The Inspiring Story of the polish spy who led a resistance against the Nazi (A FLAWLESS HERO)

Who is Witold PIleck?

During World War II, Polish army officer Witold Pilecki participated in the resistance movement. He agreed to be detained by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz in 1940 in order to learn more about the concentration camp and start a resistance movement. Pilecki was in the camp for over three years, during which time he saw the terrible conditions and crimes against the captives firsthand and captured them on camera.

Pilecki continued to report on Auschwitz to the Polish underground despite the risk to his own life, giving the world some of the earliest information about the Nazis' systematic murder of Jews and other camp inmates. Additionally, he engaged in multiple escape attempts and assisted in setting up a clandestine resistance movement inside the camp.

Pilecki joined the Polish resistance in 1943 after finally escaping Auschwitz. He persisted in fighting the Nazis right up to the conclusion of the war, and the Allies honored him for his valor and dedication to the resistance movement.

Pilecki remained involved in Polish politics and military matters after the war. He was, however, targeted by the new government once communists took over Poland in the late 1940s. He was eventually detained and killed in 1948 on bogus espionage allegations. Pilecki's narrative and accomplishments weren't uncovered and he wasn't finally accorded the credit he deserved as a hero of the Polish resistance until the fall of communism in Poland in 1989.

Brief Background of Pilecki

A Polish family deported to Russia as a result of their involvement in the January Uprising of 1864 gave birth to Witold Pilecki in 1901. His adolescence was consumed by the turbulent war years that ultimately determined Poland's survival. He enlisted in the covert (Russian authorities forbade them) scout corps that assisted the Polish Army in 1914 because he was too young to participate in World War I. He served in a cavalry unit defending Grodno during the Polish-Soviet War when he was old enough to be called up; he later took part in the Battle of Warsaw and the liberation of Vilnius. He twice received the Cross of Valor for his bravery in this narrowly won conflict.

Pilecki served in the Polish army during the defense of Poland against the German invasion at the start of World War II. He joined the Polish underground resistance movement following the collapse of Poland, where he planned and oversaw resistance operations against the Nazi occupation.

Portraits of Witold Pilecki, Vilnius, 1923, photo: IPN / www.pilecki.ipn.gov.pl

In an effort to learn more about the camp and organize resistance, Pilecki agreed to be detained by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz in 1940. He stayed in the camp for about three years, during which time he saw the terrible conditions and crimes against prisoners firsthand and captured them on camera. Pilecki continued to report on Auschwitz to the Polish underground despite the risk to his own life, giving the world some of the earliest information about the Nazis' systematic murder of Jews and other camp inmates. Additionally, he engaged in multiple escape attempts and assisted in setting up a clandestine resistance movement inside the camp.

Witold Pilecki, KL Auschwitz inmate no 4859, photo: IPN / www.pilecki.ipn.gov.pl

For two reasons, this endeavor was incredibly risky. First of all, the practice of collective accountability by the Germans in all of their concentration camps and prisons was well recognized. Nazis executed multiple times as many prisoners for every attempt at a prison break in order to terrify other prisoners and to make every escape a very morally challenging choice for those who dared to try it. Pilecki rapidly came to understand this. A Nazi guard gave one of the convicts the command to sprint to the camp fence as soon as he got on the railway platform. The confused prisoner followed the instructions but was then shot and charged with attempting to flee. Immediately, 10 more inmates were chosen at random and executed on the platform! Pilecki might have been among them.

Second, nobody had ever been liberated from Auschwitz or otherwise left there alive, at least not at the time he was committed there. The likelihood that Pilecki would remain in the concentration camp until either its liberation or his own demise was almost probable.

The main gate of KL Auschwitz, photo: public domain

Pilecki started working as soon as he got to Auschwitz. He established the Union of Military Organizations (ZOW, Zwizek Organizacji Wojskowej), whose first aim was to assemble all minor resistance forces and bring them together to cooperate under a single command. The organization quickly became operational enough to be able to give inmates some extra food, clothing, and bits of outside information. They subsequently learnt how to manipulate the Nazi registries so that a very small number of evacuees could pass undetected and were able to communicate some information to the outside world.

