M11: The Courage To Be Captured
There’s no shortage of heroic stories from World War II. However, there’s one story many people don’t know. It was finally cleared to be released to the public by the Polish Archives in the 1990s, and it uniquely captures the courage, sacrifice, and selflessness of the Allied effort. Disguised as a Jewish man, underground Polish Army officer Witold Pilecki was intentionally captured in order to get inside the Nazi’s new operation at an old Army barracks in Poland. His mission was to gather intelligence on what was happening inside the barracks and to help the Jewish prisoners build a support network. What he didn’t know then was this old Army barracks would soon become one of the deadliest concentration camps in Europe; a camp known as Auschwitz.
This is a story that will remind us all how lucky we are to have our freedom, and all because of the heroism of people like Witold Pilecki.
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M11: The Courage To Be Captured
OK… …HAPPY MONDAY…. YOU KNOW, THE QUEST FOR FREEDOM FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT HAS LED TO SOME INSPIRING ACTS OF SACRIFICE AND HEROISM THROUGHOUT HISTORY. I IMMEDIATELY THINK OF SOCIAL ACTIVISTS LIKE HARRIET TUBMAN AND ROSA PARKS IN THE UNITED STATES, RISKING THEIR OWN LIVES FOR THE RIGHTS OF OTHER AFRICAN AMERICANS. THEN THERE WAS NELSON MANDELA IN SOUTH AFRICA FIGHTING AGAINST APARTHEID FOR HIS PEOPLE, AND TANK MAN, ALSO KNOWN AS THE UNKNOWN PROTESTER, IN CHINA, STANDING IN FRONT OF TANKS WHILE STANDING UP FOR THE RIGHTS OF CHINESE STUDENTS IN THE MIDDLE OF TIENANMEN SQUARE, BEIJING.
THERE’S ALSO ANOTHER KIND OF HERO. THOSE WHO WEREN’T BEING PERSECUTED THEMSELVES BUT FOUGHT FOR THE FREEDOM OF THOSE WHO WERE. THEY RISKED EVERYTHING THEY HAD FOR A PRINCIPLE - FOR THEIR BELIEF IN WHAT WAS RIGHT.
THIS IS A STORY ABOUT ONE OF THESE PEOPLE…. SOMEONE YOU MAY NOT HAVE HEARD MUCH ABOUT; A POLISH ARMY OFFICER DURING WORLD WAR II, WHO VOLUNTEERED TO BE CAPTURED VERY EARLY ON IN THE WAR. POSING AS A JEWISH MAN, HE ALLOWED HIMSELF TO B ARRESTED BY THE GERMANS AND SENT TO A CONVERTED ARMY BARRACKS WHERE JEWISH PEOPLE WERE BEING KEPT. HIS MISSION WAS TO GATHER INTELLIGENCE AND HELP THE PRISONERS CAPTURE THEIR OPTIMISM AND TEAMWORK INSIDE THE NEW PRISON CALLED AUSCHWITZ.
EPISODE
WITOLD PILECKI WAS BORN IN 1901 IN WESTERN RUSSIA. HIS FAMILY WAS ORIGINALLY FROM LITHUANIA, BUT HAD BEEN DEPORTED TO RUSSIA DURIN THE 1864 UPRISING, AND THEY REMAINED SYMPATHETIC TO POLISH AND LITHUANIAN CAUSES. WHEN PILECKI WAS NINE, HE AND HIS MOTHER MOVED BACK TO LITHUANIA SO HE COULD ATTEND A POLISH SCHOOL. BY THE TIME WORLD WAR I BEGAN, PILECKI WAS 15 YEARS OLD, AND JOINED A PARAMILITARY GROUP APPOSING THE RUSSIAN RED ARMY.
AFTER THE WAR, HE ENLISTED IN THE POLISH ARMY, AND STEADILY ROSE THROUGH THE RANKS, EVENTUALLY EARNING HIS COMMISSION, AND IN 1938, AS A SECOND LIEUTENANT, HE LED HIS FIRST UNIT, A MILITARY TRAINING SQUADRON.
