30 January, 6pm
Battersea Library
265 Lavender Hill
London SW11 1JB
FREE
Jan Karski (1914–2000) grew up in interwar Łódź, a multicultural city with a sizeable Jewish population. After training as a military officer, Karski was directly involved in the unsuccessful defence of Poland against the 1939 Nazi invasion. He was imprisoned in concentration camps and eventually escaped to join the Polish resistance in Warsaw. Karski witnessed the systematic genocide committed against Jews in his homeland and was one of the first to deliver eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to Allied leaders during the war. In her talk, Dr Duffy will discuss Jan Karski’s life and career, and comment upon some of the more problematic depictions of his diplomatic efforts.
Dr Helena Duffy is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow, affiliated to the Holocaust Research Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London.
A Failed Mission? Jan Karski’s Efforts to Stop the Holocaust as Seen Today
