The book portrays women in a sexist and offensive way. The author treats them solely as sexual objects. Almost all of them are alluring and entice men with their charms and treat sexual contact instrumentally as a tool to achieve their ends. Even the heroine, a member of a Polish partisan unit, a 'true beauty', is, in fact, only the commander's mistress. Although she "hid her long blonde hair under a cap" (p. 160), wears men's clothes and carries a machine gun (p. 147), "the only action she has seen so far has been in the bedroom" (p. 249).
A reader familiar with the realities of the war and the attitude of Polish society towards the occupying forces may be astonished to learn that a Polish woman arrested by the Germans, upon learning that she is to work in the camp puff, declares to her friends: "My husband was a miserable, drunken jerk. The Germans shot him, and I don't regret it at all. [...] At least I'll have some sex, and let me tell you, I'm hoping for something better than what I'm used to. And hopefully, it will last a little longer" (p. 167). Romances between Polish women and German soldiers were also depicted unbelievably. The author states explicitly that during the occupation, the seduction of Germans by Polish women was a common phenomenon, to which the occupation authorities gave their full consent, and that "sexual activity between Germans and Polish women began to be considered not only acceptable but also necessary - it was, in fact, a kind of commercial transaction" (p. 75). This view is confirmed by the character of Tina, the mistress of Fischer, commander of the fictitious sub-camp in Wiśnica - a Polish woman whose affair with a German officer is supposed to ensure her safety and prosperous life during the war. In doing so, she enjoys amazing, unrealistic privileges - when she visits her family for a few days, the commandant provides her with a car and personal chauffeur. Tina attends official meetings (even though the commandant has a German wife) with top German officials, including Adolf Eichmann and Reinhard Heydrich. She also indulges in reproaches and quarrels, forbids Fischer to have contact with other women, and, when she catches him cheating, throws him out of the bedroom (in his house), resulting in the commandant spending the night on the sofa in his study (p. 265). It is difficult to acknowledge that a relationship would have been possible during the occupation where a Polish woman "threw her weight around" in the home of an SS officer, humiliating and forcing him to submit to her will.
Members of the Polish resistance are portrayed in an infantile, even caricatured manner. They are more reminiscent of a merry band of jovial mockers and carefree pranksters, prone to falling into pathetic exaltations, than responsible, militarily organised underground soldiers. They live together in the same house and use their first and last names as pseudonyms. Matthews thus builds a narrative about the Polish underground solely based on his perceptions, stereotypes and pop culture representations straight out of American cinema, without even bothering to verify and consider basic historical facts. He is unaware, for example, that in January 1940, the Home Army did not yet exist.
As far as the image of Poles is concerned, three main features are highlighted in the book. The first is drunkenness - even at conspiracy meetings, when discussing relevant issues and planning actions, "vodka flows in streams". The second is anti-Semitism, of which there were only a few noble exceptions. The author suggests that it was common for Poles to gather in the streets of cities during the march of Jews to the ghetto and spit on them. It also states that the chimneys and furnaces of the crematoria were installed by specialists who came specially from Warsaw for this purpose (suggesting that they were Poles). It describes the Polish population's negative and contemptuous attitude towards the camp prisoners in January 1940, completely ignoring that until 1942, Poles were the largest ethnic group among the prisoners. Ignoring the realities of the occupation, he concludes that for Poles, the war was, in fact, "a fantastic opportunity" (p. 79) to profit at the expense of the murdered Jews from shady (using the book's language) deals with the camp's authorities, which "began to have an impact on the local economy and residents [...] it tremendously revitalised the local black market" (p. 72).
The author includes a scene in the book where, following the liberation, the Allies transport the inhabitants of Cracow and the surrounding area to KL Auschwitz to show them the scale of the crimes committed in the camp. In these fragments, he highlights the indifference of well-dressed, wealthy Poles, who merely shrug their shoulders at the sight of these gruesome images (p. 366). In a fiery speech, a British sergeant blames the Poles for being passive to what was happening in their towns and villages. "You have covered yourselves in disgrace [...] you have not lifted a finger to help these unfortunate, innocent people. Shame on Poland." - he accuses. This fragment is modelled on actual events that transpired after the liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp. The author completely ignores the fact that the Poles living in the camp area, despite intimidation and enslavement, often tried to assist the prisoners of Auschwitz by organising food for them, harbouring escapees, and conveying information about the crimes committed in the camp. Finally, it is difficult to suggest that Poles did not know what Auschwitz was and its prevailing conditions, given that the first publications about it and information in the underground press appeared as early as 1942. During the occupation, Auschwitz (then Oswiecim) had grown into a grim, terror-bearing symbol of cruelty and death.
Numerous factual errors also prove the author's lack of knowledge. Nearly every fragment in which the author presents objective, easily verifiable facts, such as dates and places of events, turns out to contain errors, often glaring ones.
Referring to a few examples: in Steve Matthews' book, the reader will learn, among other things, that the road from the Cracow area to Auschwitz led through Opole, which, by the way, in January 1940, in the author's opinion, must have been a town within the borders of occupied Poland, and that the surrounding villages (their Polish names "removed from the signposts") were strewn with ruins and piles of corpses still piling up in the wasteland after the blitzkrieg (the author uses this name to describe the Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign).