» Update your details

• Extract
• Synopsis
• Reviews
• Product details

• Biography
• More titles by Jan Karski

Synopsis

'I do not pretend to have given an exhaustive picture of the Polish Underground, its organization and its activities.Because of our methods, I believe that there is no one today who could give an all-embracing recital…This book is a purely personal story, my story.'

Jan Karski's 1944 war memoir is a heroic act of witness: the courageous testimony of a man who risked everything for his country. At times overwhelming in the details it reveals of the suffering of ordinary people, it is an unforgettable and deeply affecting record of brutality, courage, and survival under conditions of extreme bleakness. During the first four years of World War II, Karski worked as a messenger for the underground, risking his life in secret missions. He was captured, tortured, rescued, smuggled through a tunnel into the Warsaw ghetto and, finally, disguised himself as a guard to infiltrate a Nazi death camp. Then, travelling across occupied Europe to England, with his eye-witness report smuggled on microfilm in the handle of a razor, he became the first man to tell the Allies about the Holocaust - only to be ignored.

» Read the first pages of Story of a Secret State by downloading the Penguin Taster here

» Visit Penguin Tasters

Reviews

Critic Review:

‘Truly staggering' Ben Macintyre, The Times

‘Stands in the absolute first rank of books about the resistance in World War II. If you wish to read about a man more courageous and honourable than Jan Karski I would have no idea who to recommend. Yes, it's that good’ Alan Furst

‘Simultaneously thrilling and appalling … His is not a story of conventional heroism. It is a morally grave resistance in which any attack or escape is likely to cause the deaths of comrades or civilians … Karski provides an astonishing insight into the operation of the secret Polish state … His story deserves not just revival but reflection … Karski's electrifying words still speak only too eloquently for themselves' Marek Kohn, Independent

‘A cracking good read: Karski's adventures are worthy of the wildest spy thriller. In desperate frustration Karski wrote this book to record in searing detail what he had seen with his own eyes’ Nigel Jones, Daily Telegraph

‘Karski's vivid account of what he saw back in 1942 is still deeply moving. We feel his shock and incredulity that this could really be happening in 20th century 'civilised' Europe’ Tony Rennell, Daily Mail

‘Karski's account of his missions is an electrifying tale of false identities, near captures, spies and secret film capsules ... yet, in human terms, Karski's account is invaluable' Frank Trentmann, Sunday Express

‘Seared with an urgency that pitches the reader into the heart of the horror’ Ben Felsenburg, Metro

Product details

Shipped within 24hrs.
FREE UK Delivery*

• Full delivery details

• » View your basket