Volunteer for Auschwitz - Witold Pilecki, Captain (1901–1948)
His daring plan to free those imprisoned at Auschwitz with the help of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, never materialized. Fearing that his mission was about to be compromised, after spending 945 days in Auschwitz, he escaped in 1943. In 1944, Cpt. Pilecki fought in the Warsaw Uprising in the ranks of the “Chrobry II” Unit. In 1945, he was attached to the II Corp of the Polish Army In Italy. On orders from General Anders, he returned to the communist-occupied Poland [...] In May, 1947 Captain Pilecki was arrested by the Polish secret police (pol. UB - Urzad Bezpieczenstwa), and incarcerated at the Warsaw’s infamous jail at the Rakowiecka Street. Despite being subjected to the most horrifying torutures, until the end, he remined faithful to his military oath – “God, Honor, Country.” After listening to death sentence charges against him, he responded to the "court":
“I tried to live my life in such fashion, so that in my last hour, I would rather be happy than fearful […] I found happiness within me, resulting from the realization, that this fight was worth it”.
Witold Pilecki, an unsung hero of the Holocaust, was executed by the communists on May 25, 1948. Gloria Victis!
Visit the Doomed Soldiers website to learn more about this most extraordinary of heroes ...
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