Before a wall map of the Warsaw Ghetto at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jan Karski recalls his secret 1942 missions into the Nazi prison-city-within-a-city. The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of the Jewish Ghettos located in the territory of General Government during World War II, established by The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is a national institution located adjacent to The National Mall in Washington D Photo by E. Thomas Wood, 1994.

Jan Karski (24 June 1914 – 13 July 2000), was a Polish World War II resistance fighter and scholar at Georgetown University. Events 972 - Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces takes place Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 1174 - William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Polish resistance can refer to various Resistance movements of the Polish people against foreign invaders occupiers or puppet governments in the Scholarly method &mdash or as it is more commonly called scholarship &mdash is the body of principles and practices used by scholars to make their claims about the world as Georgetown University is a Jesuit Private university located in Georgetown Washington D In 1942 and 1943 Karski reported to the Polish government in exile and the Western Allies on the situation in Poland, especially the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto and the extermination camps. The Government of the Polish Republic in Exile was the government of Poland after the country had been occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union during September–October The Western Allies were the democracies and their colonial peoples within the broader coalition of Allies during World War II. The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of the Jewish Ghettos located in the territory of General Government during World War II, established by Extermination camps were two types of facilities that Nazi Germany built during World War II for the systematic killing of millions of people in what has become

Biography

Jan Karski was born as Jan Kozielewski on 24 June 1914^[1] in Łódź. Events 972 - Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces takes place Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Łódź is Poland 's third largest city with population of 753192 in 2007 (lost its second rank to Krakow in 2007 He grew up in a multi-cultural neighbourhood, where the majority of the population was then Jewish. After graduating from a local school, Kozielewski joined the Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine) and graduated from the Legal and Diplomatic departments in 1935. History Beginnings The University was founded on January 20 1661 when the King John II Casimir of Poland issued the diploma granting the city's Lviv ( Ukrainian: Львів, L’viv, Lwów Lemberg Львов L'vov; see also other names) is a major city in western Lviv ( Ukrainian: Львів, L’viv, Lwów Lemberg Львов L'vov; see also other names) is a major city in western During his compulsory military training he served in the NCO school for mounted artillery officers in Włodzimierz Wołyński. Volodymyr-Volynskyi or Vladimir-Volynsky (Володимир-Волинський translit

Kozielewski completed his education between 1936 and 1938 in different diplomatic posts in Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and went on to join the Diplomatic Service. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located After a short period of scholarship, in January 1939 he started his work in the Polish ministry of foreign affairs. A minister for foreign affairs, or foreign minister, is a governmental cabinet minister who helps form the Foreign policy of a sovereign nation After the outbreak of World War II, Kozielewski was mobilized and served in a small artillery detachment in eastern Poland. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Taken prisoner by the Red Army, he successfully concealed his true grade and, pretending to be an ordinary soldier, was handed over to the Germans during an exchange of Polish prisoners of war, in effect escaping the Katyn massacre. The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya

World War II resistance

Jan Karski, 1944.

After crossing into General Government (the German-held part of Poland) in November 1939 he managed to escape a train to a POW camp and found his way to Warsaw. The General Government (Generalgouvernement refers to a part of the territories of Poland (and Ostrava Czechoslovakia under German Military occupation Warsaw (Warszawa; also known by other names) is the Capital and Largest city of Poland. There he joined the ZWZ, the first resistance movement in occupied Europe and a predecessor of the Home Army (AK). Związek Walki Zbrojnej ( ZWZ; Association of Armed Struggle or more commonly Union for Armed Struggle) was the name of the underground army formed A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups dedicated to fighting an Invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign nation About that time he adopted a nom de guerre of Jan Karski, which later became his legal name. A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) Other noms de guerre used by him during World War II included Witold, Piasecki, Kwaśniewski, Znamierowski, Kruszewski and Kucharski.

