That night changed everything. It had become dangerous for me to live in Tylicz. . . . Papa deliberated long and hard over whom
to contact about smuggling me across the border. Andrzej had been fighting the Germans when Poland had first been invaded, but he’d been fortunate enough to escape capture; returning secretly to Tylicz, he was now working for the Polish resistance.
The details of the passage indicate that the narrative takes place
The references to "fighting the Germans when Poland had first been invaded" identify this narrative as happening during World War II in Europe. Other nations in Europe, notably Britain and France, had followed a policy of appeasement toward Adolph Hitler and Germany's efforts to add territory to its control. They allowed Germany to annex the Sudentland, and then did nothing when Germany took control of all of Czechoslovakia (in March, 1939). But when Germany invaded Poland in September, 1939, it was beyond clear that appeasing Hitler hadn't worked, and war was pursued. Germany's invasion of Poland was the beginning of World War II in Europe.
