The Secret State Series #5
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Albright, a biographical essay by Yale historian Timothy Snyder, an afterword by Zbigniew Brzezinski, previously unpublished photos, notes, further reading, and a glossary—is an apt legacy for this hero of conscience during the most fraught and fragile moment in modern history.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 #5:
The Secret State #5 “Forbidden to Die”
by Jan Karski: Highlights and excerpts by PL Sturgis:
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 #5:
“Forbidden to Die”
Bites #11-15,Beloved Mother Land:
#12) The Kind Slovakian Guard:
#13) When Death is a Privilege:
#14) Help from the Enemy:
#15) Back in the Hospital:
by Jan Karski :
#13) When Death is a Privilege:
#14) Help from the Enemy:
#15) Back in the Hospital:
by Jan Karski :
The Gestapo guards carried me to the cell and deposited me on the bed. One of them fetched some water and flashed it over my face and body. Then they both left. their heavy footsteps echoed down the corridor. When I could no longer hear them I turned over on my side and tried to get some sleep. After tossing restlessly for a while I gave up and attempted to open my eyes. A series of faint smudges on the wall attracted my attention. As my vision became accustomed to the gray light of the cell the smudges assumed a definite shape. I was looking at a Cross I had drawn with soot in this very cell a little while before I had severed my veins. Under it I had inscribed a line from a poem I had remembered vaguely from my childhood. “My Beloved Mother Land, I Love You!” I repeated these words over and over again to myself, deriving a strange lulling effect from the incantation until I drifted off to sleep. After two or three hours I awoke refreshed, my nerves quieted.
#12) The Kind Slovakian Guard:
When I awoke, sitting in the cell with me was the kind Slovakian guard with a round parcel balanced on his knees. He greeted me softly, with great warmth. “I am happy to see you” he said. But then he broke off in confusion. “I am sorry. I don’t know what I am saying. I am such a clumsy old fool!” --- “I know what you mean.” I smiled at him. “Thank you, my friend.” He unwrapped the parcel and handed me a thick slice of white bread and an apple. It is from my wife.” he said. I told him to thank her for me. “Now eat! You must be hungry!” He waited with an instinctive courtesy until I had finished eating. Then he shook his head slowly and reminiscently. “I shall never forget the day I found you in this cell with blood spurting from you like a hose.” “Were you the one that found me?” I asked almost reproachfully. “It was not the hour of your rounds!”---- “I heard you vomiting and groaning” he said. “I looked and saw you all crumpled up and lying in blood! You should never do that! It is a sin! Everyone has some reason to live!” He said this solemnly. Our conversation languished. I thought about how easy it was to think philosophically about pain and torture when it happens to someone else. How can one explain when after a certain stage of pain has been reached you long for death.
#13) When Death is a Privilege:
I tried to make it clear to my Slovakian friend, pointing out in the simplest terms, that men who face a combination of intolerable pain and a total black future they will long for death and count it a privilege. He listened attentively, and when I had finished speaking, he clasped his hands about his knees, and rocked back and forth upon the stool, pondering my remarks. Then he said: “I still believe it is a sin to take one’s life. You say the future is black but how can anyone know the future?” I smiled rather bitterly. “I know my future” I told him. “What do you think the Gestapo guards will do when they question me with no answer?” --- “It may not be as bad as you think! Perhaps you won’t stay here.” --- “They will never permit me to leave!” I told him. He smiled encouragingly. “I think differently. I heard the doctor from the hospital telephoning the prison doctor. I heard him tell him that he must send you back to the hospital or he refuses to take any responsibility.” I felt a momentary surge of hope but I repressed it. I had been disappointed so often. “What sort of man is the prison doctor?” I asked. “Don’t worry. He is not a German. He is a Slovakian” he replied, implying that the mere possibility of the nationality of the doctor was sufficient guarantee of sympathetic treatment. Then the prison doctor came to the cell while the Slovakian guard and I were still conversing. “I understand you are a very sick man,” he said. “I shall examine you and report your condition to the authorities. After he examined me he said: “You are in bad shape.” He patted me on the shoulder and briskly walked out of the cell.
