Story of Witold Pilecki, co-founder of resistance in Auschwitz

Transcript of the podcast

Polish soldier, Witold Pilecki was imprisoned in Auschwitz on 22 September 1940. Pilecki undertook the mission to infiltrate the camp in order to create a conspiracy network there, organize communications, send reliable data about German crimes in the camp, and possibly prepare the camp's prisoners for a possible fight. In April 1943, Witold Pilecki escaped with two fellow inmates. He wrote reports in which he described the camp terror and the tragic fate of the prisoners, as well as the progressive development of the extermination of the Jewish people in Auschwitz. Dr. Adam Cyra, the author of his biography, talks about the life, work, and tragic death of Witold Pilecki.

Let us recall how his live looked like before the second world war...

Witold Pilecki was born on 13 May 1901. He lived during times when historical eras were changing. He was born in the exile in Ołuniec in the depths of the tsarist empire in Karelia. How did he end up in such remote areas outside of Poland? Well, the Pilecki family had land property in Starojelnia near Nowogródek. Today, these territories belong to Belarus. For his participation in the January uprising, Witold Pilecki's grandfather Jozef Pilecki was sent deep into Russia, while the property in Starojelnia, which he owned, was confiscated from him. From the Pilecki estate just a small rest remained in Sukurcze near Lida, because this property was a dowry of the mother of his grandfather. Only this small fraction, the tsarist authorities did not confiscate. Witold Pilecki's grandfather, while in exile in Russia, sought to educate children and Witold's father, Julian Pilecki, graduated from the Forest Institute in St. Petersburg. And here was the problem, because educated Poles had difficulty in obtaining work within Polish lands under the Russian partition. However, without a problem, the job corresponding to their education, could be obtained in the tsarist Empire, in Russia itself. And it was Witold Pilecki's father Julian who got a job as a forestry assistant, and then he even came to the position of a forest inspector in Ołoniec in Karelia. Witold Pilecki had two sisters and two brothers. One of them, Józef, died at the age of 5. The Pileckis stayed surrounded, so to say, by the „russian sea”. Witold's mother noticed that the children speak Polish during the conversation, which was crucial for her, but they use a lot of Russian words. The mother tried to raise them to be patriots, familiarizing them with the history of Poland. She told them about the January uprising, in which grandfather participated. She also portrayed the persecution of the insurgents and Muraviov, who was a general governor in Vilnius during the January uprising and very often ordered public executions of the captured January insurgents by hanging, hence he was called Wieszatiel (Hangman). The mother however, fearing that to some extent the children would be fall under Russian influence decided to move in 1910 to Vilnius, to enable the children, including Witold, to continue their education in this city. Witold started his studies at the trade gymnasium and for the first time he became involved in the independence activity as a twelve-year-old boy. He became a scout in 1913 in the underground Polish Scouting Association in Vilnius, whose activity in the Russian occupied Poland was prohibited. In the summer of 1914, Witold's mother and the other children were on summer holiday in Druskienniki. The risk of the outbreak of the first world war was very real and there was concern, that Vilnius would be occupied by German troops, which would drive Russians troops out of this city. The events unfolded exactly that way. She was fearing that the front line would deprive her of any contact with her husband, who was still working and staying in Ołoniec and sending money to Vilnius for the maintenance of his wife and children. Fearing that this contact would be interrupted by the front line, she moved with her children to the vicinity of Vitebsk, to Hawrułków, where her far relatives lived. The children, including Witold, studied in the city of Orzeł, located in the western part of Russia and lived in an apartment of her sister. In this city, Orzeł, Pilecki created in 1918 a scouting team, and in addition, along with other scouts, he was involved in the actions of a secret Polish military organization, that was supposed to prepare personal for the Polish Army created in the future. In connection with this activity, Witold Pilecki and his scouts carried out an action in the military barracks located a few kilometres outside the city. The undertaking was successful, they managed to take the uniforms and military equipment from there. No one died, even though the watchmen of the warehouses opened fire to Polish scouts. They acquired this