Author | Jack Fairweather
Rating | 9
As a sequel to the World War II series, let’s review A Rebel in Auschwitz, this biography on Witold Pilecki. In contrast to the previous book WWII I discussed, The Book Thief, this is entirely nonfiction, but just as exciting.
When you think about the second world war, what comes to mind? Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime? The terrible Holocaust? The bombing of Pearl Harbor and America’s part in the war, especially against Japan?
These topics have been told in many different ways, over and over again. But Fairweather, in his book, leads readers to a completely new country: Poland, the first land Hitler invaded, which marked the beginning of the war. And he tells the shocking tale of Witold Pilecki that deserves so much more attention than it has received thus far.
Witold was a member of the Polish underground against the Nazi. Upon hearing of the new concentration camp the Germans were building, he volunteered to join as a spy. His mission: to create an army capable of resistance in the midst of the camp, and launch an uprising. But it wasn’t any camp he was entering. It was Auschwitz, later known to be one of the largest and most deadly camps the Nazi would ever build. There, Witold witnessed senseless murder and cruelty and horror. His belief in humanity was shaken beyond hope at the Germans’ mistreatment and killing of Poles, Soviets, and Jews. And still he persisted in creating a resistance against it, rallying a huge network of people to fight against the Nazi.
This book reveals a hidden side of the war that few people know about. The bravery, determination, and empathy Witold possessed still astounds me even after I have finished reading his story. Although from one point of view his mission failed, as the uprising did not happen and he could not, however he tried, stop the slaughter in the camp, to me it did not; to me, he lived a purposeful life and died a hero. The failure of the uprising was caused, as the author repeats, solely from the delay and ignorance of the Allies. His actions–and that of the countless others in the underground at Auschwitz–should never be forgotten.
If I had not read this book, I would not have known that such a remarkable feat was possible. It shines the spotlight on Witold and his resistance that they have long deserved, going into every detail imaginable of his difficult journey.
All in all, an eye-opening book of the extraordinary man that managed to infiltrate the most dangerous German camp of all time, forge an underground there, then make it back out to spread his message to the world.
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