The Poles are celebrating a hero: Witold Pilecki (1901–1948) had himself voluntarily arrested during World War II and locked up in the Auschwitz concentration camp, from where he organized the resistance and informed the world about the atrocities of the Nazis. However, he was later sentenced to death.
Pilecki would have been 120 years old on Thursday. The colleagues from Onet, the news platform belonging to Ringier Axel Springer Polska, have heard about the Polish national hero produced a comprehensive report using the latest technologywhich has also been translated into German.
The story of Pilecki is gripping. The Pole and officer Jan Wlodarkiewicz (1900–1942) founded the “Secret Polish Army” underground movement when the Germans attacked Poland on September 1, 1939. They had to watch how the Nazis persecuted the Jews and the Polish intellectuals in particular and put them in the camp. At ten percent, Poland had the largest Jewish population in the world.
With number 4859 in the concentration camp
The two had a dangerous idea: Pilecki should allow himself to be arrested in order to smuggle himself into the Auschwitz camp, organize the resistance and spread news about the crimes of the Germans.
On September 19, 1940, he voluntarily took to the streets during a German raid, where he was arrested with around 2,000 civilians. After two days of torture, the survivors were sent to Auschwitz. Pilecki, who called himself Tomasz Serafinski, had the number 4859 tattooed on his forearm.
What he saw in the concentration camp made him shudder. In his report he wrote about his first impressions:
“It started with a striped man with a club in his hand asking, ‘What are you civilly?’ The answer, priest, judge or lawyer, at that point resulted in beatings and death. In front of me in the row of five stood a comrade who answered the question: ‘Judge.’ A fatal answer. A moment later he was lying on the ground and was kicked and beaten. So one thing was clear: the focus would be on eliminating the Polish intelligentsia. “
Resistance in the camp
Pilecki systematically built up the resistance in the camp. He founded groups of five to protect the resistance fighters themselves. If someone was found exposed, they could only betray four others. He made prisoners who were about to be released or wanted to flee memorized reports of the atrocities so as not to leave sources behind.
As early as December 1940, Pilecki managed to smuggle out the first reports of the atrocities in Auschwitz. But it was not until March 18, 1941 that the British government was guaranteed to see them.
Pilecki lived in the camp for almost three years. His disappointment grew when he noticed that the chance of outside help was getting smaller and smaller. In April 1943 he and a colleague fled Auschwitz with important documents.
In 1944 he took part in the Warsaw Uprising and wrote a report in hiding about everything he had experienced in Auschwitz. This report later became an important piece of evidence in the trials against camp commandant Rudolf Höss (1901–1947) and other SS men.
Condemned by the liberators
It was always clear to him that Pilecki would not find any friends among the Soviet liberators, after all he had fought against the Soviets in the Soviet-Polish war (1919–1921). It was much worse for him that the later Prime Minister Josef Cyrankiewicz (1911–1989), a colleague of the resistance in Auschwitz, would oppose him.
In 1947, Pilecki was sentenced to death for high treason for collecting evidence of Soviet atrocities. In 1948 he died from a shot in the back of the head. The death sentence was based largely on statements by Cyrankiewicz.
Onet editor-in-chief Weglarczyk: “For 50 years Pilecki was practically unknown”(02:13)
Communists kept silent about Heldentag
Pilecki’s heroic deed did not become publicly known until 2011, when a British journalist wrote a paper about his resistance in World War II. Pilecki’s actions had been hushed up in communist Poland.
Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the communist regime in Poland was Pilecki rehabilitated. Even more: he was even posthumously promoted to colonel in 2013 and is now considered a national hero.
Everyone should get to know Pilecki
Onet editor-in-chief Bartosz Weglarczyk (50) says about the report to Blick: “This is the very first digital project of this magnitude about Witold Pilecki. It is a combination of the work of journalists, video reporters, photographers and the IT team with the latest technological solutions. “
It makes it possible to experience history in a completely new way. Weglarczyk: “Our aim is to spread the story of Witold Pilecki, especially among young people in Poland and abroad.”
Read and hear the extensive story by Witold Pilecki. Click here for the Onet report about the Polish hero in German.