04/29/2019
“Witold Pilecki volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz,” writes former war correspondent Fairweather in this immaculately detailed history, and rather than being heralded as a hero, he was tried, executed, and “effectively deleted from history” by his country. Fairweather mines letters, coded diaries, and personal interviews to tell the story of how Pilecki, a gentleman farmer and Polish cavalry officer, left his family, assumed a false identity, and handed himself over to the Gestapo for imprisonment at Auschwitz along with all the other military-age men in Warsaw. For two and a half years, he endured torture, starvation, and disease, witnessing Jewish families being led to the gas chambers and choking on the fumes from burning bodies, all the while risking his life to collect information on death tolls and building plans for death chambers and crematoriums that would be smuggled out by released upper-class prisoners. Pilecki was devastated when the Polish resistance and the Allies refused to believe that Auschwitz had become the center of the “final solution.” After escaping on his own, Pilecki returned to a Poland decimated by the fleeing Germans and seized by the encroaching Communist forces, which labeled him a traitor for opposing them and executed him. Fairweather tells this tragic tale in gripping fashion, bringing a new angle to the literature of the Holocaust. Illus. Agent: Larry Weissman, Larry Weissman Literary. (May)
Superbly written and breathtakingly researched...Fairweather has dug up a story of incalculable value and delivered it to us in the most compelling prose I have read in a long time.” — Sebastian Junger, bestselling author of The Perfect Storm and Tribe
“Such an amazing story, it would be impossible to believe if it were not so meticulously researched and clearly told. The book succeeds as a page-turner, a remarkable inside view of the Holocaust, and also as a testament to all that is best in the human spirit.” — Mark Bowden, bestselling author of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo
“This is a riveting account of human heroism in the face of overwhelming odds, and Fairweather’s storytelling is simply masterful.” — Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker writer and author of The Lion’s Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan
“As riveting as any page-turner and as profound as any great work of literature as it reveals humanity’s capacity for both courage and savagery.” — Elliot Ackerman, author of Places and Names and Waiting for Eden
“Fairweather tells this tragic tale in gripping fashion, bringing a new angle to the literature of the Holocaust.” — Publishers Weekly
“An inspiring story beautifully told.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Drawing Pilecki’s witnessing of appalling crimes into a forceful narrative with unstoppable reading momentum, Fairweather has created an insightful biography of a covert war hero and an extraordinary contribution to the history of the Holocaust.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Hours of reading passed in what felt like moments … This is a story that has long deserved a robust, faithful telling, and he has delivered it.” — Wall Street Journal
“An extraordinary story.” — The Times (UK)
“What distinguishes The Volunteer is Fairweather’s meticulous attention to accuracy … if it sometimes seems as though there is nothing left to uncover about the Holocaust, Fairweather’s gripping book proves otherwise.” — The Spectator
“A searing account … a fitting memorial to one of Poland’s greatest war heroes and a shaming indictment of the western allies’ failure to act.” — Sunday Times (London)
“Witold Pilecki is one of the great―perhaps the greatest―unsung heroes of the second world war ... Jack Fairweather’s meticulous and insightful book is likely to be the definitive version of this extraordinary life.” — The Economist
"Totally gripping … A fascinating, revelatory and surreal WWII story of almost incredible courage and unspeakable horror – how a Polish resistance fighter helped reveal the secret of the final solution from inside Auschwitz" — Simon Sebag Montefiore, bestselling author of The Romanovs
"Well-researched, well-written and searingly memorable, Jack Fairweather’s book reminds us of the capacity for nobility in the human soul in times of unimaginable peril." — Andrew Roberts, bestselling author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny
"Combines the verve of a thriller with the detailed evidence of the sober, hideous truth." — Telegraph
"Journalist Jack Fairweather’s account of Pilecki’s bravery, endurance and humanity is the well deserved winner of the 2019 Costa biography award. As he says, Pilecki’s story is 'essential for our understanding of how Auschwitz came into being.'" — The Guardian
"Recognition of the brilliance of Fairweather’s book seems not just timely but essential...His brilliance in bringing Pilecki gloriously to life and rescuing this almost unparalleled act of courage from oblivion feels like one more small victory against the Twentieth Century’s most evil regimes." — Telegraph (UK)
An extraordinary story.
