Recenzja: Jack Fairweather, “The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz”, Harpercollins ­Publishers, New York 2019, pp. 505, ISBN 978-0-06-256141-1

Abstract

One man, an underground army, and the secret dogged mission to destroy Auschwitz tells the story of a Polish resistance fighter’s deliberate infiltration of Auschwitz to sabotage the camp from inside, and his struggles up until his death. He defied the odds of suppression as he attempted to warn the Allies about the Nazi’s plan for a “final solution” before it was too late.Jack Fairweather is a British journalist and author. He was born in wales and schooled in Oxford University. He was a war correspondent for British troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In one of those days, as Jack and his friend Matt Mc Allester struggled to makes sense of what they had witness in the wars and putting it in a proper report, Jack came to hear about Witold Pilecki for the first time. He got intrigued as to why someone would risk everything to help his fellow man. He was equally struck by how little was known about Witold’s mission to warn the Western Allies of the Nazi’s crimes. Following Jack’s writing on The Volunteer, he was nominated for Costa Book Award 2019 and shortlisted for biography Award. The book “The Volunteer” is both a historical and biological book that was written by Jack Fairweather and published by HarperCollins Publishers, New York in 2019. It tells the history of the holocaust and gives an account of the untold sacrifice how Witold Pilecki, an average man with no great record of military service, staked his life to reveal Nazi’s greatest crimes when others would rather choose to hide. The book is somewhat provocative, suggesting the tragic defeat of Pilecki’s mission had been caused not in Auschwitz or Berlin, but in London and Washington. The book consists of four parts. Includes acknowledgments, short biography people mentioned in the book, notes, select bibliography and index. The publication is enriched by sixteen maps and a large number of black and white photos.