#14) Help from the Enemies:
In an hour or so, after the doctor had examined me, the two guards who mocked and ridiculed me, who brought me into this cell, showed up in the cell. From their sour, disappointed expressions, I knew immediately I was going back to the Slovakian Hospital. The tall domineering one was the first one to speak. “So you fooled that idiotic doctor and now we have to take you back to the hospital!” I did not answer. He continued with his heavy handed sarcasm. “Will you walk with us to the car or do you prefer being carried on our shoulders like a champion.?” “I prefer walking!” I said coldly, restraining a desire to smash my fist into his sneering face. I could not entirely repress a sneer of my own, but felt a moment later a little shocked at my rashness. The tall Gestapo agent was not without a certain shrewdness. He eyed me evily as if to calculate the exact degree of defiance that was offered to him. Luckily the little scrawny guard popped up between us to mimic me. “I prefer walking...I prefer walking!” he crowed. The tall guard directed a look of such contempt and distaste at him that anyone with a thinner skin would have shriveled under it.
#15) Back in the Hospital.
My re-entrance to the hospital must have been comical. Flanked by the ludicrously contrasted pair of Gestapo guards, I walked through the corridors, a grimy bandaged figure. My reception, however, was exceptionally cordial. As we passed through the corridors, doctors, nurses, and patients smiled in sympathy and signaled their greetings by nods of their heads, not daring to openly confront my watch dogs. The tall domineering guard’s face was red with anger and he frowned at everyone we passed. The short guard added to his rage by strutting in front. Despite the heartening evidence of the sympathetic attitudes of those around me, my future still appeared as black as ever. I realized that in spite of their good will I could hardly expect these Slovakians to take any risk in helping me to escape. I could see endless days spent in feigning sickness, in temperature readings, and whispering consolations of doctors and nurses. The routine continued until the eleventh day after my re-entrance to the hospital. On the eleventh day as I was lying in bed staring at the listless and obviously bored Nazi guard, a young girl, who was an absolute stranger to me, entered my room. In her hand she held a bunch of roses. I was taken aback when she spoke to me in German. “Do you speak German?” she asked. “Yes! What do you want?” My reply was sharp. I could see the Gestapo guard eyeing her curiously. “I just had my appendix removed and I heard about you from the other patients. I wanted you to know that all Germans are not as bad as those you have encountered in this war.”
(to be continued) ....
(To be continued )
Daily Bites of The Secret State Series #5
“Forbidden to Die”
#17) The Deceivers are Deceived:
#18) Back to Where I Started:
#19) Beloved Mother Land:
#20) Doctor’s Orders:
by Jan Karski 1944 :
“From The Secret State”
#1) Attempting Suicide:
#2) In a Slovakian Hospital:
#3) Unwanted Blood Transfusion:
#4) Planning a Second attempt to Die:
#5) Mingled Emotions:
#6) France Surrenders:
#7: Deep Despair:
#8) Germany’s Fake News:
#9) Forced to Leave the Hospital:
#10) Back in the Prison Cell:
#11) Beloved Mother Land:
#12) The Kind Slovakian Guard:
#13) When Death is a Privilege:
#14) Help from the Enemy:
#15) Back in the Hospital:
#16) The Message in the Roses:
#17) The Deceivers are Deceived:
#18) Back to Where I Started:
#19) Beloved Mother Land:
#20) Doctor’s Orders:
#21) Requesting a Priest:
#22) Risking Everything:
#23) A Small Break Through:
#24) A Taste of Liberty:
#25) A Feeling of Security:
#26) Path to Freedom:
#27) Now or Never:
#28) Freedom is not Free:
#29) Hearts of Gold:
#30) A Free Man Once Again:
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