As riveting as any page-turner and as profound as any great work of literature as it reveals humanity’s capacity for both courage and savagery.
Such an amazing story, it would be impossible to believe if it were not so meticulously researched and clearly told. The book succeeds as a page-turner, a remarkable inside view of the Holocaust, and also as a testament to all that is best in the human spirit.
Superbly written and breathtakingly researched...Fairweather has dug up a story of incalculable value and delivered it to us in the most compelling prose I have read in a long time.
What distinguishes The Volunteer is Fairweather’s meticulous attention to accuracy … if it sometimes seems as though there is nothing left to uncover about the Holocaust, Fairweather’s gripping book proves otherwise.
Drawing Pilecki’s witnessing of appalling crimes into a forceful narrative with unstoppable reading momentum, Fairweather has created an insightful biography of a covert war hero and an extraordinary contribution to the history of the Holocaust.
Booklist (starred review)
Hours of reading passed in what felt like moments … This is a story that has long deserved a robust, faithful telling, and he has delivered it.
This is a riveting account of human heroism in the face of overwhelming odds, and Fairweather’s storytelling is simply masterful.
Hours of reading passed in what felt like moments … This is a story that has long deserved a robust, faithful telling, and he has delivered it.
Witold Pilecki is one of the great―perhaps the greatest―unsung heroes of the second world war ... Jack Fairweather’s meticulous and insightful book is likely to be the definitive version of this extraordinary life.
"Combines the verve of a thriller with the detailed evidence of the sober, hideous truth."
A searing account … a fitting memorial to one of Poland’s greatest war heroes and a shaming indictment of the western allies’ failure to act.
"Totally gripping … A fascinating, revelatory and surreal WWII story of almost incredible courage and unspeakable horror – how a Polish resistance fighter helped reveal the secret of the final solution from inside Auschwitz"
"Recognition of the brilliance of Fairweather’s book seems not just timely but essential...His brilliance in bringing Pilecki gloriously to life and rescuing this almost unparalleled act of courage from oblivion feels like one more small victory against the Twentieth Century’s most evil regimes."
"Well-researched, well-written and searingly memorable, Jack Fairweather’s book reminds us of the capacity for nobility in the human soul in times of unimaginable peril."
"Journalist Jack Fairweather’s account of Pilecki’s bravery, endurance and humanity is the well deserved winner of the 2019 Costa biography award. As he says, Pilecki’s story is 'essential for our understanding of how Auschwitz came into being.'"
Drawing Pilecki’s witnessing of appalling crimes into a forceful narrative with unstoppable reading momentum, Fairweather has created an insightful biography of a covert war hero and an extraordinary contribution to the history of the Holocaust.
Booklist (starred review)
★ 2019-04-14
Nothing about Auschwitz is pleasant reading. Thankfully, Fairweather (The Good War: Why We Couldn't Win the War or the Peace in Afghanistan , 2014), a former correspondent for the Washington Post and the Daily Telegraph , delivers a well-written, riveting work. The protagonist is Polish resistance fighter Witold Pilecki (1901-1948), part of Poland's cavalry reserves, much of which was decimated by the blitzkrieg's main panzer thrust. With Warsaw surrounded, most military leaders left the country, but Pilecki and another officer banded together and organized the remaining soldiers. During this time, Germany continued to pit ethnic groups against each other and, mostly, against the Jews. Nationalism was flourishing, and attacks on Jews escalated. When Pilecki tried to fuse their group with the mainstream underground, his partner asked him to form a new group—in Auschwitz, to fight from the inside. Once inside, a Polish work foreman got him a builder's job, which allowed him to start developing resistance cells among prisoners. In addition to some brave locals, newly released prisoners passed on his reports to Warsaw and then to London. The camp doctor saved Pilecki's life more than once, but in many of his messages, Pilecki begged to have the camp, arsenals, and railways bombed. Despite his messages, the Allies made excuses, claiming that winning the war was the only way to control the camps. Based on the reports from Pilecki, they certainly knew that Auschwitz had become a death camp. Using myriad sources to paint the pictures of the camp's horrors, including the prime source, Pilecki's memoir, which has only recently been translated, Fairweather shines a powerful spotlight on a courageous man and his impressive accomplishments in the face of unspeakable evil.
An inspiring story beautifully told.