In January 1940 Karski started to organize courier missions with dispatches from the Polish underground to the Polish government in exile, then based in Paris. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city As a courier, Karski made several secret trips between France, Britain and Poland. During one such mission in July 1940 he was arrested by the Gestapo in the Tatra mountains in Slovakia. The ( contraction of ge heime Sta ats' po' lizei: "Secret State Police" was the official Secret police of Nazi Germany Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million Severely tortured, he was finally transported to a hospital in Nowy Sącz, from where he was smuggled out. Nowy Sącz (known also by other names) is a Town in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in southern Poland. After a short period of rehabilitation, he returned to active service in the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the Headquarters of the Home Army.

In the summer of 1942 Karski was chosen by Cyryl Ratajski, the Polish Government's Delegate at Home, to perform a secret mission to prime minister Władysław Sikorski in London. Cyryl Ratajski (1875-1942 was a Polish politician and lawyer He was the president (mayor of Poznań in the years 1922-1924 1925-1934 and in September 1939 Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (May 20 1881 – July 4 1943 pronounced) was a Polish military and political leader Karski was to contact Sikorski as well as various other Polish politicians and inform them about Nazi atrocities in occupied Poland. In order to gather evidence, Karski was twice smuggled by Jewish underground leaders into the Warsaw Ghetto for the purpose of showing him firsthand what was happening to the Polish Jews. Also, disguised as an Ukrainian camp guard, he visited what he thought was Bełżec death camp. Belzec (Bełżec approximate Polish pronunciation bew-zhets) was the first of the Nazi German Extermination camps created for implementing ^[2] (It is now believed that he actually saw a nearby "sorting camp". )

In 1942 Karski reported to the Polish, British and U. S. governments on the situation in Poland, especially the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Holocaust of the Jews. He met with Polish politicians in exile including the prime minister, as well as members of political parties such as the PPS, SN, SP, SL, Jewish Bund and Poalej-Syjon. The Polish Socialist Party ( Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS was one of the most important Polish Left-wing Political parties from its inception Stronnictwo Narodowe ( SN, National Party was a Polish Political party formed in October 1928 after the transformation of Związek Ludowo-Narodowy Stronnictwo Pracy (Labor Party was a Polish Christian democracy Political party, active from 1937 in the Second Polish Republic and later part of the The People's Party ( Stronnictwo Ludowe, abbr SL was a Polish Political party, active from 1931 in the Second Polish Republic. He also spoke to Anthony Eden, the British foreign secretary, and included a detailed statement on what he had seen in Warsaw and Bełżec. Robert Anthony Eden 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (12 June 1897 &ndash 14 January 1977 was a British Conservative Politician In 1943 in London he met the then much known journalist Arthur Koestler. Arthur Koestler CBE ( September 5, 1905, Budapest &ndash March 3, 1983, London) was a He then traveled to the United States and reported to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His report was a major factor in informing the West.

In July 1943, Karski again personally reported to Roosevelt about the situation in Poland. He also met with many other government and civic leaders in the United States, including Felix Frankfurter, Cordell Hull, William Joseph Donovan, Samuel Cardinal Stritch, and Stephen Wise. Felix Frankfurter ( November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Cordell Hull ( October 2, 1871 &ndash July 23, 1955) was an American politician from the U "Wild Bill Donovan" redirects here For the Baseball Pitcher and manager see William Edward Donovan. Samuel Alphonsius Cardinal Stritch ( August 17, 1887 &mdash May 27, 1958) was an American Prelate of the For the American legal scholar please see Steven M Wise. ATTENTION! PLEASE READ BEFORE EDITING Karski also presented his report to media, bishops of various denominations, members of the Hollywood film industry and artists, but without success. Many of those he spoke to did not believe him, or supposed that his testimony was much exaggerated or was propaganda from the Polish government in exile. It is possible, however, that Karski's descriptions influenced FDR to create the War Refugee Board several months later in January of 1944. The War Refugee Board, established by President Franklin D Roosevelt in January of 1944 was a U

In 1944 Karski published Story of a Secret State, in which he related his experiences in wartime Poland. The book was initially to be made into a film, but this never occurred. The book proved to be a major success, with more than 400,000 copies sold in the United States until the end of WWII.

