The Secret State Series #3
Story of a Secret State stands as one of the most poignant and inspiring memoirs of World War II and the Holocaust. With elements of a spy thriller, documenting his experiences in the Polish Underground, and as one of the first accounts of the systematic slaughter of the Jews by the German Nazis, this volume is a remarkable testimony of one man's courage and a nation's struggle for resistance against overwhelming oppression.
Karski was a brilliant young diplomat when war broke out in 1939 with Hitler's invasion of Poland. Taken prisoner by the Soviet Red Army, which had simultaneously invaded from the East, Karski narrowly escaped the subsequent Katyn Forest Massacre. He became a member of the Polish Underground, the most significant resistance movement in occupied Europe, acting as a liaison and courier between the Underground and the Polish government-in-exile. He was twice smuggled into the Warsaw Ghetto, and entered the Nazi's Izbica transit camp disguised as a guard, witnessing first-hand the horrors of the Holocaust.
Karski's courage and testimony, conveyed in a breathtaking manner in Story of a Secret State, offer the narrative of one of the world's greatest eyewitnesses and an inspiration for all of humanity, emboldening each of us to rise to the challenge of standing up against evil and for human rights. This definitive edition—which includes a foreword by Madeleine Albright, a biographical essay by Yale historian Timothy Snyder, an afterword by Zbigniew Brzezinski, previously unpublished photos, notes, further reading, and a glossary—is an apt legacy for this hero of conscience during the most fraught and fragile moment in modern history.
Karski was a brilliant young diplomat when war broke out in 1939 with Hitler's invasion of Poland. Taken prisoner by the Soviet Red Army, which had simultaneously invaded from the East, Karski narrowly escaped the subsequent Katyn Forest Massacre. He became a member of the Polish Underground, the most significant resistance movement in occupied Europe, acting as a liaison and courier between the Underground and the Polish government-in-exile. He was twice smuggled into the Warsaw Ghetto, and entered the Nazi's Izbica transit camp disguised as a guard, witnessing first-hand the horrors of the Holocaust.
Karski's courage and testimony, conveyed in a breathtaking manner in Story of a Secret State, offer the narrative of one of the world's greatest eyewitnesses and an inspiration for all of humanity, emboldening each of us to rise to the challenge of standing up against evil and for human rights. This definitive edition—which includes a foreword by Madeleine Albright, a biographical essay by Yale historian Timothy Snyder, an afterword by Zbigniew Brzezinski, previously unpublished photos, notes, further reading, and a glossary—is an apt legacy for this hero of conscience during the most fraught and fragile moment in modern history.
Jan Karski was born in ód , Poland, in 1914.
He received a degree in Law and Diplomatic Science in 1935 and served as a liaison officer of the Polish Underground during World War II. He carried the first eyewitness report of the Holocaust to a mostly unbelieving West, meeting with President Roosevelt in 1943 to plead for Allied intervention. Story of a Secret State was originally published in 1944, becoming a bestseller and Book of the Month Club selection. After the war, Karski earned his PhD at Georgetown University, where he served as a distinguished professor in the School of Foreign Service for forty years. He died in Washington, DC, in 2000. Karski has been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. In 2012, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by our President.
"His wartime saga as officer, as Soviet prisoner, as escapee, in the hands of the Gestapo, and as a Polish Underground activist and courier, is beyond remarkable. In a world today where words such as 'courage' and 'heroism' have been so overused—applied freely from sports to entertainment to politics as to be rendered practically meaningless—Jan Karski was the rare human being who embodied both."
He received a degree in Law and Diplomatic Science in 1935 and served as a liaison officer of the Polish Underground during World War II. He carried the first eyewitness report of the Holocaust to a mostly unbelieving West, meeting with President Roosevelt in 1943 to plead for Allied intervention. Story of a Secret State was originally published in 1944, becoming a bestseller and Book of the Month Club selection. After the war, Karski earned his PhD at Georgetown University, where he served as a distinguished professor in the School of Foreign Service for forty years. He died in Washington, DC, in 2000. Karski has been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. In 2012, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by our President.
