New book about Henry Zguda, Polish swimming champion, Auschwitz survivor

Author Katrina Shawver has a new novel detailing the incredible story of a champion swimmer who survived German concentration camps. Her book is titled, “Henry: A Polish Swimmer’s True Story of Friendship from Auschwitz to America.”

When Shawver worked at “The Arizona Republic,” she met Henry Zguda, a Polish Catholic survivor of German concentration camps, and after learning more about him, she offered to write his incredible story.

“He was 85, had no children and no siblings, and I just had this gut instinct he had a story,” Shawver said.

Author Katrina Shawver joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the process of telling Zguda’s story and what lessons it offers us in modern times.

Zguda outlined his life as a champion swimmer, interrupted by three years of imprisonment in Auschwitz and Buchenwald as a Polish political prisoner.

“He always said, ‘Katrina, I’m nobody special. I was lucky, and I knew someone,” Shawver said.

Shawver explained Zguda’s path of resiliency and power of connection are as relevant today as they were in World War II. She added Zguda reminds us that no single class of people were safe from Adolf Hitler’s reach or imprisonment, and no country suffered more under Hitler and Stalin than Poland.

This bridge to history and view of the Holocaust through Polish eyes is supported by extensive research and features more than 70 original photos and rare German documents.

Learn more about her book here.

For upcoming appearances and speaking engagements from Shawyer, please note these dates:

• September 13, 2025, Arizona Professional Writers
• November 8, 2025, 11:00 a.m. – 2 p.m., Local Author Fair, Phoenix Public Library, Burton Barr Central Library, 1221 N. Central Ave., 85004 
• March 17, 2026 – Daughters of the American Revolution, “Polish Heroes of the Revolutionary War.”

Further information on Katrina: katrinashawver.com

And for information on Shawyer’s book clubs, click here: https://katrinashawver.com/book-clubs/