Martin Gray (Holocaust survivor)
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Martin Gray or Mietek Grayewski (born 27 April 1922, Warsaw, Poland) is a former captain in the Soviet Red Army and NKVD secret police who claims to be a Holocaust survivor.
As an officer in the Red Army and NKVD secret police he marched into Berlin to witness its fall and the end of World War II.
In 1946 Gray emigrated to the United States, where his grandmother was living. Some 10 years after his arrival Gray had become a tradesman in antiques, doing business in the U.S., Canada and Cuba.
He moved to the South of France in 1960, where he still lives.
[edit] Books
His first book, For those I loved, became a bestseller. Another 11 books would follow over the years. All of Gray’s books have been written in French. Several of them have been translated in English. Gray’s last book Au nom de tous les hommes (2005, In the name of all mankind) has not yet found an English translation.
Two of Gray’s books are autobiographies: the already mentioned For those I loved covers the period: 1922 (birth) - 1970, when Gray lost his complete family in a forestfire. His second autobiography La vie renaitra de la nuit (Life arises out of night) covers the period 1970 – 1977, the year in which Gray found his second wife, Virginia. In this second autobiography Gray describes himself desperately looking for a way to live after the family disaster of 1970.
In 1979 the American photographer David Douglas Duncan wrote a book on Gray: The fragile miracle of Martin Gray.
[edit] Films
- Gray’s life has been put on film: For those I loved. The film was broadcast as a mini-series during the 80’s in Europe, starring Michael York and Brigitte Fossey.
- A second, shorter film was made by Frits Vrij, who tried to contact Gray for several years. The encounter between Gray and Frits Vrij resulted in a film: Seeking Martin Gray. The film was recently brought out on DVD.
