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Albright, a biographical essay by Yale historian Timothy Snyder, an afterword by Zbigniew Brzezinski, previously unpublished photos, notes, further reading, and a glossary—is an apt legacy for this hero of conscience during the most fraught and fragile moment in modern history.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 #16-20,The Message in the Roses:
#17) The Deceivers are Deceived:
#18) Back to Where I Started:
#19) Beloved Mother Land:
#20) Doctor’s Orders:
by Jan Karski :
#18) Back to Where I Started:
#19) Beloved Mother Land:
#20) Doctor’s Orders:
by Jan Karski :
When the young German girl, who was only an innocent patient in the hospital, came into my room with the roses she had no idea that the man in civilian clothes sitting near my bed was a Gestapo agent. I collected my wits sufficiently to blurt out: “I never saw you before. I don’t know you!” She looked hurt and puzzled. “Please don’t be so bitter? Learn to forgive and you will be happier.” she said. She laid the roses on my bed and turned to leave. The Gestapo agent rose from his chair, strolled across the room and barred the door with both of his arms. “That was a lovely speech!” he said sarcastically, as he grabbed her arm and forced her back toward my bed. When she heard him speak in German she turned pale and began to tremble. I pitied her immediately. I tried to tell the guard she meant no harm. “I tell you, I don’t know the girl! You need to let her go. Don’t you see she is frightened?” The guard looked at me coldly. “Save your breath! You’ll need it later!” He picked up the roses and tore them to shreds searching for a hidden message. Then he locked his fingers around the girl’s arm and propelled her brutally out of the room. In less than an hour a Gestapo official, I had never seen before, paid me a visit. He was a middle aged man, scholarly in appearance. His tactics were sufficiently transparent. He introduced himself in a dignified fashion.
#17) The Deceivers are Deceived:
A Gestapo official I had never seen before showed up in my cell shortly after the innocent incident with the young German girl bringing me roses. He was the more polished, kind of subtle, agent; the type the Gestapo employed to seek out secrets unobtainable by their brutal methods of cruelty. He first inquired about my health and offered a few observations about hospitals, science, society and the war. Then, as if it had just slipped out without purpose or design, he sighed and observed: “I should think that people with a little experience in politics could devise more ingenious stratagems than the use of a little girl carrying roses!” He paused for a supply which was not forthcoming! He ignored my distance. You will be removed from this hospital in two hours!” He calmly waited for his remark to register on me. I tried to keep my face blank. “Of course,” he continued. “We realize the move will be dangerous and possibly fatal! We are not the monsters you have made us out to be, but what choice have you given us? Your colleagues know exactly where you are.!” He paused and wiped his glasses with a handkerchief as if tactfully waiting for an answer. I was in a hopeless predicament. Through all their tricks, one factor was plainly obvious. He genuinely believed the girl and the roses was a scheme to set me free. Ironically enough, the one time I was free to tell the Gestapo the truth, it was certain they would not believe me. I shrugged wearily; fatalistically;----- I was beaten! I tried to reason--- “The girl is completely innocent. She is much too naive to be mixed up in----” He interrupted me. “Oh come now! Get ready to leave here!”------ The rest of my speech died on my lips.
#18) Back Where I Started:
Again, I was ordered to get dressed and conducted into a car. I had no notion of my destination and I was too miserable even to speculate about it. The Gestapo guards took up their position on either side of me. I was sunk in apathy. We rode along in the gathering twilight of the Slovakian Mountains. The air was sharp and a trifle chilly. Village after village passed by but I took little notice. Only one thought stirred in my mind: --Suicide! --- Any opportunity to leap from the car. It was just before dark that a spark of interest quickened in me. I realized, with an accelerated beat of my heart, that I was gazing at a familiar land mark. ---A small white house with dark blue shutters--- We were over the border in the south of Poland. In the past I had spent a happy summer vacation in that very house. We were out of the town of Krynica before my eyes could drink in its features. Within an hour we had reached a small town where I had frequently done some work. It was all I could do to control my excitement. It was from this place that I had been sent abroad twice by the underground. I had an extensive acquaintance here.----My guide--- My liaison agent.--- lived in this town! Could this be our destination? I dared not even allow myself to wish it. It would be too fortunate; too unreal; ---and yet, the automobile had slowed down. The chauffeur was picking his way more carefully through the crossings and turns. He was peering out the side windows as if he was searching for something. We reached the Market Place and turned right and stopped right in front of the Preszow Hospital.
