NEW!

THE AUSCHWITZ VOLUNTEER: BEYOND BRAVERY

A New York Times Editors' Choice

"This remarkable book...may shock but will surely enlighten."
             — Professor Gerhard L. Weinberg, author of
               A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II

Watch the Book Trailer below
More info at The Auschwitz Volunteer

• WHAT'S HAPPENING •

Three Extraordinary Things About Pilecki's Report - Yale University Professor Timothy Snyder, in concluding his remarks at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum event honoring Captain Witold Pilecki and The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery, sums up three extraordinary things about Pilecki's report in the video excerpt below. For more info on the event...  

May 6, 2013 - Benjamin Franklin Awards Finalist - We're thrilled to announce that our book, The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery, by Captain Witold Pilecki, is a finalist in the 2013 Benjamin Franklin Awards in the category of Autobiography/Memoirs! The Benjamin Franklin Awards are given annually by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and are regarded as one of the highest national honors in independent publishing. Award winners will be announced May 29th at a gala awards ceremony in New York City. We're very proud that each of Aquila Polonica's titles to date has won one or more Ben Franklin Awards!

May 6, 2013 - Richmond, VA - Alice Waydenfeld Faintich gave a presentation about the World War II Soviet deportations of Polish civilians to Siberia, including the experiences of her father Stefan Waydenfeld (pictured at right) as described in his book The Ice Road: An Epic Journey from the Stalinist Labor Camps to Freedom, to an audience of 50 to 60 people at the Weinstein Jewish Community Center. Marvin Rosman, Corresponding Secretary of the 5400 Mens' Club of the Weinstein JCC, emailed Alice after the presentation, "Your father's memorialization of this tragedy is extremely important and we appreciate your continuing his work."

April 25, 2013 - Los Angeles, CA - Aquila Polonica president Terry Tegnazian joined actor/writer/director Marek Probosz in a multimedia presentation about Captain Witold Pilecki and The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery, at the Westwood Branch Library as part of the Friends of Westwood Library Book Talk series.

 April 22, 2013 - Ruckersville, VA - Alice Waydenfeld Faintich gave a presentation about the World War II Soviet deportations of Polish civilians to Siberia and led a book group discussion on her father's book The Ice Road: An Epic Journey from the Stalinist Labor Camps to Freedom, to an enthusiastic crowd at the Four Seasons retirement community.

March 27, 2013 - Audible.com acquires audio rights to three Aquila Polonica books - Audible, Inc., the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio information and entertainment on the Internet, will release three of Aquila Polonica's award-winning World War II titles—The Auschwitz Volunteer, The Ice Road and The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt—in audio book form. Read more...

  Tuesday, March 19, 2013 - James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA - Alice Waydenfeld Faintich gave a presentation for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at James Madison University, at its Brown Bag Lunch, about the World War II Soviet deportations of Polish civilians, including the experiences of her father as described in his book The Ice Road: An Epic Journey from the Stalinist Labor Camps to Freedom.

March 12, 2013 - Tablet Magazine reviews The Auschwitz Volunteer - Vladislav Davidzon, Tablet's European culture correspondent, writes in an erudite and comprehensive review entitled "Undercover at Auschwitz" that The Auschwitz Volunteer "is a work of supreme importance." Among other things, he notes "the report is a schematic and meticulous accretion of facts charting the camp's transformation....written from an intelligence rather than memoiristic perspective....Pilecki's observations of the fate of the Roma and the Jews are particularly sympathetic, devoid of nationalism or condescension. He understood early on that a campaign of systematic annihilation was being waged....A great part of the literary interest of the book lies in the contradiction between the sensitive, civil, and humane part of Pilecki's character that we glean from the report and the unsentimental methods he and his cohort deployed in the ferocious battle for survival within the camp." Read the review online or pdf...

March 1, 2013 - Cosmopolitan Review reviews The Auschwitz Volunteer - In a thoughtful, extremely well-written review Professor Michal Kasprzak of Ryerson University explores the major themes in Captain Witold Pilecki's report on his undercover mission as a prisoner at Auschwitz. He says Pilecki's report, which "has now been superbly translated and published in The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery" is "an important historical document that will join other first-hand accounts of life in concentration camps such as those of Tadeusz Borowski or Stanisław Grzesiuk." Read the review online or pdf...

