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The Cleveland Teenager Studying Abroad Who Spent 18 Months In A WWII Russian Concentration Camp
A child studying in Poland experienced his worst nightmare when he was inadvertently swept up in the horrors of World War II
The horrors of World War II were everywhere. In addition to the bloody carnage on the fields of battles, there were horrific concentration and prison camps, not to mention the countless communities torn to shred by the bombs and fighting. Since the United States was not one of the arenas of the conflict, most Americans didn’t have to experience some aspects of the war. This did not include a 14-year-old from Cleveland named Leonard Pluto, who was attending school abroad and got swept up in the chaos, spending 18 months in a Russian concentration camp.
In February, 1941, Pluto, who was 15 by that time, was able to return home to Ohio following a harrowing past year and a half where he didn’t always know if he was going to live or die. “I want to forget all about Russia,” he proclaimed as he finally touched home soil.
In 1939, he was living with his uncle, a Polish clergyman, and attending school in the Eastern Poland town of Rowne when Russian forces came and took over the community in their push into Europe. The boy had arrived…
