80 Years Ago Today...

[sobo]

Today, 19 SEP 2020, marks the 80th anniversary of the day when 2LT Witold Pilecki, a Polish underground Home Army soldier, allowed himself to be captured by the Germans during a "roundup" in the Warsaw Ghetto and sent to Auschwitz.

He volunteered for this mission, which was to allow himself to be captured, sent to Auschwitz, and once there, to gather intelligence on what was occurring inside the camp and to form an inmate resistance movement within the camp.

At the time (1940), a year after Poland fell, none of the Allies even knew about the concentration/extermination camps yet, let alone what was going on inside of them. He collected intel and later escaped after almost 3 years in Auschwitz, and wrote a report about his findings that gave the Allies their first news of Germany's "final solution to the Jewish question."

The Polish government-in-exile in London shared Pilecki's report with the Brits (who later shared it with the Americans), who felt that Pilecki's claims were so exaggerated as to be unbelievable. We all know how that turned out…

After the war, he was imprisoned, tortured, and interrogated by the Soviets, since he did not support Stalin's brand of governance. Along with several of his other Home Army patriots, he was given a kangaroo court show trial by the Soviets, and ignominiously executed with a shot to the back of the head in 1948.

Witold Pilecki, a true, Polish national hero…

Witold Pilecki bio on Wikipedia

Pilecki Report

Read More

 

[Andy54Hawken]

"Liked"...Not for the outcome of the story....but for the need to remember such events and stories.
Thank you for posting this.
Andy

 

[HA556]

"Liked"...Not for the outcome of the story....but for the need to remember such events and stories.
Thank you for posting this.
Andy

Yes, this!

 

[Provincial]

One reason for Pilecki's relative lack of fame is the efforts by the Soviets (and their Polish lackey's) to prohibit any mention of his exploits. Even Western governments would not mention it.

This is a sad commentary.

 

[sobo]

One reason for Pilecki's relative lack of fame is the efforts by the Soviets (and their Polish lackey's) to prohibit any mention of his exploits. Even Western governments would not mention it.

This is a sad commentary.

Yes, it was not until after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the death of the Soviet Union that his name was known very far out of Poland, for all intents and purposes.

From the Wikipedia article:

"...Pilecki and all others sentenced in the show trial were rehabilitated in September 1990.[19] He was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1995, and he received the Order of the White Eagle in 2006, the highest Polish decoration.[19][49] On 6 September 2013, he was promoted to Colonel by the Minister of National Defence.[51] "

Obviously, his promotion and the awards were all posthumous.

 

[TorchRedTulsan]

There are so many stories of courage and resilience from this. It is the era I'm most fascinated by.

While the original suppression of his story is in deed sad, it's been 31 years since the wall fell. Today is the first time I've heard this story. That, to me, is an even greater disservice.

 

[Alexx1401]

There are so many stories of courage and resilience from this. It is the era I'm most fascinated by.

While the original suppression of his story is in deed sad, it's been 31 years since the wall fell. Today is the first time I've heard this story. That, to me, is an even greater disservice.

Ditto!!