Polish resistance leader's prison dialogue with SS general gets English translation
Kazimierz Moczarski, a Polish resistance leader, spent 255 days in a cell with SS General Jürgen Stroop, who oversaw the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto. Moczarski's account of their conversations, first published in 1977, has now been translated into English. The book explores how ordinary men became mass murderers.
Moczarski was a member of the Home Army and had participated in plans to assassinate Stroop. He was imprisoned by the postwar communist regime, which viewed him as a threat. He shared the cell with Stroop and a third prisoner, Gustav Schielke, a low-ranking SS officer who was not fully committed to Nazism.
The book was originally published in 1977 and became an instant bestseller, adapted into a play by Andrzej Wajda. The new English translation by Sean Gasper Bye is uncensored. Publisher Clare Bullock learned of it while studying Polish and published it after joining Duckworth Books. The 50th anniversary of the book and the 120th of Moczarski's birth fall next year.
This translation could deepen public understanding of how ordinary individuals become complicit in state-sponsored atrocities, offering a rare, intimate perspective on the psychology of a high-ranking Nazi. It may also influence historical discourse in Poland and abroad, potentially reshaping contemporary conversations about authoritarianism and moral responsibility. Readers, educators, and historians could find the uncensored text a valuable tool for examining the mechanisms of radicalization, while its timing alongside significant anniversaries might amplify its cultural and educational impact.