military equipment and uniforms considering, that they would join the First Polish Corp formed under the command of General Jozef Dowbor Musnicki. However, the failed to do so. With his mother and siblings returned somewhere at the end of summer 1918 back to Vilnius, Pilecki continued education there at the Joachim Lelewel Gymnasium. Vilnius was still occupied by German troops, although Poland regained its independence on 11 November 1918, German troops continue to stay in Vilnius. Therefore, the Poles created self-defence units with the aim to force the Germans out of the city. Witold Pilecki joined the units together with other scouts he knew personally. The German army left Vilnius on 31 December 1918. And here we have a very characteristic detail from Pilecki's biography. He was in the team fighting the Germans out of Vilnius near the Gate of Dawn, with the well-known image of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn. As soon as the German left the city Witold Pilecki was a commander of the guard. These scouts, under the command of Pilecki, were holding a night watch by the image of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn on the night from 31 December 1918 to January the 1st 1919. Being the commander of the first guard in front of the image of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn in liberated Vilnius was a very special experience for Pilecki. Already on 5 January 1919, the approaching Bolshevik troops expelled Poles from the city. Members of Vilnius self-defence units reached through Bialystok as far as the city of Łapy. There, Pilecki and other members of his unit joined a well-known cavalry division created by two Dabrowski brothers: Władysław and Jerzy. Later, the unit changed its name into the Vilnius Cavalry Division. Pilecki as a cavalryman fought in this unit until the late months of 1919. Later, he was transferred to the reserve and resumed his education, this time in one Warsaw gymnasium. And when the Polish-Bolshevik war began in 1920, he returned to the Polish Army. First, he served in the infantry, then in the cavalry. His military curriculum is very rich in various events of the towns in which he fought. It's impossible to recall all this. In any case, at the end of 1920, Pilecki was transferred to the reserve and in 1921 graduated from middle school and wondered what to do next. His parents were in Sukurcze, with their estate ruined their financial situation was very difficult. Therefore Pilecki, who was going to study at the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius at the Faculty of Fine Arts, had to give up these plans. Then he also had plans to study at the Agricultural Academy in Poznań. However, the economic situation did not allow him to start his studies. In consequence, he got a job. At the beginning, he worked in the Union for the National Safety created in Kresy (which was the Eastern Borderlands of Poland), then for some time he was a secretary in of the courts. It lasted until 1926 when he decided to move near Lida and to take care of the administration of the family estate since the parents were no longer able to cope with these duties. At the end of the twenties, he met a teacher from the neighbouring town of Krupa and married her in 1931. Her name was Maria Ostrowska, she came from Ostrów Mazowiecka and soon two children were born: Andrzej in 1932 and Zofia in 1933. The family estate began to flourish. The property, which was administered and owned by Pilecki, specialized in the cultivation of clover seeds. In addition, Pilecki developed social activities in the area, created a dairy, created a volunteer fire brigade, of which he was president, and created a cavalry unit as part of a horse military training. This unit was called Krakusy. He was also appointed for military exercises, and it should be noted, that already in 1926, after completing subsequent military exercises, he received the rank of lieutenant and therewith he set off with the Krakus troops for war in 1939. His unit was part of the cavalry support of the nineteenth Infantry Division operating within the army division “Prusy”. His troops were transported from Lida by train with equipment and horses to Sochaczew and as part of the division, as cavalry support, they fought in Piotrków Trybunalski and Tomaszów Mazowiecki. Unfortunately, the division was shattered. The soldiers of Pilecki got to the other side of the Vistula to form a part of the newly formed 41. Reserved Polish Army Division, also as cavalry support. The trail of Pilecki cavalrymen led all the way to Lubelszczyzna. Poles fought their last fights in the Lublin region by Kock on 6 October 1939. Pilecki and the other cavalrymen did not decide to capitulate; however, they created a partisan unit. And this partisan unit was still functioning for several days until 17 October 1939, when it was dissolved.