Pilecki provided his superiors the first report about the true intent of the Auschwitz facilities a few weeks after he was imprisoned there. This was the first such collection and confirmation of intelligence information regarding the Holocaust. The material was provided by the Polish government-in-exile to Poland's allies in March 1941, and from that point forward, it served as the primary source of intelligence for the entire Allied effort on the genocide. Pilecki and the other members of the command put a lot of effort into developing a plan to liberate the camp with the aid of ally forces from the outside, despite their regular tasks.

Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, photo: Franciszek Mazur / Forum

Pilecki was able to escape because ZOW was able to transfer him and his two closest companions to the bakers' commando—every labor unit in Auschwitz was referred to as a commando. The lives of other prisoners were no longer in risk due to Pilecki's hypothetical departure since Nazi Germany had signed an agreement with the Red Cross in early 1943 promising to stop applying the principle of collective responsibility. The entire ZOW coordinated and carried out the action, which surprisingly went as planned.

A barn, the very first hideout of Witold Pilecki after his escape from Auschwitz, 1943, photo: IPN / www.pilecki.ipn.gov.pl

During the night of April 26 and 27, Witold Pilecki eluded capture and arrived at the Warsaw headquarters of the Home Army several days later. He devoted the following months to composing his reports on Auschwitz, which contained comprehensive details about the gas chambers, daily death counts, and Nazi doctors' medical experiments on prisoners. The Auschwitz Protocols, which include Pilecki's report—also referred to as "Witold's Report" by historians—and two additional documents written by former inmates, provide comprehensive and ultimately reliable information about the greatest concentration camp in history. The British Army's command was shown the 1943 version of the report, but they deemed it overstated and disregarded the Home Army's recommendation that the camp be liberated as quickly as possible.

Witold's Report', photo: public domain

Pilecki came up with the idea for freeing the camp and suggested it to the Home Army. He did, however, accept the Home Army's denial after being informed of the whereabouts of Nazi soldiers close to the camp and the Allied forces' hesitation to participate in the operation. However, in case the Nazis decided to wipe out the camp or the Allied troops changed their minds and attempted an attack, the camp's resistance was prepared to launch the rebellion.

What Pilecki discovered in Auschwitz left him in a state of astonishment. He wrote the following in one of his report's versions:

How can modern humanity claim to be an advanced culture, elevating itself above the ages? Why do we dare to look into the faces of our forefathers and proclaim our superiority when armed forces use the latest technological revolution achievements to destroy not only hostile armies but entire nations, innocent and vulnerable societies? Yes, civilization is progressing! But what about cultural progress? – Ridiculous! We've been cornered in the most horrifying way, my dears! I'm at a loss for words... No, I didn't want to call it beastliness! We are far, far worse than beasts

  National Honors Awarded to Pilecki for his sacrifices

1. Order of the white Eagle
2. Monument in warshaw
3. Street named after him
4. Medal of the Armia Krajowa(Home Army)
5. Pilecki Institute.   

Family of Pilecki:

Witold Pilecki had two children, a son named Andrzej and a daughter named Zofia. After Pilecki's arrest and execution by the communist authorities in 1948, his family suffered greatly under the communist regime in Poland. Despite these difficulties, they kept alive the memory of Pilecki's bravery and sacrifice, and after the fall of communism in 1989, they worked to have his legacy recognized and honored in Poland and around the world.

Today, Pilecki's children and their descendants continue to work to preserve and promote the memory of their father and his contributions to the Polish resistance during World War II. They have been actively involved in efforts to have his story more widely known and understood, including through the establishment of the Pilecki Institute in Warsaw, which serves as a research and education center dedicated to promoting and preserving the memory of Witold Pilecki and other heroes of the Polish resistance.