At the beginning of World War II Stefan worked as a fine carpenter in the city of Lvov, which then belonged to Poland. He was inventive, good with his hands and technically skilled.

Stefan married Maria in 1939 and they had two sons. In 1942 he joined the Resistance. He was betrayed and arrested by the Nazis in January 1943.

Stefan was imprisoned and later moved to various prison camps as a political prisoner. Due to his technical skill he was forced to work doing precision engineering in the Peenemunde rocket factory.Thousands of people lost their lives there under inhuman conditions.

Near the end of the war Stefan was liberated by American soldiers and came to Sweden in July 1945. After spending time in quarantine in Trelleborg he was moved to Småland, where he was treated for tuberculosis.

Stefan trained to be a clockmaker and in the 1950s had an exhibition in Malmö. After a long struggle with the Polish authorities Maria and the children were finally allowed to come to Sweden. The family was reunited in 1957.

Stefan suffered from terrible nightmares and changeable moods and had difficulty in dealing with close relationships. He received compensation for his time in the concentration camps but his son says Stefan never became a whole human being after his years in the Nazi concentration camps.

No amount of money in the world can heal the wounds.