February 25, 2013 - Los Angeles, CA - Aquila Polonica president and co-founder Terry Tegnazian gave a presentation at Belmont Village Westwood on 303 Squadron, entitled "Extraordinary Heroes, Desperate Times."

February 7, 2013 - PROSE Awards, Washington, D.C. - We're excited to announce that The Auschwitz Volunteer   won the prestigious 2012 PROSE Award for Biography & Autobiography awarded by the Association of American Publishers for excellence in scholarly and professional publishing. Aquila Polonica was the only independent publisher to win a PROSE Award this year. President Terry Tegnazian said, "As a young independent publisher, we were honored to be in competition with major university presses and large established publishing companies. This award is confirmation for us that we are doing something right!" In his remarks at the awards luncheon, John Jenkins, Chairman of the PROSE Awards, said, "If you are one of our winners...you have achieved something that is a very big deal. We have more entries in PROSE this year than in any other point in the history of our awards. We have more publishers than ever participating....if you won this award, you have won an award that really rewards the whole package of the book. Not only the content, but the scholarship, the design, the functionality...."  For a complete list of winners, click here.  Read more about Aquila Polonica's PROSE award...

 February 7, 2013 - Los Angeles, CA - Aquila Polonica president Terry Tegnazian was invited to speak to the Westwood Village Rotary Club about Aquila Polonica Publishing. 

January 27, 2013 - Polish Embassy Interview with Jarek Garlinski - Mr. Garlinski, translator of The Auschwitz Volunteer, was interviewed by the Polish Embassy about translating Witold Pilecki's report at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's 2013 International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Washington, D.C. More info about Mr. Garlinski...

Sunday, January 27, 2013 - Washington, D.C. - In commemoration of the 2013 International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in cooperation with the Polish Embassy hosted an event about the incredible story of Witold Pilecki, whose report on Auschwitz has been published in English for the first time as The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery. "It was of tremendous importance for us—Polish diplomats—to see Witold Pilecki being commemorated in such a highly symbolic place... More…

Monday, January 21, 2013, 4 p.m. - Naples, FL - Alice Waydenfeld Faintich gave a presentation at the Heritage Bay Book Club for more than fifty attendees, about the World War II Soviet deportations of Polish civilians, including the experiences of her father as described in his book, The Ice Road: An Epic Journey from the Stalinist Labor Camps to Freedom.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013, 7 p.m. - New York City -The Museum of Jewish Heritage  in cooperation with the  Polish Cultural Institute of New York presented "The Auschwitz Volunteer: Historian Timothy Snyder, Yale University, in conversation with Dr. David G. Marwell, Director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage." Aquila Polonica publisher Terry Tegnazian joined Professor Snyder and Dr. Marwell onstage to discuss The Auschwitz Volunteer. More...

  January 9, 2013 - WOR 710 AM, New York City - Journalist Rita Cosby interviews Yale Professor Timothy Snyder about Witold Pilecki and The Auschwitz Volunteer on New York City radio WOR 710 AM prior to the event at the Museum of Jewish Heritage later that evening. Listen to the interview (approx. 10 mins.)...

   January 2, 2013 - The Jewish Week, New York City, reviews The Auschwitz Volunteer - "Suspenseful, inspiring, recounting bravery that few of us can imagine. His words are of extreme importance to Jews and to any other community that suffered at the hands of the Nazis." Read the review – online link OR pdf of online review...

December 20, 2012 - The New Republic reviews The Auschwitz Volunteer - "Extraordinary memoir...extraordinarily powerful prose," says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum in her review of The Auschwitz Volunteer. "Pilecki's depiction of life in Auschwitz and his description of opposition in Auschwitz deserves to be read alongside the accounts of Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel." Also appears in the December 31, 2012 print issue of The New Republic, under the headline "Evil After Evil." Read the review – online link OR pdf of online review OR pdf of print review...

 December 5, 2012 - "I can't think of a better gift to give yourself for Chanukah" - says Rob Eshman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Jewish Journal, Los Angeles, the largest Jewish weekly outside New York City. "Pilecki was a Polish army captain who volunteered at age 39 for one of the singular missions of World War II: to get into Auschwitz...Perhaps because he wrote in factual, unemotional language, perhaps because he wasn't a Jew, his observations continue to carry an irrefutable weight."  Read the review — online link OR pdf...

 November 21, 2012 - Jewish News reviews The Auschwitz Volunteer - "Truly unique, at once a transcendent example of heroism and a historical document of singular importance...certain to become a standard reference work in every major Holocaust library collection." Read the review — online link OR pdf...

 November 15-18, 2012 -  Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies Annual Convention, New Orleans - Aquila Polonica exhibited at the 2012 ASEEES annual convention, marking our third year at ASEEES. More...

    November 10, 2012 - Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit Awarded - Terry Tegnazian, president and cofounder of Aquila Polonica Publishing, was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland by decision of the President of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, in recognition of her outstanding services to the Polish community and promotion of Polish culture abroad. More...

November 7-19, 2012 - Polish Film, Art & Book Festival, Buffalo, NY - Aquila Polonica author Krysia Jopek, Maps and Shadows, was one of the featured speakers at the first-ever Polish Film, Art & Book Festival held in Buffalo, NY. More...

 November 2012 - IBPA Independent - Feature article on Aquila Polonica in the magazine of the Independent Book Publishers Association, entitled "Carving Out a History Niche: Aquila Polonica's Passion Fuels Publishing." In an extensive article, the IBPA profiles Aquila Polonica— "If you didn't speak Polish, had no military experience, and didn't know a thing about the Warsaw ghetto or World War II, would you try to write fiction about Polish WWII flying aces?..." Read the article here... 

 October 2012 - The Atlantic - "A fascinating first-hand account of virtually all aspects of life inside the camp," says The Atlantic about The Auschwitz Volunteer, in an extensive article about Captain Witold Pilecki. Read the article — online link  OR  pdf...

September 30, 2012 - "What's Up" news show, Polskie Radio - "What's Up" host Slawek Szefs interviews book reviewer Michal Kubicki about The Auschwitz Volunteer, at thenews.pl.  Listen to the interview (English-language, interview audio is approx. 13 minutes):

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 September 17, 2012 - Sunnyside Retirement Community, Harrisonburg, VA - Alice Waydenfeld Faintich gave a presentation on the little-known World War II Soviet deportations of Polish civilians, which is described in her father's book The Ice Road.

   September 2012 - "In every generation heroes and heroines walk among us...Among them walked a man named Captain Witold Pilecki" - says the Jewish Book Council review of The Auschwitz Volunteer, written by Marcia Weiss Posner. Read the review — online link OR pdf...

Summer/Fall 2012 - The Intelligencer -  "The Auschwitz Volunteer is the most extraordinary intelligence report you will ever read," says The Intelligencer: Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies in its review of The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery.

August 30, 2012 - "Poles search for the bones of the only volunteer Auschwitz inmate," reported by Associated Press in The Times of Israel and elsewhere throughout the world - "It could hardly have been a riskier mission: infiltrate Auschwitz to chronicle Nazi atrocities. Witold Pilecki survived nearly three years as an inmate in the death camp, managing to smuggle out word of executions before making a daring escape. But the Polish resistance hero was crushed by the post-war communist regime — tried on trumped-up charges and executed.
"Six decades on, Poland hopes Pilecki’s remains will be identified among the entangled skeletons and shattered skulls of resistance fighters being excavated from a mass grave on the edge of Warsaw’s Powazki Military Cemetery." Read more...

  August 20, 2012 - Aquila Polonica lands two mentions in Publishers Weekly - Aquila Polonica president Terry Tegnazian is quoted twice in Publishers Weekly's War & Military issue: "For a reader there is no greater joy than to discover something new and fresh about a topic you love..."  Read the PW excerpts OR the entire PW print article...

 August 14, 2012 - Waynesboro Public Library, Waynesboro, VA - As part of the Waynesboro Public Library Book Talk series, Alice Waydenfeld Faintich gave a presentation about the World War II Soviet deportations of Polish civilians, and discussed her father's book The Ice Road.

