In other words, the first rule of military life is “never volunteer for anything.” This guy either didn’t get the memo, or didn’t care:
The Man Who Volunteered for Auschwitz
You read that right. Here’s a taste:
The Polish resistance had been hearing horrific first- or second-hand accounts about the conditions inside Auschwitz. These early accounts came primarily from released prisoners, but also from casual observers like railway employees and residents of the nearby village of Oswiecim. The resistance decided they needed someone on the inside.
It is into this environment that Witold Pilecki, a 39-year old veteran of the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921 who fought against the initial Nazi invasion and a member of the Polish resistance, volunteered himself in 1940. Pilecki’s mission was to allow himself to be arrested and, once inside Auschwitz, to collect intelligence for the Polish resistance in the country and the government-in-exile in London, and to organize a resistance from inside the camp.
“I think he knew, he realized what he was getting himself into,” said Jacek Pawlowicz, a historian at Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance. “But even so, he was not prepared for the things he was actually able to witness.”
During the next three years, Pilecki was involved in one of the most dangerous intelligence-gathering and resistance operations of the war. He authored three reports about life inside the camp for the Polish resistance. During his incarceration, Pilecki witnessed from the inside Auschwitz’s transformation from a detention facility for political prisoners and Soviet soldiers into one of the Nazis’ deadliest killing machines.
An unbelievable story from a period of history that is unfortunately not that hard to imagine. There is still much evil in this world.
By all means, read the whole thing.
The Chiles Files 