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Anniversary Observances. They were 728

Ceremonies were held on the grounds of the former camp to mark the anniversary of the deportation to Auschwitz Concentration Camp from the Tarnów prison of the first transport of 728 Poles. They obtained serial numbers 31 to 758 (the first 30 numbers were reserved for German capos). Approximately 240 of these prisoners survived the camp, and 79 of them are still alive. Some 45 of these survivors attended the ceremony. One of them was prisoner number 31, Stanislaw Ryniak.

The observance had a distinctly Polish flavor, since the prisoners at Auschwitz Concentration Camp were almost exclusively Polish for over a year.

The occasion was also marked by the presentation of a major book by Dr. Adam Cyra, a historian at the Museum. The subject of Cyra's study is Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki, the only man who ever "volunteered" to go to Auschwitz. Pilecki did so in order to set up a resistance organization in the camp. After surviving the war, Pilecki was sentenced to death by a communist court and executed by firing squad in 1948 "Ochotnik do Auschwitz. Witold Pilecki. 1901-1948 [A Volunteer for Auschwitz: Witold Pilecki, 1901-1948".