Escaping Hell: The Story of a Polish Underground Officer in Auschwitz and Buchenwald

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Dundurn, 1989 - History - 254 pages

Escaping Hell is the compelling and true story of a heroic young Polish officer who survived the terror of five years in the prisons of Auschwitz and Buchenwald - where violence was meaningless because human life had lost all value.

During World War II, Kon Piekarski was a member of the Polish Underground Army, a clandestine resistance movement which operated even inside Auschwitz - organizing spectacular esacpes, operating a secret radio network and matching wits with the Gestapo.

After Auschwitz, Piekarski became a prisoner of war at Buchenwald and spent time working in a factory where Russian prisoners of war were used for labour. In the face of constant danger, he and his comrades took every possible opportunity to sabotage the German war industry. He was finally transferred to a small camp near the French border, and escaped three months before the end of the war.

 

Contents

Foreword
4
Auschwitz
7
Buchenwald Satellite Camp Rose
157
Epilogue
247
Appendix
251
Copyright

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About the author (1989)

After the war, Kon Pierkarski was educated at London and Iowa State Universities. He obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Biomechanical Engineering from Cambridge. In 1951, he immigrated to Canada and is now a semi-retired professor at the University of Waterloo.

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