To Yaninka Segieda Salski, her father, Napoleon Segieda, was just like any other dad in Bromley.

Despite being older than most dads (61 when she was born) and being a former Polish army man, Yaninka was oblivious to his extraordinary past.

Napoleon, a special operations executive agent, was once recruited to go to Auschwitz to witness and report on the Nazi atrocities during the Second World War.

However, he never divulged this secret mission to his daughter, who said her father rarely spoke about the life he left behind in Europe.

"My dad was just my dad to me," Yaninka, now 50, told News Shopper.

Napoleon is described as an "unlikely spy" who grew up on a farm in Lisewo Kościelne – a Polish village.

A new book, The Volunteer, explores the life of Polish resistance hero Witold Pilecki, who recruited Napoleon for the dangerous Auschwitz mission.

Napoleon went to Auschwitz and couriered his findings back to the British Government.

He eventully settled in Bickley and lived there from the late 1950s until his death in 1991 aged 83.

"I was very lucky, and he was around a lot," Yaninka said.

News Shopper:

"We knew bits and bobs about him, but we never knew anything about Auschwitz."

Yaninka said she would Google her father’s name sometimes and one search a couple of years ago revealed more about his incredible life.

"It was a Sunday night and I just searched one more page and then one more page and then all this stuff came up about him in a Michael Flemming book," she said.

Soon after Jack Fairweather, author of The Volunteer, which has a chapter dedicated to Napoleon, got in touch.

"It was quite overwhelming," Yaninka said. "It was really amazing. At one point I was sitting there thinking my head is going to explode.

"When I read the book, it was like reading an action move, I was thinking 'oh my god that was my dad'."

News Shopper:

Napoleon’s brave Auschwitz mission is detailed in the book and it describes how Napoleon, who was once captured and underwent hunger strikes, used fake aliases to obtain information for the British Government.

Daughter Yaninka said she was proud of her father and said it remains "really weird" to think about his secret missions.

Remembering her dad, who died at home in 1983 after strokes, Yaninka said: "He was a very patient man and had time for me. I spent so much time with him, and he was very funny.

"We played lots of games and he would chase us around the park and cuddle me when I was home from school sick."

You can learn more about unsung heroes Napoleon and protagonist Witold Pilecki when The Volunteer is published on June 27.