[4] Fragments of the book were published as early as 1970 in the France-based Polish-language émigré journal Zeszyty Historyczne [pl].

Unlike Arnold, he observes that "the sources look solid", although he notes that the work would benefit from additional footnotes and that the title is a bit misleading, given the resistance did very little actual fighting.

[2] Finally, in his review for the Slavic Review, also published that year, Wacław W. Soroka noted that while previous works have already tackled the issue of resistance in Auschwitz, "Garliński's book is unsurpassed in its presentation of one resistance organization [the Związek Organizacji Wojskowej]", concluding that the monograph is "carefully written and documented, and includes an extensive bibliography, indexes, appendixes, and illustrations".

[3] Adam Cyra in his 2006 obituary of Garliński noted that the book debunked a number of early myths about Auschwitz, and documented how the resistance in Auschwitz was an international effort, which involved Poles, Jews, and members of other European ethnicities and nationalities, even Germans themselves.

[5] In his introduction to the new 2018 edition Antony Polonsky wrote that the work “remains the definitive study of the topic and has not been superseded by more recent scholarship.” [4] In 2019, Michael Fleming noted that the book was the first work that contained a significant discussion of Witold Pilecki, the resistance fighter for the Polish Home Army, who infiltrated Auschwitz to organize the resistance movement there.