May 30, 2023
Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design
WHSAD Students Reflect on the Lecture with Prof. Jack Fairweather

On May 30, 2023, Jack Fairweather, bestselling author of books about Witold Pilecki: “The Volunteer” and “A Rebel in Auschwitz”, met with the students at the Williamsburg High School of Architecture and Design to share his insights and experiences with the students as a part of the Project Witness initiative. This event is part of #PolishHeritageDays.

Read excerpts from “The Volunteer”
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In 2020, “The Volunteer” by Jack Fairweather received a special recognition in the Historical Contest organized by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its outstanding contribution to promoting the history of Polish diplomacy and the history of Poland.⁠

Jack Fairweather is the bestselling author of The Volunteer, the Costa Prize winning account of a Polish underground officer who volunteered to report on Nazi crimes in Auschwitz. The book has been translated into 25 languages and forms the basis of a major exhibition in Berlin. He has served as the Daily Telegraph’s Baghdad bureau chief, and as a video journalist for the Washington Post in Afghanistan. His war coverage has won a British Press Award and an Overseas Press Club award citation. 

While living in Baghdad, Jack met his wife-to-be and lived in the house of Saddam’s former perfume supplier alongside other reporters. As the violence escalated in Iraq, Jack was fortunate to survive a suicide bomb attack, a kidnapping attempt, and almost daily mortar attacks around their house. He now lives a quieter life, writing history books while raising his three daughters between Vermont and Wales. He is the author of A War of Choice, and The Good War, a Times book of the year.