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<p>[QUOTE="Jon L, post: 4503657, member: 64167"][ATTACH=full]394421[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Found this at a garage sale today for a buck. Not particularly rare, but a forgotten book and sadly a forgotten story. It was a best seller in it’s time yet not even a thought today. I read it college and now have a 1st edition in my library.</p><p><br /></p><p>Jan Karski was a true life James Bond during the first half of WWII. In 1939, he escaped from a train bound for the Katyn Forest, and he wound up joining the Polish Resistance. Fluent in four languages and possessing a photographic memory, he organized and ran a secret courier service between the Polish Resistance and the gov’t in exile in London. He smuggled himself into (and out of) the Warsaw ghetto and the Belzac death camp to get first hand info on the Holocaust. He was later caught and tortured by the Gestapo, sprung by the Resistance, and made it to both Roosevelt and Churchill in late 1943 to make his report.</p><p><br /></p><p>He was met with indifference as taking action against the camps “would not shorten the war by even a day”. Things were not going particularly well for the Allies in 1943 and the decision was made to keep him back as a real live hero to boost the morale at home.</p><p><br /></p><p>The book shown here was written in 1944 and while from Karski’s perspective, this gripping story covers the Resistance and life in Poland during the dark days, with only a little covering what he had done (to protect those still in Poland). So disgusted with the lack of Allied action and his own perceived failure in motivating leadership, Karski spoke very little about the war or his activities after WWII. A devout Roman Catholic risking it all for Polish Jews.</p><p><br /></p><p>I see a couple of 1st editions at Abe Books for $10 ea, and a few for $100. If you find a reprint at a used bookstore, and have an interest in spies, Resistance movements, or the heroism of the individual in the face of staggering odds, or maybe just a student of history, this is a very good book. It was also published in London in 1945.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Jon L, post: 4503657, member: 64167"][ATTACH=full]394421[/ATTACH] Found this at a garage sale today for a buck. Not particularly rare, but a forgotten book and sadly a forgotten story. It was a best seller in it’s time yet not even a thought today. I read it college and now have a 1st edition in my library. Jan Karski was a true life James Bond during the first half of WWII. In 1939, he escaped from a train bound for the Katyn Forest, and he wound up joining the Polish Resistance. Fluent in four languages and possessing a photographic memory, he organized and ran a secret courier service between the Polish Resistance and the gov’t in exile in London. He smuggled himself into (and out of) the Warsaw ghetto and the Belzac death camp to get first hand info on the Holocaust. He was later caught and tortured by the Gestapo, sprung by the Resistance, and made it to both Roosevelt and Churchill in late 1943 to make his report. He was met with indifference as taking action against the camps “would not shorten the war by even a day”. Things were not going particularly well for the Allies in 1943 and the decision was made to keep him back as a real live hero to boost the morale at home. The book shown here was written in 1944 and while from Karski’s perspective, this gripping story covers the Resistance and life in Poland during the dark days, with only a little covering what he had done (to protect those still in Poland). So disgusted with the lack of Allied action and his own perceived failure in motivating leadership, Karski spoke very little about the war or his activities after WWII. A devout Roman Catholic risking it all for Polish Jews. I see a couple of 1st editions at Abe Books for $10 ea, and a few for $100. If you find a reprint at a used bookstore, and have an interest in spies, Resistance movements, or the heroism of the individual in the face of staggering odds, or maybe just a student of history, this is a very good book. It was also published in London in 1945.[/QUOTE]
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