Jack Fairweather

Brings out how incoherent the nation-building mission was: support brutal provincial warlords and drive the populace to the Taliban, or take on the warlords and see them join the Taliban; condone the opium trade and fill the coffers of warlords, or see them and ordinary farmers join the Taliban; condone the patriarchal power structure or offend and alienate those in charge. A welter of agencies variously negotiating, fighting, subsidising, raiding, turning a blind eye, all at the same time, invariably without any strategy. Above all, I'm impressed by the minimal research, understanding and planning that went into the whole project.… (mer)

An amazing story about a Polish gentleman farmer who volunteered to go into Auschwitz shortly after Germany annexed Poland. He had fought in the army against Germany and when Poland surrendered he joined the underground to continue fighting the Nazis. Not much was known about Auschwitz early in the war and the resistance wanted information from inside. So Witold Pilecki assumed a different identity and arranged to be arrested by the Germans. Witold had a wife and two young children but he felt he had to do this task for his country. Now we know what went on in Auschwitz as far as its role in the Jewish Holocaust but when Witold entered the camp wasn't used for Jewish prisoners. Most of the detainees were ethnic Poles who were used as slave labour to expand and run the camp. Conditions were horrific; men died of starvation or illness or beatings all the time. Witold not only managed to survive but to organize a resistance movement within Auschwitz. He also compiled reports about conditions within the camp which he hoped would be forwarded to the exiled Polish government and the Allies. The Polish government did receive his reports and passed them on to Britain and the US but nothing was done to respond to the atrocities. Witold had recommended that the camp be bombed saying that even if prisoners died it would be better than living in Auschwitz. This recommendation was never acted upon. I can't help but think that if it had when Witold first arrived perhaps the killing machine that Auschwitz became would never have happened.

Witold's story was virtually lost for 50 years mostly because the Communists that took over Poland after World War II considered him a traitor because he had opposed the Russians when they entered Poland. The author, Jack Fairweather, is a journalist who has reported on wars in the Middle East but it was a conversation with a journalist friend that sent him on the search for Witold Pilecki. It took him five years during which time he tracked down Witold's reports, diaries, and even some compatriots. There are numerous pictures and maps in the book so it does feel like a piece of journalism where the illustrations help explain the story. And like a good journalist Fairweather mostly lets the facts speak for themselves but I'm sure most people reading this would be horrified and appalled that the Allies did not act on Witold's intelligence. It reminded me so much of General Romeo Dallaire's account of the Rwandan genocide 50 years after World War II which showed how the UN ignored the fact of the genocide until it was too late. And of course the present Russian incursion into the Ukraine has a lot of parallels with the Nazi war-mongering and brutality. At least now, with modern communications, it is not as possible to hide war crimes. Hopefully we have learned some lessons from our failures in the 20th century.… (mer)