With most of the officers from this unit, Pilecki decided to get to Warsaw. He could not return to Sukurcze because the town came under Soviet occupation in course of the division of Polish lands between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. While in Warsaw, officers, who fought together in the cavalry unit in 1939, including Pilecki, decided to create the Secret Polish Army. The organisation was established in the first half of November 1939. Major Jan Włodarkiewicz was the commander, while Witold Pilecki, who still had the rank of second lieutenant at that time, was the chief of staff and later the inspector of the Secret Polish Army. Many people from Warsaw joined the unit. Among them was Dr. Władysław Dehring, in whose villa in Mokotow neighbourhood in Warsaw were often organized meetings of the command of the Secret Polish Army. On 14 June, a concentration camp was established in the pre-war barracks of the Polish Army in the town of Oświęcim. At that time, the first transport of Poles from the Tarnow prison, counting 728 people, was brought to the new Auschwitz camp and later further transports were deported there.

The first transport from Warsaw to Auschwitz arrived on 15 August 1940. In addition, telegrams informing about the death of prisoners in Auschwitz began to reach Warsaw. So that Major Jan Włodarkiewicz called the briefing of his officers and, looking at Pilecki, made him understand and expressed it, that he would be the best candidate to be voluntarily captured by the Germans during a round-up in Warsaw. It would allow him to be an unknown man, under a false name, allegedly having nothing in common with the army and to enter the camp in order to create a conspiracy network here. Pilecki was aware of the danger of the mission, he was supposed to undertake, but finally he consented it. And when the next round-up in Warsaw took place on 19 September 1940, he let himself be captured by the Germans. It occurred in the apartment of his sister-in-law Eleonora Ostrowska in Żoliborz neighbourhood. Although he could easily hide in a safe hiding place, his goal was to be detained and so it happened. Under the assumed name Tomasz Serafiński, as an alleged tanner by profession, Witold Pilecki was deported to Auschwitz on the night of 21 to 22 September 1940.

While staying in Warsaw for some time in the apartment of the doctor Helena Pawlowska, Pilecki came across documents that were left there by the reserve officer Tomasz Serafiński from Nowy Wiśnicz. The real Tomasz Serafiński left his work card and identity card. Pilecki only exchanged the photos, and used these documents. It should be realized that when Pilecki undertook this dangerous mission, only the first part of the Auschwitz camp existed, which was only just expanded and was created in the pre-war barracks of the Polish Army.

In the transport from the night of 21 to 22 September there were 1705 prisoners. Among them were many people whose names we know for example because of their activities during the second world war or post-war activities. Professor Władysław Bartoszewski, who as an eighteen-year-old junior high school student was brought in this transport along with Pilecki. There was also Antoni Kocjan, the famous pre-war glider constructor, who was also captured during the round-up. Released in May 1941 he later became famous for his aerial intelligence activities in the Home Army Headquarters, working out the secrets of the extremely dangerous German weapons V1 and V2.

You said that Pilecki was brought to Auschwitz within the second Warsaw transport from 21 to 22 September 1940. What exactly was his mission?

When Pilecki he decided to undertake this dangerous assignment, his superior revealed him the object he was supposed to realize in Auschwitz. Major Jan Włodarkiewicz briefed General Stefan Grot Rowecki about the mission. Grot-Rowecki was the commander of the underground organisation Union of Armed Struggle, later transformed into the Home Army.

