Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World

Jan Karski’s Story of a Secret State stands in the absolute first rank of books about the resistance in World War II. If you wish to read about a man more courageous and honorable than Jan Karski I would have no idea who to recommend. Yes, it’s that good. – Alan Furst
It deserves its status as a Penguin Classic, not only because it is a great historic document, but also because it’s a cracking good read: Karski’s adventures are worthy of the wildest spy thriller – Nigel Jones * Telegraph *
His account of his missions is an electrifying tale of false identities, near captures, spies and secret film capsules … in human terms, Karski’s account is invaluable – Frank Trentmann * Daily Express *
Story of a Secret State is now viewed as a classic insider’s account of the Resistance in occupied Europe…After all the harrowing descriptions of Holocaust horrors there have been over the years from survivors of Auschwitz, Belsen, and Ravensbruck, Karski’s vivid account of what he saw back in 1942 is still deeply moving. We feel his shock and incredulity that this could really be happening in 20th century ‘civilised’ Europe. – Tony Rennell * Daily Mail *
The bravery of the man who risked all to tell the world about the Holocaust is truly staggering … an extraordinary testament to Man’s inhumanity to Man, and the even more remarkable courage required to resist it – Ben McIntyre * The Times *
Karski’s exploration of the moral fog in which he and his colleagues operated … made me recall thrillers like Man Hunt and Hangmen Also Die … two episodes resemble scenes tantalisingly directed by Hitchcock … Karski’s account of the systematic brutality of the Nazi regime is literally chilling – Peter Conrad * The Observer *
Reads like the screenplay to an incredibly exciting war movie - but it is all true – Andrew Roberts
Seared with an urgency that pitches the reader into the heart of the horror – Ben Felsenburg * Metro *
His story deserves not just revival but reflection … Karski’s electrifying words still speak only too eloquently for themselves – Marek Kohn * Independent *

Andrew Roberts (Afterword by)

Andrew Roberts (Lord Roberts of Belgravia) is a biographer and historian of international renown whose books include Salisbury- Victorian Titan (winner of the Wolfson Prize for History), Masters and Commanders (winner of the Emery Reves Award), The Storm of War (winner of the British Army Book Prize), Napoleon the Great (winner of the Grand Prix of the Fondation Napoleon and the Los Angeles Times Biography Prize), and George III (winner of the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography). Roberts is a Fellow of the Royal Societies of Literature and the Royal Historical Society, and a Trustee of the International Churchill Society. He is currently Visiting Professor at the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London, and the Bonnie and Tom McCloskey Distinguished Visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Jan Karski (Author)

Karski was his nom de guerre; he had been born Jan Kozielewski, the youngest of eight children, in Lodz, Poland’s second-largest city, on April 24, 1914. Karski was a liaison officer of the Polish underground, who infiltrated both the Warsaw Ghetto and a German concentration camp and then carried the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to a mostly disbelieving Anthony Eden and Franklin Roosevelt.

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