Exile
After the fall of Poland in 1939, Gundlach was one of hundreds of thousand Polish soldiers, technicians, scientists and engineers who escaped to France via Romania. In France he worked in the Bureau of War Industry (Biuro Wojennego Przemysłu przy Ministerstwie Przemysłu), and in the Ministry of Industry of the Polish Government in Exile. After the fall of France, health problems prevented him from evacuating to Great Britain and he stayed in Vichy France for the remainder of the war.
After the Second World War and a long court battle, in 1947 he received a large payment for his periscope patent from some of its producers. It allowed him to buy a farm near Paris, which he used as his home until his death.
Even today, original Gundlach periscopes are used in some tanks and APCs.
Read more about this topic: Rudolf Gundlach
Famous quotes containing the word exile:
“The exile is a singular, whereas refugees tend to be thought of in the mass. Armenian refugees, Jewish refugees, refugees from Franco Spain. But a political leader or artistic figure is an exile. Thomas Mann yesterday, Theodorakis today. Exile is the noble and dignified term, while a refugee is more hapless.... What is implied in these nuances of social standing is the respect we pay to choice. The exile appears to have made a decision, while the refugee is the very image of helplessness.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“Public employment contributes neither to advantage nor happiness. It is but honorable exile from one’s family and affairs.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“the bird in the poplar tree
dreaming, his head
tucked into
far-and-near exile under his wing ...”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)