"His wartime saga as officer, as Soviet prisoner, as escapee, in the hands of the Gestapo, and as a Polish Underground activist and courier, is beyond remarkable. In a world today where words such as 'courage' and 'heroism' have been so overused—applied freely from sports to entertainment to politics as to be rendered practically meaningless—Jan Karski was the rare human being who embodied both."
"In the words of James Russell Lowell's rousing hymn:
'Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, in the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side.' Perhaps more than most of us, Jan Karski faced such a choice in the starkest of possible terms, and made his decision as courageously as one could. . . . Jan Karski was a patriot and a truth teller; may his words always be read and his legacy never forgotten.
"Secret State is an indispensable and compelling historical document of World War II and the Holocaust, written by a supremely courageous humanitarian."
"Secret State is an indispensable and compelling historical document of World War II and the Holocaust, written by a supremely courageous humanitarian."
The Secret State Series #3:
The Secret State #3 “Open Contact”
by Jan Karski: Highlights and excerpts by PL Sturgis:
The Secret state Series 1: “The Underground” by Jan Karski:
Introduction: During my four and a half months absence while captured by the Russians and the the Germans, Conditions in Poland had changed considerably. The first few conversations made me conscious of the fact that the consolidation of the underground had practically been achieved. The movement had crystallized into the major organization: The coalition of the four largest political parties;
1) The Peasants
2) The Socialist
3) The Christian Labor
4) The Nationalist.
This was the official military organization which had been recognized by the government as a military unit enjoying equal rights with the Polish Army in France. The most important need for that third party was to unite and agree on a chief delegate. The government was not interested in the personality of the candidate, nor his political affiliation, nor was he to become involved in party representation. The government would confirm the appointment of any individual who possessed authority and had the confidence of the population.
(hmmmm? 1940 sounds familiar in 2017)
The Polish underground State to which Karski belonged was under the authority of the Polish government in London. He admitted that besides this organization there were other organizations carrying on their activities under the direct influence of Moscow. Being the first active member of the Polish Underground and in the fortunate position to publish some aspect of its story, he hoped that it would encourage others to relate their experiences and that out of such narratives the free people all over the world would be able to form an objective opinion as to how the Polish people reacted during the years of German conquest.
Daily Bites of The Secret State Series #3:
“Open Contact”
Bites #16-20,Coping with German Spies:
#17) On the Train to Paris:
#18) No Turning Back:
#19) The Phony War in Paris:
#20) Leaving for Angers:
#18) No Turning Back:
#19) The Phony War in Paris:
#20) Leaving for Angers:
by Jan Karski :
#16) Coping with German Spies:
At the headquarters of our organization in Modane I contacted a man whom I had been told to ask for by name. He took me to a Polish officer in uniform who examined my documents and questioned me. I was not allowed to answer him in full, as my mission was important, secret, and I was forbidden to mention it to anyone but Prime Minister General Sikorski: He then asked me for the name of the man in Budapest who had supplied with my papers and passport. when I gave him the name of the Director in Budapest he asked me to wait and left the room. A few minutes later I was shown into the room of his superior who welcomed me cordially. He knew everything about me. I was impressed by the way he scrutinized my credentials, and the definiteness of his decision that I was genuinely what I was supposed to be. Even when one finally gains the credence of an individual there is often a vestige of uncertainty, an unexpected doubt. For forgery and espionage knows no limits. Finally he said to me: “You understand we have a great deal to contend with from German spies? They are everywhere in France.” Well, I didn’t know that! “How did such a state of affairs ever come about?” I asked. “It’s a long story----They are not particularly clever but they are well organized and unscrupulous. We root them out and like weeds, they grow back again. “Remember, you are not in Poland!” he warned. “Yes! I know! I told him it takes defeat to understand how to cope with German methods.