July 19, 2012 - Shelf Awareness "Book Trailer of the Day" - Shelf Awareness, one of the leading daily e-newsletters for book lovers, named our video trailer for The Auschwitz Volunteer (above and on YouTube) as its "Book Trailer of the Day."

  July 1, 2012 - The New York Times "EDITORS' CHOICE" - In its Sunday Book Review on July 1, 2012, the New York Times further honored The Auschwitz Volunteer by naming it an "EDITORS' CHOICE."  We're thrilled that Witold Pilecki is finally getting the recognition he deserves! The NYT Editors' Choice page online  OR pdf.

 June 29, 2012 - Newstalk 106-108 FM, Ireland - Popular Irish radio host Sean Moncrieff talks with translator Jarek Garlinski about Witold Pilecki and his Auschwitz mission (approx. 10 minutes):

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June 24, 2012 - The New York Times Sunday Book Review - In an extensive, erudite book review entitled "Were We All People?", Yale Professor Timothy Snyder (Bloodlands) calls The Auschwitz Volunteer  "a historical document of the greatest importance" and says Pilecki's volunteering for Auschwitz was "perhaps one of the most courageous things anyone has ever done." Read the review—online link, print edition pdf OR online edition pdf (highlighting added). 

  June 22, 2012 - Maclean's Book Review - In his short but powerful book review, Brian Bethune of Maclean's, Canada's largest weekly news magazine, calls The Auschwitz Volunteer an "extraordinary memoir" and says it's "made all the more affecting by its stark, just-the-facts tone." Read the review—online link OR online edition pdf.

June 21–26, 2012 - American Library Association - The Auschwitz Volunteer was featured at two booths at the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California—at the Independent Book Publishers Association booth, and at the booth of Rowman& Littlefield, sister company of Aquila Polonica's distributor National Book Network. Aquila Polonica president Terry Tegnazian attended one of the days, and had a chance to catch up with friends from around the country who were in attendance (at the right, Terry and IBPA's Patti Grasso).

   June 17–19, 2012 - Association of Jewish Libraries - Aquila Polonica was one of many exhibitors at the well-attended 2012 Annual Conference of the Association of Jewish Libraries, which was held in Pasadena, California.

June 6, 2012 - BEA Show Daily "Hooked by Heroism" - Publishers Weekly's BEA Show Daily ran a feature article on Aquila Polonica and The Auschwitz Volunteer entitled "Hooked by Heroism." Read the article—online link OR online edition pdf.

  June 5–7, 2012 - Book Expo America, New York City - The Auschwitz Volunteer was on display in both hardcover and trade paperback at the booth of Aquila Polonica's distributor, National Book Network.

May 24, 2012 – Military Officers Association of America, Central Virginia Chapter – Alice Waydenfeld Faintich was the featured speaker at the May luncheon meeting of the Central Virginia Chapter of MOAA, which was held at the Glenmore Country Club, Charlottesville, VA. Alice gave a multimedia presentation about the World War II Soviet deportations of Polish civilians, which is described in her father’s book The Ice Road. More...

  May 13, 2012 - Hungry Heards Book Club, Afton, VA - Alice Waydenfeld Faintich was invited by the Hungry Heards Book Club to lead their discussion of her father's book The Ice Road and its broader historical context.

 February 20, 2012 - Publishers Weekly reviews The Auschwitz Volunteer - "Remarkable revelations" says PW about The Auschwitz Volunteer. Read the PW review—online link OR online edition pdf.

 January 11, 2012 - The Auschwitz Volunteer Picked as Featured Selection of History Book Club - Aquila Polonica's April release, The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery, an eyewitness report of one of the most audacious and dramatic undercover missions by an Ally in World War II, has been chosen to be a Featured Selection of the History Book Club® in May. The title has also been named a Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club® and the Military Book Club®. It has an Introduction by renowned historian and author Norman Davies, and a Foreword by Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland.  Read the press release...

 January 11-13, 2012 - performances of The Invisible Army, Cambridge, England -  "Your father's book [The Ice Road] helped to inspire the young people involved in the play and we have acknowledged that in the programme. We owe him a debt of gratitude." Read more about this original play based on the World War II Soviet deportations of Polish civilians...

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