Pilecki's duty was to organize a military conspiracy, which should in various ways provide information about what is happening in Auschwitz. The military conspiracy was also supposed to try to save the lives of prisoners by secretly organizing medicines, food and providing real information in the camp to fellow prisoners about the situation on the fronts of the second world war. The ultimate goal was to organize prisoners on a military model and to liberate the camp in cooperation with partisan units. When Pilecki arrived at Auschwitz, he ended up first in block number 17, where, surprisingly, he received a good function as a room leader: that is, he was responsible for the order of cleanliness in the room, but the block leader in this block was “bloody Alois”. He was a German communist Alois Schtaler and he demanded from other functionary prisoners that they beat and abuse the others to impose obedience among the prisoners. Pilecki refused to do so; as a consequence, he was thrown out of this block and went to very heavy prisoner work squads performing various earthworks under the open sky. In addition, the prisoners until December 1940 did neither have winter coats, nor they have socks, they walked in clogs, they did not have hats. In such circumstances Pilecki found himself. He realized that with him working in this work unit, he would not only do nothing to create a military conspiracy, which he called a military organization, but would also die in these harsh conditions. He got help by coincidence, obtaining a job in a carpentry shop thanks to the help of other prisoners. Unfortunately, in early 1941 he contracted a very serious disease: pneumonia. And again, other prisoners supported him, in this case from the organization he had formed. Dr. Władysław Dehring already at that time had a job in the hospital created for prisoners. He rushed to help Pilecki and managed that he successfully overcome this disease. Then Pilecki worked in various work units, he had the opportunity to meet various prisoners, but he built underground structures primarily based on people who had previously been brought to the camp as members of the Secret Polish Army. Eventually his organisation was based on the people he met in various earlier periods of his life, including during the battles for the borders of Poland in the years 1918-1921, or the ones he came in various situations into contact with, among other things, on military exercises in the pre-war period. It was very important that the members of the military organization, created by Pilecki, were in good working squads, because having better conditions for life in the camp they were able to help other prisoners and to conduct conspiracy activities. And one of the main pillars of the camp conspiracy became the camp hospital, created by Dr. Władysław Dehring on the orders of the Germans. There were various options for activities. Prisoners could be literally saved by being admitted to the hospital. Although the situation was dramatic, because in front of the hospital block circa 200 prisoners were waiting for admission daily, but only 10 of them could be admitted, so the choice was very difficult. Who should be saved first? In the later period of the camp's existence there were also selections among the patients. Again, it was possible to save their lives or get them released from the hospital early if a selection was approaching, so that they would not fall victim to it. Other options were to hide some prisoners, or to conceal the prisoner cards of those prisoners who had been selected and were already doomed to die in gas chambers. They did it surreptitiously using distraction of Germans. It also happened, that people from the Pilecki’s conspiracy, including Dr. Dehring himself, withdrew such cards and put them among the cards of prisoners, who were supposed to remain in the camp hospital. In addition, as it turned out later, the hospital was also the place of liquidation of camp traitors. They were later eliminated by poison, and earlier by overdosing on drugs that caused death. On the wall of block number 15, the camp authorities ordered to hang a box, where confidants or other informers could insert cards with information about other prisoners. Pilecki's organization forged the keys to this box and stealthily this box was opened every few days. These denunciations were drawn out and destroyed, and if the denunciation was signed, then at the same time the organization was aware of, who among the prisoners is a confidant. After that, the organisation also tried to reach other camp offices. For example, the Bureau of prisoner employment – the Arbeitsdienst – there were opportunities to assign prisoners to better work units. That way they could save their lives too. Otto Kussel, a German criminal, managed this office of employment of prisoners, but there was also a member of the Pilecki’s organization Mieczysław Januszewski, a lieutenant of the navy, who also had an influence on the decisions made regarding the employment of prisoners. And here we could talk about many other activities, because after all, Pilecki passed information from the camp to the General Headquarters of the Home Army. Initially, it took place as early as October 19 40 through prisoners released from the camp, and the report sent by Pilecki from the camp via a released prisoner reached General Stefan Rowecki. He gave this report and description of the situation in the camp through the secret base Anna in Stockholm to the Polish immigration government in London and this information had already reached England on 18 March 1941. Later, such information was also provided through the fugitives. It could be stated, that a variety of activities that I do not have time to describe, were carried out by the organization in the camp. In this way, the Pilecki’s organization also contributed to saving the lives of many prisoners. The ultimate goal was to fight for the camp. Prisoners operating in the structures of the military team organized themselves according to a military model. The ground floor in a given prisoners block formed a platoon, the second floor formed a second platoon. The entire block formed a division, and several blocks formed a battalion. However, even though Pilecki reporting on the activities of his units applied to undertake a camp fight, the Home Army Headquarters did not consent it. Besides, based on the correct assumption that the German forces are too numerous, well-armed, and in addition, they thought, that even if the action was successful, what was impossible, what to do with the 1000 liberated emaciated prisoners? Pilecki, however, at all costs wanted such a fight for the camp to take place, all the more so because the mass extermination of Jews on a large scale had already begun. It started from the spring of ‘42, and especially from the spring of ‘43, when the construction of four large crematoria with gas chambers began in Birkenau. Pilecki's organization also suffered losses. Prisoners being members of the organization were shot, died due to difficult conditions in the camp, or were transported to other camps due to epidemics. Therefore, Pilecki decided to escape from the camp in the spring of 1943 to present to the officers of the Home Army Headquarters in Warsaw the description of the situation in the camp and to strive for the order for the liberation fight of the camp to be released. After a successful escape at the end of April 1943, with two prisoners Jan Redzej and Edward Ciesielski, before Pilecki reached Warsaw, he arrived with the other escapees to Bochnia in the first days of May 1943. He asked for contact with the local command of the Home Army. And this contact was made possible for him. He met with the deputy commander of the Home Army in Nowy Wiśnicz, living in the manor house in Koryznówka. It was a huge surprise for Witold Pilecki, because it turned out, that the deputy commander was the real Tomasz Serafiński, whose documents were used by Pilecki and under his name he was detained in the camp. He stayed by Tomasz Serafiński and his wife Ludmiła almost by the end of August ‘43, while the other two refugees were hiding in the vicinity of Nowy Wiśnicz. Later, everyone reached Warsaw and Pilecki wrote a report in which he presented the state of the military organization in the camp. In outline, he signalled the most terrible, tragic, terrible events he witnessed in the camp. The report was encrypted, the names were replaced by numbers, and a separate key served as an alignment for these names with the corresponding number. This report was forwarded to the Home Army Headquarters. Apparently, it was even to be translated into German, French, English and transmitted to the West. The Headquarters, however, did not reach a decision, it was impossible. They had a wider view regarding the fight for the camp than Pilecki had, so he began to work in KeDyw ("Directorate of Diversion") until the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. In addition, another function was planned for him. On the other hand, it was expected that in the future Poland would again be under occupation or influence of Soviet Union and if this happens, Pilecki was to be a co-organizer of the „NIE” organization, general August Emil Fieldorf was supposed to lead.

