Certainly few would propose such a mission for themselves or any of their subordinates.\u00a0 Indeed, on hearing such a proposal I’d guess most of us would probably react with some variation of the coarse line from the old Cheech and Chong routine about kamikaze pilots:\u00a0 \u201cYou outa you f**king mind!\u201d<\/p>\n
Now assume that someone had actually done the above.\u00a0 How many of us believe that same individual would then afterwards:<\/p>\n
- \n
- voluntarily go behind enemy lines yet again <\/i>to take part in an insurrection;<\/li>\n
- survive being captured a second time and held captive for another 9 months;<\/li>\n
- return to full duty yet again after being released; and then<\/li>\n
- voluntarily go behind enemy lines yet another time<\/i> \u2013 this time to serve as a spy?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Most of us would probably regard any story containing such a collection of accomplishments the plot outline for a horrible spy novel.\u00a0 That is, we\u2019d say it was so ridiculously preposterous as to be completely unbelievable.<\/p>\n
Except it isn\u2019t preposterous.\u00a0 It actually happened.<\/em><\/p>\n
And the place to which this man allowed himself to be sent and imprisoned for 2 1\/2 years?\u00a0 It was called \u201cAuschwitz\u201d.<\/p>\n
The man\u2019s name was Witold Pilecki.\u00a0 He was an officer in the Polish Army during World War II.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/0\/04\/Witold_Pilecki_1.JPG\")
<\/center>Witold Pilecki, pre-1939 photo<\/center> <\/p>\n You\u2019ve probably never heard of Witold Pilecki; until recently, I hadn’t either.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason, and we\u2019ll get to that in a bit.<\/p>\n
Early Life<\/span>.<\/p>\n
Witold Pilecki was born in 1901 in Russia, in the region east of Lake Lagoda.\u00a0 His family, however, was Polish.\u00a0 They had been forcibly resettled after the Polish-Lithuanian January Uprising of 1863-1864<\/a>.\u00a0 His grandfather had been exiled to Siberia for seven years after that uprising.<\/p>\n
In 1910, the elder Pilecki relocated his family to the vicinity of Wilno, Poland (today Vilnius, Lithuania).\u00a0 In 1918, Witold Pilecki joined a Scout unit affiliated with local Polish self-defense units in the Wilno area.\u00a0 He fought against Russian Bolshevik forces from 1918 to 1920 during the immediate aftermath of World War I and the Polish-Russian War \u2013 sometimes fighting conventionally, and at times fighting behind enemy lines in partisan operations.\u00a0 He served with distinction, twice receiving the Cross of Valor<\/a> (by description, it appears roughly comparable to either the Silver Star or Bronze Star with V\/Device).<\/p>\n
After the end of the Polish-Russian War, Pilecki continued his military career.\u00a0 He passed NCO exams in 1921.\u00a0 After taking additional officer training courses, he was commissioned a reserve officer and assigned to a cavalry regiment in 1926.<\/p>\n
World War II<\/span>.<\/p>\n
At the outset of World War II, Pilecki\u2019s unit (the 41st<\/sup> Infantry Division) initially fought against German forces \u2013 and then fought on two fronts after the Soviets invaded Poland.\u00a0 His division dissolved on 22 September 1939, with some units surrendering.\u00a0 Pilecki and his commander instead made their way to Warsaw.<\/p>\n
Pilecki\u2019s war was hardly over.\u00a0 He and his commander founded Tajna Armia Polska (TAP)<\/i>, one of the first clandestine underground resistance organizations in Poland, on 9 November 1939.\u00a0 This organization later became a part of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa<\/i>).<\/p>\n
The Polish Home Army soon learned that the Nazis had begun large-scale concentration camp operations at Auschwitz.\u00a0 However, they had no detailed knowledge of what was happening at the place.\u00a0 To gather such detailed knowledge, in 1940 Pilecki conceived a plan that was on its face nearly unbelievable.\u00a0 He proposed that he allow himself to be intentionally captured and sent to Auschwitz<\/em> in order to gather intelligence and organize inmate resistance.<\/p>\n
Yes, you read that correctly.\u00a0 Witold Pilecki volunteered<\/span> to go to Auschwitz – as an inmate.<\/p>\n
Auschwitz<\/span>.<\/p>\n
After his superiors approved the plan, Pilecki intentionally allowed himself to be captured during a Warsaw street roundup on 19 September 1940.\u00a0 He arrived in Auschwitz on 21 September 1940.<\/p>\n
He would remain an inmate in Auschwitz for over 2 1\/2 years.<\/p>\n
