science

The Auschwitz Volunteer

The Auschwitz Volunteer is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Auschwitz Volunteer rather than just read about it. In short: The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery is a nonfiction 2012 book consisting of a report (also described as a diary) by Polish resistance fighter Witold Pilecki, an introduction written by historian Norman Davies and a foreword by Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich. The diary has been translated by Jarek Garliński and was published in English by Aquila Polonica.

Key takeaways

The Auschwitz Volunteer belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Auschwitz Volunteer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Auschwitz Volunteer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery is a nonfiction 2012 book consisting of a report (also described as a diary) by Polish resistance fighter Witold Pilecki, an introduction written by historian Norman Davies and a foreword by Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich. The diary has been translated by Jarek Garliński and was published in English by Aquila Polonica. It covers a period of about four years during which Pilecki was on a mission to infiltrate the Auschwitz concentration camp. Pilecki wrote his report in Polish in the summer of 1945 for his Polish Army superiors; this book was the first time his report was published in English. His mission had two principal goals: smuggle out intelligence about the camp, and build a resistance organization among the prisoners.

Development The diary is based on the document held in the custody of the Polish Underground Movement Study Trust in London. The translator, Jarek Garliński, is the son of historian Józef Garliński who wrote one of the first English-language accounts of Pilecki's life in his 1975 book Fighting Auschwitz.

Reception Poland's Chief Rabbi, Michael Schudrich, writes in the foreword: "When God created the human being, God had in mind that we should all be like Captain Witold Pilecki, of blessed memory" and about the book itself that it is "essential reading for anyone interested in the Holocaust." Historian Norman Davies writes in the introduction to the same translation: "If there was an Allied hero who deserved to be remembered and celebrated, this was a person with few peers." In a review for The New York Times, Timothy Snyder writes that the book is "a historical document of the greatest importance [that] we are now so fortunate to have"; the book was also listed as one of the NYT Editor's Choices in June 2012. David de Sola in his review for The Atlantic notes that the book is "a fascinating first-hand account of virtually all aspects of life inside the camp". Vladislav Davidzon in the Tablet Magazine praised the book for providing a steely intelligence viewpoint rather than a memoiristic one, while still retaining sympathy and compassion for the Roma and Jews. Michał Kasprzak writing for the Cosmopolitan Review described the book as a "superbly translated ... rich narrative of courage and survival". John Besemeres praised the translator of the diary, and notes that the "content is fascinating at a number of levels". Reviewing the book for The Sarmatian Review, James E. Reid noted that the diary, "published without any noticeable editing", covers a period of about four years, "from the day [Pilecki] volunteered for Auschwitz in 1940 until shortly after his escape from the camp in 1943". The book was also reviewed by Bartosz Kaczorowski for Historia y Política. Kaczorowski praises the clarity of Pilecki's observations of the camp and the sadistic German torture within, as well as Pilecki's stoic humor even when reporting on terrible events. Daniel Ford wrote for the Michigan War Studies Review that it is a "remarkable memoir" complemented by "excellent maps and photographs". In 2016 The Wall Street Journal listed the book as one of 'Five Best' books on wartime secret missions. The book was adapted into a multimedia stage drama in entitled The Auschwitz Volunteer: Captain Witold Pilecki and performed in Broadway in New York City in 2018.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Auschwitz Volunteer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Auschwitz Volunteer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Auschwitz Volunteer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Auschwitz Volunteer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Auschwitz Volunteer

In research: The Auschwitz Volunteer appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Auschwitz Volunteer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Auschwitz Volunteer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2012 non-fiction books, Auschwitz concentration camp, History books about the Holocaust in Poland, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Auschwitz Volunteer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Auschwitz Volunteer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Auschwitz Volunteer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Auschwitz Volunteer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Auschwitz Volunteer in simple terms?

Why does The Auschwitz Volunteer matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Auschwitz Volunteer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Auschwitz Volunteer.