The Secret State Series #7
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Albright, a biographical essay by Yale historian Timothy Snyder, an afterword by Zbigniew Brzezinski, previously unpublished photos, notes, further reading, and a glossary—is an apt legacy for this hero of conscience during the most fraught and fragile moment in modern history.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 #7:
The Secret State #7 “Retribution”
Top Officer in WW2 to German Slave
by Jan Karski: Highlights and excerpts by PL Sturgis:
Top Officer in WW2 to German Slave
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 #7:
Top Officer in WW2 to German Slave
“Retribution”
Bites #11-15,The Secret Press:
#12) The Hidden Printing Machines:
#13) The Hidden Printing Machines:
#14) Secret Codes:
#15) From the Closest to the Roof tops:
by Jan Karski :
#11) The Secret Press:
One of the divisions of underground work with which I became thoroughly conversant was the secret press. I had been ordered to turn a monthly political report for inner use and since this required familiarizing myself with this material in the secret press, (a so called sub report) on this material became part of my regular duties. The person to whom I delegated the drawing up of the sub report had to read all the important newspapers and periodicals and sort out their most conspicuous and most note worthy features. including Polish projects and the expressions of view points. From these he gathered material for a review of the press which was composed every three days. It served the purpose of keeping the authorities informed on the main political currents in the press and was also a valuable source of information for the government. I also took a more personal interest in the press. Amateur collecting has always been one of my habits. Before the war I collected old Polish coins, illustrated books on art and other subjects. During my stay in Warsaw, aware of its historical importance, I had collected what is probably the richest collection of Polish underground material existent---- newspapers, pamphlets, and books. At intervals I packed them away in cases and hid them in a safe place. I hoped to reclaim them after the war and I believe they are interesting museum material.
#12) The Hidden Printing Machines:
The Polish people have had long standing experience in printing and circulation secret underground newspapers. In World War 2 they had printed tens of thousands of newspapers defying the gestapo just as they defied the T’zar secret police, the famous Okhrana, around the beginning of the century. Then, as under German rule, small portable hand presses were active in Polish towns in the basements of the worker’s dwellings. Other presses which were too noisy to be placed in basements were hidden in the woods. Kerosene lamps provided light for the editor who was also the reporter, the printer, and the publisher. For two years (1899-1901) “The Worker” was printed in the underground in basements and slums at the center of Poland’s textile industries. LODZ ...”The Polish Manchester”... Two decades later this man became well known throughout the world. He was Josef Pilsudski, leader of the Revolutionary Anti Tzarist Polish Movement. Later he became Commander and Chief of the Polish Army. For many years young Polish citizens visited the historic cellar in Lodz at a narrow back street where the small hand press “Bostanka” (Boston Press) was shown. I don’t know if there is such old printing machines in Boston, Massachusetts, but that is what the old history making printing machine was called. It stood there until the tragic day of September 1,1939, when Hitler’s army attacked Poland. The printing machine which contributed to Poland’s freedom is a sacred memory to all of its citizens.
#13) Reporting the Truth:
The secret press with which I participated did not deal exclusively with internal affairs and political party matters. Every newspaper, daily, weekly, bi-weekly, brings news to its readers. The news of the world was supplied by a large and well organized chain of secret radio listeners risking their lives constantly. Young and old, men and women, listened to foreign broadcasts in sound proof basements, in small huts set up in forests, and in attics with fake double roofs. The London BBC, Boston WRUL, and Columbia’s WCBX (New York) were the major sources of information. Every paper had several listening stations for one could never be sure whether the American and British Broadcasts would be heard or whether one would be able to listen to it at that certain time. Young boys took the messages to the “city desks” in the basements, or to the hut in the woods, where the one man team served as editor, printer, and publisher, worked on his hand press. He would write editorials and receive messages from correspondences. Reporters spread all over the country transmitted to him by messengers all the news about what was going on in the country itself. Special press agencies had been organized by the Government delegate, the military organizations, and the staff of the political parties. Through these sources Poland received truthful reports of the latest news from the outside world; the battlefronts; and the most important occurrences in the occupied countries. These press services held regular correspondence.
