Extraordinary LIVES
HAve you lost a relative or friend in recent months whose life you’d like to celebrate? our Friday column tells the stories of ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives. email your 350-word tribute to: lives@dailymail.co.uk or write to: extraordinary
CHARLES STEVENS (originally Chamulek Sieradzki) was a remarkable person whose life — spanning many countries, different armies and a world war — was characterised by physical and emotional suffering, yet ended up with great kindness and wisdom. It began with the horrific events of the invasion of Poland. He fled his home town of Nowy Sacz to the Soviet Union as the Nazi Germans invaded in 1939. He then endured unimaginably harsh imprisonment by the Russians, almost losing his life in a Siberian labour camp. He was just 16 years old. He lost both of his parents and five siblings in the war. Another five siblings, including Charles, survived. Eventually, he and other Poles were released so they could be conscripted into the Polish Army to fight the Germans, as part of the deal between General Sikorski and Stalin. With the Polish Army, he was transferred across many countries, including Persia and Palestine, and
ended up in Scotland. There he was released from the Polish army and he joined the British Army’s Royal Armoured Corps. Later, he was told to report to the War Office in London. Due to his ability to speak several languages, he was posted to the Intelligence Corps. Advised to change his Polish name in case he was captured, he became Charles Stevens, a name he took from a book he was reading at the time. He later became a very successful tailor in London, and was a loving husband to Rita and father to three children. He wrote in his autobiography, A Journey Into Manhood, that in spite of the terrible treatment and privations he suffered, ‘life was too short for hatred, bitterness and vengeance’ and that he ‘allowed his conscience as the higher monitor to always show him the way’. In his private life, he became a fine artist and also immersed himself in religion, philosophy and spirituality. Recognised as a spiritual healer, he helped a great many people with their problems. He never charged for his spiritual work, but requested donations for the charity Norwood, which supports children and families with learning disabilities. Charles leaves his widow, Rita, and their two surviving children, Gillian and Eric.
charles stevens, born January 24, 1922; died August 7, 2018, aged 96.