After arriving at Auschwitz, Pilecki organized an internal resistance group among Polish prisoners at the concentration camp portion of the complex (Auschwitz was a complex of multiple camps, and had both forced-labor camp and extermination center sections).\u00a0 This group – Union of Military Organizations (Zwiazek Organizacji Wojskowej<\/i>, or ZOW<\/em>) \u2013 was formed to perform multiple functions; two of these were to set up intelligence networks and train for eventual takeover of the camp in the event of a relief attack.<\/p>\n
Beginning in October 1940, ZOW began sending reports to Polish Home Army leadership in Warsaw.\u00a0 From November 1940 on, these reports include information about Nazi genocide being conducted at Auschwitz.\u00a0 By 1942, these reports were detailed, including the number of arrivals, deaths, camp conditions, and the state of inmates.\u00a0 For a while, a homemade radio constructed by camp inmates was used to transmit these reports – until it was dismantled in the fall of 1942 due to concerns that someone with “loose lips” might disclose its existence.\u00a0 Otherwise, reports were made by smuggling messages outside the camp.<\/p>\n
ZOW hoped that an attempt would be made to liberate Auschwitz and free its inmates.\u00a0 However, for various reasons no such attempt was ever made.\u00a0 Further, by early 1943, Nazi forces were aware that ZOW was operating within Auschwitz.\u00a0\u00a0 The Nazis increased their efforts to identify ZOW members, finding and killing many.\u00a0 Pilecki thus decided it was time to escape, hoping afterwards to personally convince resistance leadership that a rescue attempt was feasible.\u00a0 He and two comrades escaped during the night of 26-27 April 1943 – Pilecki being wounded in the process – but taking with them stolen documents.<\/p>\n
Post-Auschwitz.<\/span><\/p>\n
Pilecki was unable to convince Polish Home Army leadership to undertake a rescue attempt on Auschwitz (losses during recon of the Auschwitz area convinced leadership that this was not feasible without external help given their current strength and that of the Nazis – and the necessary external help was not forthcoming).\u00a0 During this time, Pilecki wrote a long report (100+ pages) detailing his observations while an inmate at Auschwitz.\u00a0 This report of conditions at Auschwitz – today termed Witold’s Report or Pilecki’s Report<\/a> – was sent to the Polish government-in-exile in London, who in turn provided it to US and UK officials.\u00a0 Pilecki’s report was the first hard data detailing the scope and scale of Nazi atrocities at Auschwitz received by the western Allies.\u00a0 It is today considered the first record of the Holocaust.<\/p>\n
After his return to the Polish Home Army, Pilecki maintained contact with ZOW.\u00a0 However, when the Warsaw Uprising<\/a> began in August 1944, Pilecki volunteered to take part.\u00a0 He first fought incognito in the northern part of the city center as a private, though he\u2019d been promoted to Captain by that time.\u00a0 After the loss of other officers in his unit, however, Pilecki disclosed his true rank and accepted command.\u00a0 He and his unit acquitted themselves admirably in hard fighting until the end of the uprising, at which time Pilecki was again taken prisoner by Nazi forces. \u00a0(Since his previous captivity at Auschwitz was under another name and he\u2019d used fake identity documents to back that false identity, the Nazi\u2019s didn\u2019t realize Pilecki was an Auschwitz escapee).\u00a0 He remained a POW until he was released on 9 July 1945.<\/p>\n
On his release, Pilecki again rejoined the Polish armed forces \u2013 this time the 2nd Polish Corps in Northern Italy.\u00a0 While there, he composed a more extensive and comprehensive report on his experiences at Auschwitz.<\/p>\n
Postwar Spy and Death.<\/span><\/p>\n
By fall 1945, relations between the pro-Western Polish government-in-exile and the Soviet-imposed,\u00a0\u00a0 Communist-led Polish Committee of National Liberation in Poland itself had deteriorated badly.\u00a0 Having no love for Communism (he had joined an anti-Communist organization during his resistance activities during World War II), Pilecki accepted orders from the commander of the 2nd Polish Corps to return to Poland under an assumed name and serve as a spy for the Polish government-in-exile.\u00a0 Pilecki accepted these orders, and went to serve behind enemy lines \u2013 for the fourth time in his career \u2013 in October 1945.<\/p>\n
By early 1946, the Polish government-in-exile determined that prospects for Polish liberation from Soviet occupation and domination in the near term were essentially nil.\u00a0 They ordered resistance operations to cease and all partisans operating to stand down and return to civilian life or escape to the West.<\/p>\n
Rather than returning to the west, Pilecki remained in Poland.<\/p>\n