New Book by Jan Szymczuk

Below you will find a list of books online. Why not take a look?

Gabriella

This book was not written for fame, profit, or recognition. It was written for remembrance.

Gabriella is the true-life account of my mother, a Polish child who endured the horrors of war, forced displacement, hunger, loss and unimaginable cruelty, yet who carried within her an unbreakable spirit, faith and dignity. For many years her story lived only in fragments, whispered memories and quiet moments of reflection. Now, finally, those memories have found a voice.

Growing up, I did not fully understand the depth of what my mother had lived through. Like so many of her generation, she spoke little of the past. The war was sealed behind her eyes, folded carefully into silence. Only later, through her letters, her pauses, her tears, and the unspoken ache that followed her, did I realise that her life was not simply a story, but a testimony to endurance.

This book is my attempt to honour that life.

It is not meant to be a historical textbook, nor is it a political statement. It is a human story, told through the eyes of a young girl who was stripped of childhood and yet refused to surrender her humanity. In writing it, I walked beside her through fear, cold, hunger, exhaustion and hope. I saw the world not through adult understanding, but through frightened, innocent eyes, and in doing so I came to know my mother as I never had before.

Although written as a narrative, the events depicted here are drawn from true recollections, personal accounts, letters and lived experiences. Some names have been softened, some moments gently shaped for narrative flow, but the heart of the story remains untouched. The suffering was real. The courage was real. Above all, the love and resilience were real.

Gabriella now stands not only as my mother’s story, but as a tribute to every child, every family and every quiet soul who lived through the storms of war and still managed to rebuild a life filled with love.

If this book keeps even one memory alive, then it has served its purpose.

Jan Szymczuk

Northumberland

Thin Blue Line Art by Boris

Jan’s parents were both Polish who settled in the North East after the Second World War. Jan grew up in the small mining village of Pegswood which lies between the birth place of the famous two famous football brothers, Jack and Bobby Charlton from Ashington and the home of Lord Cuthbert Collingwood, Admiral and Nelson’s right-hand man, in Morpeth.

He was always drawing and painting since a tiny kid and it was no surprise that he got into art college at Newcastle where he completed a Foundation Course in art, he then got accepted into Newcastle Art College but as his father was a colliery miner and his mother was a home help, was unable to acquire finances for a student loan to proceed further. His art career, it seems, came to an abrupt halt.

He first applied to Northumbria police but as he was amongst a few hundred who applied at the same time, unfortunately he wasn’t successful, but he was given some useful advice in that he should try and join the much bigger Metropolitan Police, where he’d have a better chance at getting in, and if after his training he could migrate back to Northumberland if he wanted to.

Desperate to find a place for himself, he arranged three different interviews for a possible career move, either working as a colliery miner (like his father), joining the NHS as an auxiliary nurse and finally trying to join the Metropolitan Police in London.

He then travelled down to London and as fate would have it, he passed his Met Police interview and in March 1979, after taking his Royal Oath he was was enrolled into the Metropolitan Police.

Jan really wanted to join the police and try to become a dog handler as dogs were always a great love of his. After completing his training at Hendon and passing out he was posted to Marylebone in central London. Jan aka Boris continued his art by sketch police caricatures and cartoon illustration which become well known around Marylebone and Paddington.

About a year or two later whilst walking the beat up and down Oxford Street, directing foreign tourists to their destinations. Fate once more intervened and when on patrol, he was alerted to an armed Bank Robbery in Baker Street, being the first on the scene after the robbers had left, he started taking notes of witnesses and observations. When the Flying Squad turned up a few minutes later he mentioned to one of the Detectives that one of the cashiers had seen the face of one of the robbers and Jan mentioned that he had been to art college and he reckoned he could possibly sketch his face if he worked with the cashier. The Detective agreed and left him and the cashier alone to pursue his sketching. When he finished, Jan showed the sketch to the Detective who immediately shouted, “Hey that’s Harry! Sarge look, it’s Harry!’ Who, apparently was one of the suspects they were actively looking for at that time. Since that moment he was then called up to do more sketches for the squad, CID, Robbery squads and local incident rooms. His artistic activities around Marylebone, Paddington and Harrow Road quickly came to the attention of the then current SO11 Detective Superintendent who suggested he should apply to join the SO11 Photo-FIT team, now when a SO11 Detective Superintendent suggests that you should try for a post, you try for that post! Jan got accepted onto the four-man Photo-FIT team. As a natural artist Jan stood out amongst the other Team members and after spending the first few years as a strapper, covering for the other four operators area’s, because of this role Jan practically visited every station, Flying Squads and incident rooms in the MPD (Metropolitan Police District). He was also selected to attend the FBI Forensic Art course at Quantico, who invited oversea police forces to send them their artists for in house training. Jan spent the rest of his police career drawing faces, creating photo-FIT’s, and then progressing onto E-FIT’s (Electronic Facial Imaging Technique). Jan almost acquired specialist skills in Facial Photographic Mapping, 2D and 3D Skull reconstructions and Age Progression Techniques. Jan ended up as the Senior Police Artist and helped in the training of other, Northern Ireland and various County Forces Police Artists and Photo-FIT and E-FIT operators at Home Office Police Artists course held and hosted in different force headquarters throughout the UK.

After 30 years’ service in the Met, In 2009 Jan retired and settled back in the North East and moved to Stannington, near Morpeth where he started painting and had his own studio and began teaching art workshops and giving art demonstrations through Northumberland and various art groups around the UK.

In 2015 Jan was chosen out of over 7000 applicants as one of the ten finalists in the TV Show, The Big Painting Challenge on BBC one.

During both COVID lockdowns, as his workshops and demonstrations were forcibly terminated, Jan started to develop his skill in digital art. He began creating Police themed art which became so popular that he was spending all his time digitally painting police themed art for both retired and serving police officers, first from the Met but as his popularity grew, he began taking commission from other police officers from around the UK, Ireland, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and the USA.

Jan still works as a freelance artist from his studio in Stannington, Northumberland.