Witold Pilecki
Witold Pilecki, a 39-year-old veteran of the Polish-Soviet war of 1991-1921 who fought against the Nazi invasion and a member of the Polish resistance, volunteered himself in 1940. His mission was to allow himself to be arrested and to collect intelligence for the Polish resistance in the country and the government-in-exile in London and to organize a resistant once inside the camp in Auschwitz. He went to Auschwitz to discover what had become of them, and what the camp meant for Poland and the world.
On September 1940, Pilecki was arrested under the alias Tomasz Serafiniski. Serafiniski was a real pole whose identity papers had been left at a Warsaw safe house. After Pilecki's arrest, he spent two days at an outdoor arena before being transported to Auschwitz. He was taken with about 1800 people. After traveling a day by freight car with no food or drink, the prisoners arrived at Auschwitz and were harassed and beaten by guards who turned their guns on some of the captives to show who was in command. Like the rest of the prisoners, Pilecki had his and body hair shaved and was issued blue-and-white -stripped prisoner clothing.
In his first weeks, Pilecki carried bricks and rocks in wheelbarrows and unloaded freight trains before getting a regular job in the carpenter's shop. The physical work and hunger pangs took their toll. In The Auschwitz Volunteer, Pilecki wrote that he was so hungry cannibalism seemed appealing. He wrote, "there were times where when one felt oneself capable of cutting off a piece from a corpse lying outside the hospital." When Pilecki first entered Auschwitz, it was primarily used to house Polish prisoners and Soviet soldiers.
During this time there, he witnessed Auschwitz change from detention to a death camp. Pileckli was at the camp in September 1941 when the Germans brought in several hundred captured Soviet soldiers. At this point, Hitler had invaded the Soviet Union and Pilecki witnessed the Soviet soldiers lining up outside, but later they seemed to have disappeared from the premises. He also found out from another resistance member that the men had been gassed with prussic acid.
In late autumn 1942, Pilecki smuggled out three short reports on the inhumane treatment inside. The reports eventually made their way to officials of the Polish government in exile in London, who passed the information to allied forces. The trouble was, commanders who read the reports assumed Pilecki had embellished the facts. "The underground army was completely in disbelief about the horrors," Polish heritage journalist Alex Storozynski told NPR's Mike Pesca. "About ovens, about gas chambers, about injections to murder people-- people didn't believe him. They thought he was exaggerating."
By April 1943 Pilecki wanted out of Auschwitz. He repeatedly asked members of the Polish underground to liberate the camp but they never came. Pilecki had already been inside for two years and seven months. With help from fellow members of the underground, he forged his plan. First, he faked a headache and pain in his joints. He was sent to the hospital by guards who feared he had typhus. Pilecki got secretly released from the hospital and secured a transfer card to the housing block where the bakers lived. All of this was done through his connections with the underground.
Next, he entered the bakery for a night shift. The bakery was housed outside the regular boundaries of the camp. Although the bakers were locked inside during their shift, they had to leave the building from time to time to restock the coal for the ovens. One of Pilecki's friends got coal duty and was able to loosen the outside bolt and nuts of the bakery door, despite being escorted outside the building by a guard. In the early morning hours, as the guard tired of their shift, Pilecki and two comrades pushed open the door from the inside and escaped after cutting the telephone line to prevent the guards from quickly summoning for help. They left with the stolen German documents.
On September 1940, Pilecki was arrested under the alias Tomasz Serafiniski. Serafiniski was a real pole whose identity papers had been left at a Warsaw safe house. After Pilecki's arrest, he spent two days at an outdoor arena before being transported to Auschwitz. He was taken with about 1800 people. After traveling a day by freight car with no food or drink, the prisoners arrived at Auschwitz and were harassed and beaten by guards who turned their guns on some of the captives to show who was in command. Like the rest of the prisoners, Pilecki had his and body hair shaved and was issued blue-and-white -stripped prisoner clothing.
In his first weeks, Pilecki carried bricks and rocks in wheelbarrows and unloaded freight trains before getting a regular job in the carpenter's shop. The physical work and hunger pangs took their toll. In The Auschwitz Volunteer, Pilecki wrote that he was so hungry cannibalism seemed appealing. He wrote, "there were times where when one felt oneself capable of cutting off a piece from a corpse lying outside the hospital." When Pilecki first entered Auschwitz, it was primarily used to house Polish prisoners and Soviet soldiers.
During this time there, he witnessed Auschwitz change from detention to a death camp. Pileckli was at the camp in September 1941 when the Germans brought in several hundred captured Soviet soldiers. At this point, Hitler had invaded the Soviet Union and Pilecki witnessed the Soviet soldiers lining up outside, but later they seemed to have disappeared from the premises. He also found out from another resistance member that the men had been gassed with prussic acid.
In late autumn 1942, Pilecki smuggled out three short reports on the inhumane treatment inside. The reports eventually made their way to officials of the Polish government in exile in London, who passed the information to allied forces. The trouble was, commanders who read the reports assumed Pilecki had embellished the facts. "The underground army was completely in disbelief about the horrors," Polish heritage journalist Alex Storozynski told NPR's Mike Pesca. "About ovens, about gas chambers, about injections to murder people-- people didn't believe him. They thought he was exaggerating."
By April 1943 Pilecki wanted out of Auschwitz. He repeatedly asked members of the Polish underground to liberate the camp but they never came. Pilecki had already been inside for two years and seven months. With help from fellow members of the underground, he forged his plan. First, he faked a headache and pain in his joints. He was sent to the hospital by guards who feared he had typhus. Pilecki got secretly released from the hospital and secured a transfer card to the housing block where the bakers lived. All of this was done through his connections with the underground.
Next, he entered the bakery for a night shift. The bakery was housed outside the regular boundaries of the camp. Although the bakers were locked inside during their shift, they had to leave the building from time to time to restock the coal for the ovens. One of Pilecki's friends got coal duty and was able to loosen the outside bolt and nuts of the bakery door, despite being escorted outside the building by a guard. In the early morning hours, as the guard tired of their shift, Pilecki and two comrades pushed open the door from the inside and escaped after cutting the telephone line to prevent the guards from quickly summoning for help. They left with the stolen German documents.
This is a really interesting story about Witold Pilecki and his experiences at Auschwitz. I think it was extremely brave of him to purposely get sent there because of the clear danger that is presented but that he followed through and was able to send out information to the Polish government. The fact that he wasn't believed at first shows the incredible atrocities that happened at Auschwitz.
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