Józef Garliński (14 October 1913 - 29 November 2005) was a Polish historian and

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...

writer. He was a survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp and wrote books on the history of World War II, some of which were translated into English. In particular, his book '' Fighting Auschwitz'', translated into English in 1975, became a best-seller.

Biography

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Garliński was born in Kiev on 14 October 1913. He studied at the Jesuit school

Zakład Naukowo-Wychowawczy Ojców Jezuitów w Chyrowie Jesuit College in Khyriv, formerly Jesuit College in Chyrów (full name: The Educational Academy of the Jesuit Fathers in Chyrów, pl, Zakład Naukowo-Wychowawczy Ojców Jezuitów w Chyrowie, uk, Комплекс споруд Хирівсь� ...

. Garliński fought in the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

during the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

of 1939 and subsequently joined Polish resistance becoming a member of the Armia Krajowa. He was arrested in April 1943 by the

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and imprisoned in

Pawiak Pawiak () was a prison built in 1835 in Warsaw, Congress Poland. During the January 1863 Uprising, it served as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced by Imperial Russia to deportation to Siberia. During the World War II German occupation ...

prison, and later transferred to Auschwitz and then to Neuengamme

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

s. Garliński arrived at the Auschwitz camp on 13 May 1943, and was given prisoner number 121421. After the war Garliński settled in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. For a time he worked as an estate agent and an insurance salesman while researching and writing a number of books, many of them about Polish World War II history, such as ''Poland, SOE and the Allies'' (1969), particularly after his retirement when he completed doctoral studies in history at the International London School of Economics and Political Science. One of his best-known works was '' Fighting Auschwitz'', first published in Polish in 1974 and translated into English in 1975. His other works include ''Hitler's Last Weapons'' (1978) about the German

V-weapons V-weapons, known in original German as (, German: "retaliatory weapons", "reprisal weapons"), were a particular set of long-range artillery weapons designed for strategic bombing during World War II, particularly strategic bombing and/or aer ...

, ''Intercept'' (1979) on the wartime intelligence services, ''The Swiss Corridor'' (1981) about espionage in wartime Switzerland, and the more general history, ''Poland in the Second World War'' (1985). In 1991 he published his wartime autobiography, ''The Triumph of Love''. He died in London on 29 November 2005.

Works

Most of his works were not allowed to be published in communist Poland, and until the fall of communism, their Polish-language editions were published either abroad or in the Polish underground press. Partial list of his works includes: *''Matki i Żony'' (1962) * ''Ziemia'' (1964) *''Między Londynem i Warszawą'' (1966) *''Politycy i Żołnierze'' (1968, 1988, 1991) *''Poland, SOE and the Allies'' (1969) *''Polskie Państwo Podziemne 1939-1945'' (1974) * ''Oświęcim walczący'' (1974, 1992), translated into English as '' Fighting Auschwitz: the resistance movement in the concentration camp'' (1975 and numerous subsequent editions) *''Ostatnia broń Hitlera: V1 i V2'' (1977), translated to English as ''Hitler's Last Weapons: the underground war against the V1 and V2'' (1978) *''Dramat i opatrzność'' (1978) * ''Intercept: the Enigma war'' (UK, 1979), also published under the title ''The Enigma War'' (US, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980) and in Polish as ''Enigma. Tajemnica drugiej wojny światowej'' (1999) * ''Szwajcarski korytarz'' (1981, 1987, 1989; English translation: ''The Swiss corridor: espionage networks in Switzerland during World War II'') * ''Polska w drugiej wojnie światowej'' (1982, 1988, 1991), translated into English as ''Poland in the Second World War'' (1985) *''W czterdziestą rocznicę. Agonia, walka i śmierć warszawskiego getta'' (1983) *''Niezapomniane lata. Dzieje Wywiadu Więziennego i Wydziału Bezpieczeństwa Komendy Głównej AK'' (1987) *''The Survival of Love. Memoirs of a Resistance Officer'' (1991) * ''Świat mojej pamięci'' (vols. 1–2, 1992–98) In 2018 the American publisher Aquila Polonica announced a plan to publish many of Garliński's works in English.

References

External links

* (obituary)

Biography

Works

References

External links

Further reading