Life in the United States

After the war Karski was unable to return to communist-ruled Poland and made his home in the United States and began his studies at Georgetown University, where he received a PhD in 1952. Georgetown University is a Jesuit Private university located in Georgetown Washington D He taught at Georgetown for 40 years in the areas of East European affairs, comparative government and international affairs, rising to become one of the most celebrated and notable members of its faculty. In 1954, he became a citizen of the United States. In 1985, he published the academic study The Great Powers and Poland.

His attempts at stopping the Holocaust were forgotten. It was not until 1978 that Claude Lanzmann's film Shoah re-discovered Karski's wartime service. Claude Lanzmann (born 1925 in Paris) is a Paris -based filmmaker Shoah is a nine-hour film completed by Claude Lanzmann in 1985 about The Holocaust (or Shoah) In 1994, E. Thomas Wood and Stanisław M. E Thomas Wood (born October 9, 1963) is an American Journalist, Historian, and freelance writer Jankowski published Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust. After the fall of communism in Poland in 1989, Karski's wartime role was officially acknowledged there. He received the Order of the White Eagle (the highest Polish civil decoration) and the Order Virtuti Militari (the highest military decoration awarded for bravery in combat). The Order of the White Eagle (Order Orła Białego is Poland 's highest decoration awarded to both civilians and the military for their merits The Order Virtuti Militari ( Latin for "For Military Virtue" is Poland 's highest Military decoration for valor in the face of He was married in 1965 to Pola Nirenska, a Polish Jew whose family perished in the Holocaust. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as She committed suicide in 1992. Karski died in Washington, D.C. in 2000. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D They had no children.

Why no rescue

During an interview with Hannah Rosen in 1995 Karski said about the failure of most of the Jews' rescue from mass murder:

Honors

In honour of his efforts on behalf of Polish Jews, Karski was made an honorary citizen of Israel in 1994. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. In Jerusalem a tree bearing his name was planted in 1982 in the Alley of the Righteous Among the Nations. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the Righteous among the Nations (חסידי אומות העולם Chassidey Umot HaOlam) which may at times refer to the B'nei Noah or Noahides as well is a term used

Georgetown University, Oregon State University, Baltimore Hebrew College, Hebrew College of America, Warsaw University, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, and University of Łódź all awarded him honorary doctorates. Oregon State University ( OSU) is a Coeducational public Research[[ university]] located in Corvallis, Oregon, United Baltimore Hebrew University was founded as Baltimore Hebrew College and Teachers Training School in 1919 to promote Jewish scholarship and academic excellence it continues to University of Warsaw (Uniwersytet Warszawski is the largest University in Poland, ranked by the Times Higher Education Supplement as the second best Polish Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (in Polish Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, commonly shortened to UMCS) was founded October 23, The University of Łódź was founded May 24, 1945 in Łódź, as a continuation of the achievements An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa ( Latin: 'for the sake of the honour' is an Academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding

Notes

1. ^ Sometimes the date is incorrectly given as 24 April, after his false wartime documents.
2. ^ Karski himself identified the camp as Bełżec death camp in his book published in the USA during the war, even though he knew at the time that it was not Bełżec. Belzec (Bełżec approximate Polish pronunciation bew-zhets) was the first of the Nazi German Extermination camps created for implementing However, the descriptions he gave are incompatible with what is known about Bełżec and his biographers Wood and Jankowski later proposed that Karski had actually rather been in the Izbica Lubelska "sorting camp". Izbica (איזשביצא Izbitz Izbitze) is a Village in Krasnystaw County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. Many historians have accepted this theory, as did Karski himself.
3. ^ Interview with Jan Karski. Retrieved on 2007-09-30. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the

References

• E. Thomas Wood & Stanisław M. Jankowski (1994). Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust. John Wiley & Sons Inc. , 316. ISBN 0-471-01856-2.  
• Jan Karski (2001). Story of a Secret State. Simon Publications, 391. ISBN 1-931541-39-6.  

See also

• Polish Secret State
• Witold Pilecki
• Shoah
• Szmul Zygielbojm
• Edward Bernays
• List of Righteous Among the Nations by country

External links

• Excerpts from biography of Karski and audio of his recollections
• Biography of Karski at The Wallenberg Endowment, University of Michigan
• Obituary of Karski from The Times, July 17, 2000
• Interview with Jan Karski, 9 February 1995, at his home