The account of the former KL Lublin prisoner – Bolesław Burski “Jasieńczyk” have just premiered. The memoir written down in 1945–1948 under the title Pawiak–Majdanek–Auschwitz and is now released in print for the first time thanks to the cooperation between the State Museum at Majdanek and the Prószyński publishing house.

The book is not only an invaluable testimony to the wartime, but also a fascinating tale of an exceptional man. His intelligence, ability to speak several languages, cunning, and resourcefulness saved his life. Thorough observations, vivid descriptions, on-point dialogues, and the dynamic narrative all contribute to the fact that Burski’s account is an excellent read.

Bolesław Burski was born in 1905. He was a Polish legionnaire, a scout, an activist of the Polish Socialist Part. He was an educated engineer-gardener and lived in Dąbrowa Górnicza. During World War II he was a soldier of the Home Army, who organised sabotage networks, ran a secret cadet school in Warsaw. Burski also belonged to the underground High Command of the Polish Scouting Associating in Warsaw’s Praga district – later transformed into the Grey Ranks. He was arrested on the night of 26-27 January 1942 after a denouncing tip was given to the Gestapo. From the Pawiak prison he was transferred to KL Lublin in January 1943. In April 1944 he was evacuated to Auschwitz, and eventually escaped from another transport en-route to KL Mauthausen.

On July 22 we are hosting a special meeting dedicated to the book and its author in the Visitor Service Centre. Our historian Nadia Sola-Sałamacha is going to interview the head of the Museum Archives – Anna Wójcik – who worked as the chief editor of Burski’s memoir. It will be an opportunity to learn about Bolesław Burski, his extraordinary wartime fate, and about his literary legacy.