#14) Secret Codes:
Of course, the secret press correspondence had to be in code. Speeches from Churchill, Roosevelt, important interviews with members of the Polish government in Exile, and news from the fighting front arrived in Poland and were circulated widely within hours. The services supplied were not only texts from speeches, but comments and explanatory notes. Like regulation press services they sold copies to the newspapers of the secret press who elaborated on the information they bought in the article. The newspapers, in turn, received funds from sales they made to their readers. The best secret press services were the Military Press Agency, The Agency of the Government Delegate, and the Echo Press Agency. The newspapers themselves were numerous. Every political group had at least one secret organ and many had several. The influence and circulation of these papers were as diverse as the expressions of the social and political opinions published. The information bulletin---the semi official organ of the underground army had a circulation of at least 30,000 copies and was even greater when one considered the fact that each copy had a plurality of readers. All of these papers, for understandable reasons, were of small size, from 5 to 5 inches wide and 7 to 10 inches long. They had from 4 to 16 pages. The greatest majority were set by hand. Not all of the organs of the secret press were pleasing to the underground authorities. Some caused considerable confusion to the underground work and others, though meant in good faith, even divulged our affairs to the Gestapo.
#15) From the Closest to the Roof tops:
Publishing a successful underground newspaper required men who were thoroughly trained and competent, not merely to produce effective journalism, but to make sure that nothing of importance was revealed to the enemy. The Gestapo, to be sure, had the newspapers minutely scrutinized for any grain of information. We took it for granted that all the papers were known to the Gestapo, since it was not hard to obtain them. The editors of many of these papers took pleasure in sending copies directly to Gestapo headquarters in Warsaw, usually with a message like this: “We are sending a copy of our paper to facilitate your research, to let you know what we think of you, and to keep you informed of our plans for you. The views of the secret press were also mainly the views of the underground organizations. The government Delegate had his own official organ: “The Polish Republic.” In it were published his commands and advice; the speeches of prominent members of the government, and statesmen of the united nations. there were also editorials which expressed the official view points of the underground. It had a wide circulation and was very influential in molding opinions and conduct. “The Polish News” was the official organ of the commander of the Home Army. It contained articles devoted to social and military problems. these secret papers were produced mainly by peasants leaving messages of events and testimonies hidden in vegetables like potatoes and cabbage in brown wrapping paper.
(to be continued) ....
(To be continued )
Daily Bites of The Secret State Series #7
“Retribution”
Top Officer in WW2 to German Slave
#17) The Printing Press Invasions:
#18) The Three System of Selling:
#19) The Lord’s Prayer of the Polish Underground:
#20) Our Daily Bread:
#18) The Three System of Selling:
#19) The Lord’s Prayer of the Polish Underground:
#20) Our Daily Bread:
by Jan Karski 1944 :
“From The Secret State”
#1) The Spirit of Resistance:
#2) Never Forgotten: Never Forgiven:
#3) Confiscating Children:
#4) Ten Commandments of Resistance:
#5) Ferocious Retaliation:
#6) Germicide the Germans:
#7) Testing True Patriots:
#8) Labor Camps:
#9) The ends Justifying the Means:
#10) War Bonds:
#11) The Secret Press:
#12) The Hidden Printing Machines:
#13) The Hidden Printing Machines:
#14) Secret Codes:
#15) From the Closest to the Roof tops:
#16) The Printing Press Invasion:
#17) The Printing Press Invasions:
#18) The Three System of Selling:
#19) The Lord’s Prayer of the Polish Underground:
#20) Our Daily Bread:
#21) Forbidden Books:
#22) In Bold Print:
#23) Trees Hidden in the Forest:
#24) Hidden Archives:
#25) Tension at the Top:
#26) The Liaison Woman:
#27) Unforgettable Tragedies:
#28) Hidden Archives:
#29) All’s Fair in Love and War:
#30) Losing to Win:
LibertygroupFreedom
https://redd.it/6y400k
“Retribution”
Top Officer in WW2 to German Slave
Top Officer in WW2 to German Slave
"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.
Don't forget to follow the Friends Of Liberty on Facebook and our Page also Pinterest , Twitter , Tumblr and Google Plus PLEASE help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks.
LibertygroupFreedom 
Friends of Liberty is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with the mission to Educate, protect and defend individual freedoms and individual rights.
Support the Trump Presidency and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter.
WE THE PEOPLE
TOGETHER WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Join The Resistance and Share This Article Now!
Help us spread the word about the Friends Of Liberty Blog we're reaching millions help us reach millions more.
‼️️ ♻️ PLEASE SHARE ♻️ ‼️️
Please SHARE this now! The Crooked Liberal Media will hide and distort the TRUTH. It’s up to us, Trump social media warriors, to get the truth out. If we don’t, no one will!
Share this story on Facebook and let us know because we want to hear YOUR voice!
No comments:
Post a Comment