The Warsaw uprising began and Pilecki due to the function that was provided for him within the organization „NIE” had a ban on armed participation in the uprising, but he broke this ban. At the beginning, he fought as a regular, private soldier of the Home Army, and then he was the commander of the redoubt facility at Starynkiewicza Square in Warsaw. And the Germans never got that redoubt. The uprising ended with capitulation during insurgent fights. Jan Redzej, the fellow escapee of Pilecki died on 5 August 1944. Edward Ciesielski, wounded several times, like Pilecki, was taken prisoner by the German army. Pilecki was in a POW camp in Murnau, where he was liberated by American troops on 29 April 1945. Bearing in mind the oath he had taken to be faithful to the organization „NIE”, which he was to create, he made efforts to reach Italy and contact General Władysław Anders, who was the commander of the still unresolved Polish II Corps, which on 18 May 1944 captured Monte Cassino. Indeed, Pilecki reached Italy in July ‘45. General Władysław Anders consented that Pilecki should return to Poland enslaved by the Soviets and ruled by Polish communists and provide information about what is happening there. Pilecki finally reached Poland at the end of November 1945.

It is impossible to discuss all this because Pilecki's biography is rich in many details. Yet, he came under the assumed name Roman Jezierski. Here on the site, he did some research and found out, that the structures of the organization „NIE” actually did not exist, the general August Emil Fieldorf was in exile in Siberia, so the operation of the organization was impossible. Pilecki then created such an intelligence network, which he did not even give any name, based again on his friends and people he knew from the camp and from the times of the Warsaw Uprising as well as friends from other periods of his life. They gathered information on the crimes committed by a communist secret police, on the economic exploitation of Poland by the Soviet Union and this information was transferred to Italy via couriers to the general Władysław Anders.

There were no anti-Polish intentions in these actions. Regarding what Pilecki's information network sent, today we would say that these were almost journalistic news, which today are transmitted by a correspondence in different countries. As a result of operational activities Pilecki's network had been worked out. The cavalry captain Witold Pilecki was arrested on 8 May 1947. I used the rank of ‘cavalry captain’, because still acting in the camp conspiracy on 11 November 1941 Pilecki was promoted by general Stefan Grot Rowecki to the rank of lieutenant. It was a promotion, among other things, for his successful activity in the camp conspiracy. He received his cavalry captain rank in February 1944 with seniority from 11 November 1943. The captain Pilecki got arrested. There was an investigation for several months. His co-workers were also detained. The investigation was completed at the end of 1947. In the first months of 1948, an indictment was sent to the Military District Court in Warsaw.

Pilecki was accused of spying for foreign intelligence, which was not true, because he only sent information to the II Polish Corps in Italy. Not only that, he was accused of preparing attacks on high officials of the Ministry of Public Security, which was also far from the truth. He was accused of accumulating weapons for the purpose of the attacks. In fact, Pilecki admitted and even pointed out that after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising before going to captivity, his soldiers hid the weapons in the lockers and this was not the weapon that Pilecki collected, with the intention of conducting some sort of armed activity against the communist regime. That were weapons from the times of Warsaw Uprising still in hiding. Well, it did not help to deny these false accusations. The trial lasted from March 3 to March 15 1948. Witold Pilecki was sentenced to death. He was tried with seven of his co-workers. Maria Szelągowska and Tadeusz Płużański were also sentenced to death. Makary Sieradzki got a life imprisonment. The others accused were sentenced to several years in prison. The Supreme Court confirmed the sentence on 3 May 1948. The request for a pardon to the communist president Bolesław Bierut was written by Pilecki himself, by his wife, and by Pilecki's lawyer Lech Buszkowski. In the case of the other two defendants, Maria Szelągowska and Tadeusz Płużański, also sentenced to death, such a request for a pardon was also written. Bierut accepted the request regarding both Maria Szelągowska and Tadeusz Płużański and condemning them to long-term imprisonment. However, in the case of Witold Pilecki, President Bolesław Bierut approved the death penalty on 20 May 1948. And five days later in the prison at Rakowiecka Street in Mokotów district in Warsaw, where Pilecki and the other defendants stayed, the verdict on Pilecki was carried out with a shot in the back of the head. His killer was sergeant Piotr Smietański. The body of Witold Pilecki was probably buried under the wall of the Powązki Cemetery in the so-called “Meadow”, which was later included in the structures of this cemetery. The Institute of National Remembrance conducted several years of searching for the remains of the victims buried there, including Witold Pilecki. In the case of Pilecki, his remains were not found. Witold Pilecki was completely rehabilitated and acquitted on 1 October 1990 by the Military Chamber of the Supreme Court. In 2006 Witold Pilecki was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, and in 2013 he was promoted by the then minister of national defence to the rank of colonel.