#17) On the Train to Paris:
I pretended to be a Polish refugee coming to join the army. My instructions were to register as a soldier. In the train from Modane to Paris, a journey of about ten hours, I was in the first class department with six other passengers. I surveyed them carefully. There was an elderly lady who kept to herself, looking at magazines. There were two men, evidently Frenchmen traveling on business. They talked about business, politics, their friends, and the war. The other three were like myself; young Polish citizens on their way to our camp to join the army. They too, had obviously been cautioned as they, confined themselves to trivial conversations. I listened carefully to all five for a trace of German accent or any inconsistency in what they were saying. There was no way to know. There could even be Frenchmen working for the Germans. The Polish men looked genuine and I could have sworn they were natives of Poland, but still, they could have been of German descent, like the treacherous inhabitants of Oswiecim. To avoid all chances of becoming involved in a conversation I closed my eyes and pretended to be sound asleep. Besides, our army camp was north of Paris, just outside the city. A Polish camp there served for the reception of refugees and an induction center for the army.
#18) No Turning Back:
In Paris I went to the Polish Army Camp and followed the normal procedure, registering as an applicant for the army and remained over night as though I intended to stay. The next morning I took a cab into the city. From the first public telephone booth I could find I called Kulakowski, the private secretary of General Sikorski. “I come from home,” I told him...”I have some matters to talk over with you.” That was the most I dared to say on a public telephone. Kulakowski told me to come to his office in the Polish Embassy near the Tallyrand. When I got there he had me sit down while he called Professor Kot. Kot was one of the leaders of the Polish Peasants Party and held the post of Minister of the Interior in the cabinet of the Polish Government in exile. Kulokowski described me over the telephone and asked for instructions. Kot apparently had expected me for Kulakowski gave me additional funds and told me to find a place anywhere I chose in Paris and to report to Kot at the building of the Ministry of Interior in Angers on the following day. “I have to go back to Besseires first.” I told him. “I left my overcoat and suitcase there.” .... “You didn’t have anything important in your suitcase did you?” he asked. “Of course not” I said. “Don’t go back then. We can not allow it. Get new things. There may be German spies there. they are trying to infiltrate into our rank with every conceivable method. All Paris is infested with them.” ---”What about Angers?” I asked. “Yes!” he said. “There is danger there too.” (to be continued) The Phony War in Paris:
#19) The Phony War in Paris:
I took a cab to the St. Germaine Quarters. There I registered at a good but very quiet hotel. The menace of the spies was disturbing but only when I was actually on business. Although, the caution of the men I had met had effected me to such a degree that I constantly felt like turning around to see if I was being followed, and had induced me to examine my hotel room carefully for a possible site for eaves droppers, still I knew that here I was free from the dangers of Warsaw. It was only two and a half weeks since I had left Warsaw and I was still possessed with the tension and alertness that never fully left a member of the underground. No one could ever tell when a leak might occur, when someone who had been caught might have cracked under torture, so that one’s identity and the address to which one was given might at any moment become known to the Gestapo. In Paris this fear was unknown, nor could I, when I left my hotel and went to the boulevard for a stroll, notice a trace of any kind of fear, nor any of the rages of war in the people who passed by. Although it was a gray drizzly day the boulevard was crowded with well dressed people more cosmopolitan than in peace time. Soldiers in uniform with crimson capes passed through the crowd. That was Paris during the period of the phony war soon to come to an abrupt end. Traffic was at a maximum. Swarms of the nimble French taxis maneuvered through civilian and military vehicles unaffected by the gas rationing. I spent the rest of the evening on a shopping spree, then treated myself to a luxurious dinner. Then I wandered about the boulevard with nothing much happening. I returned to my hotel with an arm full of French newspapers and fell asleep early. The next morning I left for Angers wearing my new outfit. (to be continued) Leaving for Angers:
