Hoover curator and Research Fellow Katharina Friedla tells the story of Jan Karski, the Polish diplomat who in 1942 infiltrated the Warsaw Ghetto, witnessed the unfolding Holocaust, and tried to warn British and American officials, including President Franklin Roosevelt. Drawing on Karski’s papers, housed in the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Friedla describes the skepticism that greeted Karski’s warnings about the complete destruction of Europe’s Jews. She recounts how, after the war, Karski was enlisted as a Hoover curator and played a pivotal role in helping the Library & Archives amass its outstanding Polish wartime collections.
Katharina Friedla
Event
The Hoover History Lab and Northeast Asia History Working Group hosted The Russia-DPRK Alliance & the Development of the Military-Economic Complex in North Korea on April 1, 2026.
September 23, 2026
Videos
H.R. McMaster and Vladimir Kara-Murza discuss the state of the war in Ukraine, the prospects and perils facing Russia's opposition, the shifting currents of Russian domestic politics, the effort to organize the Russian diaspora into a coherent political force, and prospects of a post-Putin Russia.
September 23, 2026
Videos
Hoover Institution fellow Andrew Roberts presents the life and legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte. Roberts examines his military genius demonstrated in campaigns across Europe and Egypt, his transformative reforms of French society and law, and his complex character combining ruthless ambition with intellectual depth.
September 19, 2026