Again, I was ordered to get dressed and conducted into a car. I had no notion of my destination and I was too miserable even to speculate about it. The Gestapo guards took up their position on either side of me. I was sunk in apathy. We rode along in the gathering twilight of the Slovakian Mountains. The air was sharp and a trifle chilly. Village after village passed by but I took little notice. Only one thought stirred in my mind: --Suicide! --- Any opportunity to leap from the car. It was just before dark that a spark of interest quickened in me. I realized, with an accelerated beat of my heart, that I was gazing at a familiar land mark. ---A small white house with dark blue shutters--- We were over the border in the south of Poland. In the past I had spent a happy summer vacation in that very house. We were out of the town of Krynica before my eyes could drink in its features. Within an hour we had reached a small town where I had frequently done some work. It was all I could do to control my excitement. It was from this place that I had been sent abroad twice by the underground. I had an extensive acquaintance here.----My guide--- My liaison agent.--- lived in this town! Could this be our destination? I dared not even allow myself to wish it. It would be too fortunate; too unreal; ---and yet, the automobile had slowed down. The chauffeur was picking his way more carefully through the crossings and turns. He was peering out the side windows as if he was searching for something. We reached the Market Place and turned right and stopped right in front of the Preszow Hospital.
#19) One Step Ahead or Nazi Psychology?
Again, a repetition of my beginning entrance into the Preszow Hospital. I tottered up the stairs with the guards flanking me. I was genuinely sick and weak but I exaggerated my condition. My bandages were soaked with blood, which made my acting more impressive. The guards had to carry me to the second floor where they dumped me unceremoniously on a bed. When the guards had left I propped myself up on one elbow to study my room mates. There were five of them, all old, ranging in age, as it appeared to me, ranging in age from seventy to eighty. They all stared back at me in wonderment. It was a strange sight but at the moment I could not savor its humor. I wondered what the Nazis were up to? Was this a new piece of psychology by their master race? Perhaps they wanted me to feel over confident and betray myself. It did occur to me that I might have been taken to this town especially to lure my friends and colleagues out into the open. Still, it did not seem possible that they could know my connections with this place. My mind gnawed anxiously at this problem but I could reach no definite conclusion. The muttering of the old men ceased immediately. I had been in hospitals long enough to know that this signaled the entrance of the Gestapo. I closed my eyes and writhed feebly on the bed. Along the side of my bed a man and a woman were conversing in Polish and I judged them to be a doctor and a nurse. The guard must have been hovering near by, for the doctor addressed him curtly. “Aren’t you supposed to guard this room from the corridor? You won’t do any good by crowding me!” The guard walked without answering him.
#20) Doctor’s Orders:
The doctor in Preszow Hospital bent over me to examine me and dress my wounds. As he unwound the clotted and filthy bandages he fired questions at me in a rapid, anxious whisper. “Where did they arrest you? May I help you? Shall I let someone know about you?” ---- The circumstances were not such as to arouse my trust easily. I was expecting a trick and I answered in an aggravated tone. “I have no one to send messages to. I am innocent of all their charges. All I wanted was to go to Switzerland. Why will no one believe me?” ---- “Don’t be afraid” he whispered. “The entire staff is all Polish. There is not a single traitor or renegade among us. I opened my eyes and stared intently at him. He was extremely young for a doctor and looked as if he were playing a role. He had the face of a farm boy. His guileless confidence made me feel like opening my heart in a burst of confidence but the prudence and knowledge that had become my second nature, by this time, had checked my impulse. I said nothing. The next morning a nun from a near by convent entered my room. She nodded at me and without a word inserted a thermometer between my lips. She watched me impressively, almost woodenly, then removed the thermometer and read it. I gazed anxiously at the mercury. It stopped at 100 degrees, yet she recorded 103 degrees and quickly left the room. She returned soon after with an elderly man, whom she introduced as the head physician. He raised his voice rather harshly to me. “Listen young man! You are very sick, but you can be cured if you cooperate with us! If not, we can use this bed for our town folks!”
