Anniversary of voluntary surrender by the captain Witold Pilecki in German hands.
Today in our calendar we will look at the life and activities of Witold Pilecki, who volunteered to go to the German extermination camp Auschwitz.
Witold came from a Polish household persecuted for participating in the January uprising. He was the boy of Julian and Louisi from the Osiecimska house. He spent his childhood in Karelia, where his father worked as a forester. Distance from Homeland did not have a negative impact on his upbringing, as parents cared very much about cultivating Polish traditions and national identity.
Due to the weakening of the Caric panic apparatus, after the 1905 Revolution the household moved to Vilnius. Witold began studying at a local commercial school. He joined illegal Polish Scouting and founded a self-educational circle. After the outbreak of planet War I, he moved to Havrilkov, Belarus, where his relatives lived. He continued his studies in the town of Orzeł, where he co-founded the Polish Circle. In time, he was promoted into Boy Scout structures.
After the Bolshevik Revolution, he tried to enter the 1st Polish Corps of General Dowbor-Muśnicki, but without result. For this he managed to cross the German front line and return to Vilnius. In early December 1918, he enlisted in local self-defense to disarm the retreating Germans under the orders of General Władysław Wejtko. He then joined the cavalry unit of Jerzy Dąbrowski and fought against Bolsheviks, including defending Grodna.
He showed quite a few heroism erstwhile he returned behind enemy lines after respective colleagues from the squad. During the offensive of Tuchaczewski he fought in the suburbs of Warsaw. After resisting the enemy, he took part in the apparent revolt of Żeligowski, which resulted in Vilnius's business by Poland. At the end of the war, he was demobilized.
In the following years, he was eager to participate in the cyclical exercises of reserve officers. He completed his course at the Cavalry Training Centre in Grudziądz and continued his discontinued schooling. He passed his degree and started his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. He didn't finish it due to deficiency of funding. His situation improved erstwhile in 1926 the Pilecks regained the pre-established household property Suscars close Lida. Witold began managing it, and despite small experience he proved to be a large host.
He upgraded the farm and brought modern methods of increasing and breeding to it. He was happy to aid his neighbors and, along with them, set up a farm ringing and a dairy to which he became president. On his own initiative, he organised a local structure "Kracus" of the Military Conquest. In his free time, he wrote poems and painted spiritual paintings. He was a profoundly believing Catholic, which had a profound effect on all his decisions. In 1929 he married teacher Maria Ostrowska, with whom he had 2 children. Pilecki's peaceful life interrupted the outbreak of planet War II.
In the September campaign, Witold fought as commander of a cavalry squadron with which he destroyed at least 5 tanks and 2 or 3 German aircraft. After the defeat, he entered Warsaw, where he co-created an underground structure called the Secret Army Poland. erstwhile the thought was to send individual to Auschwitz to organize a conspiracy there and to study to the London government, Pilecki volunteered. He deliberately allowed himself to be arrested in a September 19, 1940 hold.
During his stay at the extermination camp, he carefully collected information about German crimes and created a powerful conspiracy grid, the alleged Union of Military Organization. erstwhile Germany discovered part of the grid in early 1943, they decided to transfer any Polish prisoners to another camps. Then Pilecki decided to escape. After leaving Auschwitz, he reported to the command of the AK with a study written by him and a request for a storm to the camp, in which hundreds of people were killed all day.
His study was transferred to London, while the attack was not carried out due to the strong enemy crew and the inability to effectively hide thousands of people held there by the Polish underground. After regaining full force Pilecki joined the AK and was directed to work on the establishment of NO, directed against Soviets. He fought as an officer in the Warsaw Uprising. After his fall, he was taken prisoner.
He went to a flag in Bavarian Murnau and was liberated by Americans by the end of April 1945. He joined the 2nd Polish Corps in Italy, where he became an interviewer. In late 1945, he returned to Poland's communists. He worked under an assumed name at a perfume factory. At the same time, he collected information about the political and economical situation, which he subsequently transmitted through the liaisons to the West.
He tried to reactivate the organization NO, but without much success. He wrote, among others, filled with deep patriotism and Catholicism. For youth activists. UB introduced its agent, Leszek Kuchciński, a erstwhile activist of the Secret Polish Army to his group. Pilecki was arrested on May 8, 1947. He went to Mokotowski Prison, where he was brutally tortured. Despite that, he didn't betray anyone.
The Communists treated his origin as a precedence as a symbol of the dying era. The Caricature Court sentenced him to the death penalty, which was shot in the back of the head. His body was buried in an unknown place, most likely in Warsaw's Łączka.
Witold Pilecki was an excellent soldier and social activist who in his life fulfilled the perfect of a Catholic Pole. During planet War II, he showed superhuman courage and dedication to the Polish cause, voluntarily going to Auschwitz. Then he threatened his life in the fight against the communist government brought to Poland on russian bayonets. It is worth remembering that his courage and determination came mainly from the Catholic faith. What is peculiarly symbolic, during the time of the alleged IIIrd Polish Order of the White Eagle was blocked.
As in the case of August Fieldorf, the traitors Władysław Bartoszewski, Bronisław Geremek and Tadeusz Mazowiecki were behind it.
Interestingly, Bartoszewski was caught in the same trap to Auschwitz as Pilecki. He did not flee the camp, but was released from it “for wellness reasons”. 2 people, 2 completely different résumés.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
