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    The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz
    The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz
    The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz

    Written by Jack Fairweather

    Narrated by David Rintoul

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    About this audiobook

    The incredible true story of a Polish resistance fighter’s infiltration of Auschwitz to sabotage the camp from within, and his daring escape to warn the Allies about the Nazis’ true plans for a “Final Solution.”

    To uncover the fate of the thousands being interred at a mysterious Nazi camp on the border of the Reich, a young Polish resistance fighter named Witold Pilecki volunteered for an audacious mission: intentionally get captured and transported to the new camp to report back on what was going on there. But gathering information was not his only task: he was to execute an attack from inside—where the Germans would least expect it. 

    The name of the camp was Auschwitz.

    Over the next two and half years, Pilecki forged an underground army within Auschwitz that sabotaged facilities, assassinated Nazi informants and officers, and smuggled out evidence of terrifying abuse and mass murder. But as the annihilation of innocents accelerated, Pilecki realized he would have to attempt another perilous mission: escape Auschwitz and somehow—with more than 900 miles of Nazi-occupied territory in the way—deliver his alert to London before all was lost. . .

    Completely erased from the historical record by Poland’s Communist government, Pilecki remains almost unknown to the world. Now, with exclusive access to previously hidden diaries, family and camp survivor accounts and recently declassified files, Jack Fairweather reveals Witold’s exploits with vivid, cinematic bravura. He also uncovers the tragic outcome of Pilecki’s mission, in which the ultimate betrayal came not on the Continent, but England.

    Editor's Note

    Costa Book of the Year…

    “The Volunteer” won the popular and prestigious Costa Book of the Year prize for 2019. It’s the gripping story of “one of the greatest heroes of the Second World War — a Polish resistance fighter who volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz where he forged an underground army, sabotaged facilities, assassinated Nazi officers, gathered evidence of the mass murder of the Jews and spread news of the Holocaust to the Allies,” according to the judges.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJun 25, 2019
    ISBN9780062899071
    Author

    Jack Fairweather

    Jack Fairweather has been a correspondent for the Washington Post and the Daily Telegraph, where he served as the Baghdad and Persian Gulf bureau chief. His reporting during the Iraq War earned him Britain’s top press award. The author of A War of Choice and The Good War, he splits his time between the UK and Vermont.

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    Reviews for The Volunteer

    5/5

    70 ratings8 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be an amazing and fascinating story that provides a unique perspective on the horror of Auschwitz. It is a true story of courage, love of country, and resistance against the German and Russian occupiers. The book explores themes of humanity, honor, and patriotism, and emphasizes the importance of learning from history to prevent its repetition. Overall, it is an incredible and thought-provoking read.

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Fascinating story. A unique perspective on the horror of Auschwitz

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Beyond comprehension of a single intrepid spirit to save humanity from its horrid murderous evil hysteria by exposing the truth through subjecting oneself to its atrocities by witnessing it; while defying his own death in the Auschwitz death camp an Stalins ruthless occupation of Poland after WWII.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The magnitude of the emerging impact of this book’s impact on myself is staggering. The first hand accounts of a part of world history where world leaders destroyed, championed fractious ethnic differences to increase power, and others cowered while bodies burned challenges my every perceived conclusion of WWII. But brightly the narrative provides another example of the greatness of humanity while surrounded by overwhelming inhumanity.

      Amazing hope also traverses the the epic and challenges one to consider living a life that allows one to face death death happy in knowledge one has helped that neighbor in need.

      To those who found the archives followed the trail to provide this history—thank you.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Incredible story Pilecki i going to hell and returning however the story with no happy end

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      If we do not learn from history, history will repeat itself!
    • 5/5
      Die Pflichtlektüre für alle, die mal nicht vom jüdischen sondern vom polnischen Standpunkt über die grausame Geschichte des Deutschen Arbeitslagers Auschwitz erfahren wollen. Über Widerstand gegen den Deutschen und Russischen Okkupanten, die Tragödie eines von Churchill betrogenen Volkes, über Menschlichkeit und über Ehre und Patriotismus, die über das Individuelle gestellt werden.
    • 5/5
      True story of courage and love of country and people
    • 5/5
      Such a great book it was more then just another book about the holocaust but a book about a man that found a way to fight back.