Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World

'I do not pretend to have given an exhaustive picture of the PolishUnderground, its organization and its activities. Because of our methods, Ibelieve that there is no one today who could give an all-embracingrecital...This book is a purely personal story, my story.' Jan Karski's1944 war memoir is a heroic act of witness: the courageous testimony of aman who risked everything for his country. At times overwhelming in thedetails it reveals of the suffering of ordinary people, it is anunforgettable and deeply affecting record of brutality, courage, andsurvival under conditions of extreme bleakness. During the first four yearsof World War II, Karski worked as a messenger for the underground, riskinghis life in secret missions. He was captured, tortured, rescued, smuggledthrough a tunnel into the Warsaw ghetto and, finally, disguised himself asa guard to infiltrate a Nazi death camp. Then, travelling across occupiedEurope to England, with his eye-witness report smuggled on microfilm in thehandle of a razor, he became the first man to tell the Allies about theHolocaust - only to be ignored.