A Dangerous Devotion

During the ferocious Normandy campaign of World War Two, 20-year-old Christopher Portway was taken prisoner, transported to Silesia and forced to work as a slave in a Polish coal mine. Escaping on foot and by train he was eventually caught and transported to Auschwitz where he was forced to take part in 1945’s notorious ‘Death March’, witnessing the horrendous cruelty of the Nazis before escaping once again. It is during this second escape attempt that Christopher first met Anna, the daughter of a Czech family who offered him protection, before he was recaptured. And so began a love that has lasted for over 50 years. Following the armistice, Christopher spent years searching for Anna in war-destroyed Europe. Divided by the Iron Curtain, he resorted to numerous plans to reach her, cutting through electric and barbed wire fences, spending time in Communist prisons, residing illegally in Eastern European countries and dodging bullets, all the while placing the object of his affection at risk of pursuit by her own country’s secret police. This is a story of true adventure, frustrated love and steely determination, spanning some of the most tumultuous years of European history.