were later translated into English. His last book, Au nom de tous les hommes (2005), has not yet been translated into English.

Two of Gray's books are about his own life. For Those I Loved tells his story from his birth in 1922 up to 1970. In 1970, he tragically lost his wife and four children in a forest fire. His second autobiography, La vie renaitra de la nuit (Life Arises Out of Darkness), covers the years 1970 to 1977. In this book, he describes how he tried to find a way to live after losing his family. In 1979, a photographer named David Douglas Duncan created a book about Martin Gray called The Fragile Miracle of Martin Gray.

Discussions About His Stories

Some people have questioned parts of Martin Gray's books. A historian named Gitta Sereny wrote in 1979 that Gray's book For Those I Loved was mostly written by a ghostwriter named Max Gallo. She said that Gallo felt the book needed a strong chapter about Treblinka to attract readers.

When Sereny spoke to Gray, he reportedly asked, "But does it matter? Wasn't the only thing that Treblinka did happen, that it should be written about, and that some Jews should be shown to have been heroic?" Another French historian, Pierre Vidal-Naquet, first agreed with Sereny. However, after seeing documents from Martin Gray, he changed his mind about Gray. He still believed Max Gallo had taken some liberties with the truth.

Another example of questions about his stories came from a Polish newspaper in 1990. They interviewed a World War II captain named Wacław Kopisto. Kopisto was part of a special Polish unit that raided a prison in Pińsk in 1943. Martin Gray had written in his book For Those I Loved that he took part in this same raid.

However, when Kopisto was shown a wartime photo of Martin Gray, he said he had never seen him before. Kopisto stated that only sixteen Polish soldiers were in his group for the 1943 Pińsk raid, and Gray was not among them.

Selected Books by Martin Gray

• Au nom de tous les miens, 1972. (Available in English as For Those I Loved, ISBN: 0316325767)
• Les pensees de notre vie., 1976.
• J'écris aux hommes de demain, 1984. ISBN: 2221012771
• La maison humaine, 1985. ISBN: 2221046404
• Le nouveau livre, 1988.
• Martin Gray parle de la vie, 1989.
• Entre la haine et l'amour, 1992. ISBN: 2221069692
• Vivre debout : comment faire face dans un monde en crise, 1997. ISBN: 2221077237
• La prière de l'enfant, 1998. ISBN: 222107968X
• La vie renaîtra de la nuit, 1977. (Reissued in 2002.)
• Au nom de tous les hommes : Caïn et Abel, 2006.
• Les forces de la vie, 2007.

Martin Gray in Film

Martin Gray's life story was made into a film called For Those I Loved. It was shown as a mini-series in Europe during the 1980s. The film starred actors like Michael York and Brigitte Fossey.

Another shorter film was made by Frits Vrij. He tried to contact Gray for several years, and their meeting led to the film Seeking Martin Gray.

See also

In Spanish: Martin Gray para niños

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