(to be continued) ....
The Secret State: Series 5:
#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:
To be Continued in the Next Daily Bites of “The Secret State Series #5”
Note: We at Friends of Liberty cannot make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information.
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Again, a repetition of my beginning entrance into the Preszow Hospital. I tottered up the stairs with the guards flanking me. I was genuinely sick and weak but I exaggerated my condition. My bandages were soaked with blood, which made my acting more impressive. The guards had to carry me to the second floor where they dumped me unceremoniously on a bed. When the guards had left I propped myself up on one elbow to study my room mates. There were five of them, all old, ranging in age, as it appeared to me, ranging in age from seventy to eighty. They all stared back at me in wonderment. It was a strange sight but at the moment I could not savor its humor. I wondered what the Nazis were up to? Was this a new piece of psychology by their master race? Perhaps they wanted me to feel over confident and betray myself. It did occur to me that I might have been taken to this town especially to lure my friends and colleagues out into the open. Still, it did not seem possible that they could know my connections with this place. My mind gnawed anxiously at this problem but I could reach no definite conclusion. The muttering of the old men ceased immediately. I had been in hospitals long enough to know that this signaled the entrance of the Gestapo. I closed my eyes and writhed feebly on the bed. Along the side of my bed a man and a woman were conversing in Polish and I judged them to be a doctor and a nurse. The guard must have been hovering near by, for the doctor addressed him curtly. “Aren’t you supposed to guard this room from the corridor? You won’t do any good by crowding me!” The guard walked without answering him.
#20) Doctor’s Orders:
The doctor in Preszow Hospital bent over me to examine me and dress my wounds. As he unwound the clotted and filthy bandages he fired questions at me in a rapid, anxious whisper. “Where did they arrest you? May I help you? Shall I let someone know about you?” ---- The circumstances were not such as to arouse my trust easily. I was expecting a trick and I answered in an aggravated tone. “I have no one to send messages to. I am innocent of all their charges. All I wanted was to go to Switzerland. Why will no one believe me?” ---- “Don’t be afraid” he whispered. “The entire staff is all Polish. There is not a single traitor or renegade among us. I opened my eyes and stared intently at him. He was extremely young for a doctor and looked as if he were playing a role. He had the face of a farm boy. His guileless confidence made me feel like opening my heart in a burst of confidence but the prudence and knowledge that had become my second nature, by this time, had checked my impulse. I said nothing. The next morning a nun from a near by convent entered my room. She nodded at me and without a word inserted a thermometer between my lips. She watched me impressively, almost woodenly, then removed the thermometer and read it. I gazed anxiously at the mercury. It stopped at 100 degrees, yet she recorded 103 degrees and quickly left the room. She returned soon after with an elderly man, whom she introduced as the head physician. He raised his voice rather harshly to me. “Listen young man! You are very sick, but you can be cured if you cooperate with us! If not, we can use this bed for our town folks!”
(to be continued) ....
(To be continued )
Daily Bites of The Secret State Series #5
“Forbidden to Die”
#21) Requesting a Priest:
#22) Risking Everything:
#23) A Small Break Through:
#24) A Taste of Liberty:
#25) A Feeling of Security:
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:
LibertygroupFreedom
https://redd.it/6y400k
“Forbidden to Die”
"FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM AND LIBERTY"
Stand Up To Government Corruption and Hypocrisy
NEVER FORGET THE SACRIFICES
BY OUR VETERANS Note: We at Friends of Liberty cannot make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information.
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