
On This Day… The Man Who Volunteered For Auschwitz
Written by: George Chittenden : 03 Jun 2019
It was on this day, 19th Sept, back in 1940 when Polish resistance fighter Witold Pilecki deliberately had himself arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where he spent two years supplying Allied forces with information about the concentration camp. Witold’s story is one of the bravest of World War Two, and possibly the history of the entire world.
Witold Pilecki served as a Polish cavalry officer, intelligence agent and resistance leader. He co-founded the Secret Polish Army, a resistance group in German-occupied Poland. He volunteered for an operation that involved being imprisoned in the Auschwitz death camp to gather intelligence and later escape. He is the only person to ever volunteer to enter Auschwitz. He completed his incredibly dangerous mission and supplied the first comprehensive Allied intelligence report on Auschwitz concentration camp and the Holocaust. He escaped from the camp in 1943 after nearly two and a half years of imprisonment.
After earning his freedom Pilecki took part as a combatant in the Warsaw Uprising and remained loyal to the London-based Polish government-in-exile after the Soviet-backed communist takeover of Poland. So, what happened to this absolute hero? Well unfortunately Witold Pilecki was arrested for espionage in 1947 by the Stalinist secret police on charges of working for "foreign imperialism” and was executed in 1948. Today we remember Witold Pilecki and the extreme risks he took for the benefit of others. Lest we forget.
Search
By Era
To 5000 BCE 5000 - 2000 BCE 2000 BCE - 0 0 - 400 CE 400 - 800 CE 800 - 1100 CE 1100 - 1500 CE 1500 - 1700 CE 18th Century 19th Century 1900's 1910's 1920's 1930's 1940's 1950's 1960's 1970's 1980's 1990's 2000's 2010'sBy Topic
Royal British Roman North American Egyptian Nautical European Social WW1 Military Viking Asian African Australian South American Political Celebrity WW2 ReligionWe promote history by...
offering free articles and videos, providing free history experiences for children in schools and on weekends. Next year we will be visiting hospitals and providing unforgettable experiences to children who really need it and give them a chance to forget their condition, their treatment and their reality.
Please join others who support our free projects by giving a small donation. We can only continue our great work with your help.