The true story of the resistance hero who managed to infiltrate Auschwitz

Lecture by the author with German translation and picture presentation
Followed by a discussion with the audience

An event in the programme of the double exhibition „Lemkin“ and „Fritz Bauer Library“

Occupied Poland, September 1940: 39-year-old Polish underground activist Witold Pilecki volunteers for a secret mission to infiltrate Auschwitz and find out the fate of thousands of his compatriots interned in the camp.

His mission: to report back to Warsaw on the situation and, if possible, stage an attack on the Germans from inside the camp – where they would least expect it.

Over the next two and a half years, Pilecki forged an underground army in Auschwitz, sabotaging facilities, murdering Nazi informants and officers and gathering evidence of horrific abuses and mass murders. But when he learned the terrifying truth that the camp was to become the epicentre of the Nazis‘ plans to exterminate Europe’s Jews, Pilecki realised that he had to risk his men, his life and his family to warn the West before all was lost. To do this, he had to dare the impossible – escape from Auschwitz itself…

Completely erased from the historical record by Poland’s communist government, Pilecki has remained virtually unknown to the world. With exclusive access to previously hidden diaries, accounts from family members and camp survivors, and recently declassified files, Jack Fairweather reveals Witold’s exploits with vivid, cinematic bravura. He also uncovers the tragic outcome of Pilecki’s mission, where the ultimate betrayal took place not on the continent, but in England.

The author

Jack Fairweather is the bestselling author of The Volunteer, the Costa Prize-winning account of a Polish underground officer who volunteered to report on Nazi crimes at Auschwitz. The book has been translated into 25 languages and forms the basis for a major exhibition in Berlin. He worked as bureau chief of the Daily Telegraph in Baghdad and as a video journalist for the Washington Post in Afghanistan. He has been honoured with the British Press Award and an Overseas Press Club award for his war reporting. He divides his time between the UK and Vermont.

Source: http://www.jackfairweather.com/