#20) Leaving for Angers:
Angers was a typical French city of about 85,000 inhabitants and about a 4 hour train ride to the South West of Paris. The streets were well kept and modestly prosperous. the French Government designated Angers as the seat for the Polish Government. It was a more convenient place to work than crowded, noisy, war time Paris. The French had granted us permission to function in Angers as an almost independent and sovereign state with extra territorial rights. Foreign Ambassadors and ministers to Poland resided officially at Angers. I went to Kot’s office in the ministry of interior. His secretary was polite but cautious. He informed me that he was sure Kot would prefer to meet me outside of his office. He checked my crudentials and arranged for me to meet Kot for lunch at a nearby hotel. When I arrived at the appointment place Kot was already there. He was a short, gray haired, quiet man. We introduced ourselves, After we were seated Kot remarked that I looked more like a banker coming from a banquet than an emissary from starved Poland. “I don’t suppose it was enjoyable walking around Warsaw in wrinkled trousers and worn socks?” he asked. I informed him that there were a great many misconceptions about how we lived in Poland. I managed to mend my own socks and press my own pants by placing them under the matress at night. We managed to keep ourselves looking presentable. Kot eyed me shrewdly. “In spite of all your pass words, papers, and evidence, as to your identity it is my duty to be careful. I might find you trustworthy but I must assure myself that you are the man I am expecting. “What farther assurance do you wish sir?” I asked. “Tell me about yourself, before and after the war.” ...This launched us into a long discussion, mostly about the people I met in the underground. Kot asked me to write a report to explain my work in the underground and he would have his secretary send it to my hotel in code. He wished for his records to be in perfect order.
(to be continued) ....
(To be continued )
Daily Bites of The Secret State Series #3
“Open Contacts:
Bite #21-25,Creating a Free Militia:
#22) Unfortunate Pre- War Rulers:
#23) Post War Poland:
#24) Remember the History of Poland:
#25) Not an Ordinary War:
by Jan Karski 1944 :
“From The Secret State”
The Secret State: Series 3:
#1 A Worthwhile Task:
#2) By the Light of the Moon:
#3) Through Forests and Fields:
#4) Across the German Border:
#5) The Next Train Out:
#6) The New Plan:
#7) Two Different Worlds:
#8) Trust not in a Brother:
#9) Escaping from Lwow:
#10) Mission to France:
#11) Border Meetings:
#12) My Light Afflictions:
#13) Meeting the Top Contact:
#14) Recovering in Budapest:
#15) German Deception Leads to Slavery:
#16) Coping with German Spies:
#17) On the Train to Paris:
#18) No Turning Back:
#19) The Phony War in Paris:
#20) Leaving for Angers:
#21) Creating a Free Militia:
#22) Unfortunate Pre- War Rulers:
#23) Post War Poland:
#24) Remember the History of Poland:
#25) Not an Ordinary War:
#26) The Doctrine of the Polish Underground:
#27) Creating a Third Branch:
#28) Selecting Chief Delegates:
#29) The Fatal Error:
#30) Manifesto 0f Walnosc (Liberty)
#1 A Worthwhile Task:
#2) By the Light of the Moon:
#3) Through Forests and Fields:
#4) Across the German Border:
#5) The Next Train Out:
#6) The New Plan:
#7) Two Different Worlds:
#8) Trust not in a Brother:
#9) Escaping from Lwow:
#10) Mission to France:
#11) Border Meetings:
#12) My Light Afflictions:
#13) Meeting the Top Contact:
#14) Recovering in Budapest:
#15) German Deception Leads to Slavery:
#16) Coping with German Spies:
#17) On the Train to Paris:
#18) No Turning Back:
#19) The Phony War in Paris:
#20) Leaving for Angers:
#21) Creating a Free Militia:
#22) Unfortunate Pre- War Rulers:
#23) Post War Poland:
#24) Remember the History of Poland:
#25) Not an Ordinary War:
#26) The Doctrine of the Polish Underground:
#27) Creating a Third Branch:
#28) Selecting Chief Delegates:
#29) The Fatal Error:
#30) Manifesto 0f Walnosc (Liberty)
LibertygroupFreedom
https://redd.it/6y400k
To be Continued in the Next Daily Bites of “The Secret State Series #3”
"FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM AND LIBERTY"
Stand Up To Government Corruption and Hypocrisy
NEVER FORGET THE SACRIFICES
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