Confessions of a Home Army Executioner

Neuerscheinung / Neuauflage Juni 2024

"This book is moral dynamite. It reveals not only what men can do in war but also what war can do to men." - Norman Davies, historian and academicStefan Dą mbski joined the Polish Home Army in 1942 when he was just 16 years old. The Home Army formed the military wing of the Polish Underground, the resistance movement established to fight the Nazi occupation of Poland during the Second World War. During this occupation, the Home Army passed death sentences on hundreds of individuals - both Nazi enemies and colluding Polish compatriots. As one of the few Home Army members who volunteered to carry out these death sentences, the young Dą mbski quickly became a seasoned executioner.In July 1945, Dą mbski was transferred to the West and ended up in the United States where he remained until his death in 1993. In his final years, Dą mbski recorded his story in fascinating, shocking detail. After his death, his memoirs came into the possession of his niece and nephew before eventually arriving at the KARTA Foundation in 2005. Initially published in the original Polish, Sobieralski's translation of Dą mbski's records now gives English-language readers a hugely important insight into the mind of this seasoned executioner. Readers are made aware of the facts and actions of Dą mbski's life, but are witness to the lifelong moral struggle that accompanied these actions and led him to reflect on ideas of heroism, patriotism, guilt and on the very act of war itself.

ROGER MOORHOUSE is a historian of the Third Reich. He has been published in over 20 languages. He is a tour guide, a book reviewer and a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Warsaw.