AS TENSIONS GREW BETWEEN POLAND AND GERMANY, PILECKI BECAME A KEY JUNIOR OFFICER FOR THE POLISH ARMY, BUT ONCE POLAND WAS INVADED BY BOTH GERMANY FROM THE WEST AND RUSSIA FROM THE EAST, PILECKI, AND THE POLISH ARMY, WAS FORCED UNDERGROUND. HE BECAME A LEADING MEMBER OF A SECRET POLISH ARMY, AND AN EARLY MEMBER OF THE REISTANCE.
THE UNDERGROUND ARMY HAD CHALLENGES INTERNALLY. KEY MEMBERS BELIEVED THAT POLAND’S ARMY SHOULD ALIGN BASED ON RELIGIOUS IDEALOGICAL LINES, SIMILAR TO NAZI BELIEFS. PILECKI AND OTHERS DISAGREED, SO THE UNDERGROUND WAS SPLINTERED, INTO A FAR-RIGHT CONTINGENT AND A MORE MAINSTREAM UNIT.
NEWS SPREAD ABOUT SOMETHING HAPPENING AT THE OLD ARMY BARRACKS IN AUSCHWITZ, WHERE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF JEWISH PEOPLE WERE BEING IMPRISONED. THE MAINSTREAM POLISH UNDERGROUND ARMY KNEW THEY NEEDED TO FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT WAS HAPPENING INSIDE THE BARRACKS, SO THEY NEEDED SOMEONE ON THE INSIDE.
THEY DIVISED A PLAN, AND IN THE END, IT WAS PILECKI WHO VOLUNTEERED TO INFILTRATE THE CAMP AS A PRISONER. IN SEPTEMBER OF 1940, CARRYING THE IDENTITY OF A JEWISH MAN WHO HAD BEEN MISTAKENLY ASSUMED TO BE DEAD, PILECKI WAS ONE OF 2,000 MEN ARRESTED AND SENT TO THE BARRACKS AT AUSCHWITZ. HE WAS ASSIGNED PRISONER NUMBER 4859.
AT THE OLD BARRACKS, WHAT PILECKI FOUND WAS FAR MORE DISCOURAGING THAN ANYONE HAD IMAGINED. STILL, HE FOCUSED ON HIS GOAL OF CAPTURING AND RELAYING THE STATUS OF THE CAMP TO HIS ARMY UNIT, WHILE IMPROVING THE MORALE OF THE INMATES, AND SETTING UP AN INTELLIGENCE NETWORK. HE MANAGED TO LIVE THROUGH THE BRUTAL BEATINGS AND SLAVE LABOR, AND EVEN SURVIVED A CASE OF PNEUMONIA.
EVERY NOW AND THEN, THERE WOULD BE A PLANNED ESCAPE, AND PILECKI WOULD ENSURE WHOEVER IT WAS WOULD DELIVER A HIS REPORT TO THE POLISH ARMY UNIT ON THE OUTSIDE. THE FIRST REPORT GOT OUT IN OCTOBER, WHICH ENDED UP BEING A KEY COMMUNICATION FOR THE ATTROCITIES OCCURING INSIDE THE CAMP, ALLOWING THE ALLIES TO PLAN ACCORDINGLY.
BY 1943, CONDITIONS IN AUCSHWITZ WERE SEVERE AND PILECKI KNEW IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE HIS COVER WAS BLOWN AND HE WAS EXECUTED. HE HAD ACHIEVED HIS MISSION, HAVING SENT MANY REPORTS ABOUT THE STATUS OF THE CAMP BACK TO THE ALLIES, AND HE HAD INSTALLED A FUNCTIONAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT AMONG THE PRISONERS. SO, ON APRIL 27TH, HE AND TWO OTHER PRISONERS ATTEMPTED AN ESCAPE. WHILE ASSIGNED TO A NIGHT SHIFT AT A CAMP BAKERY, THEY OVERPOWERED THE GUARD AND BARRICADED HIM INSIDE, THEY CUT THE TELEPHONE LINE, AND THEN CUT THE CAMP ALARM WIRE. THEY TRAVELED ON FOOT, AND WITH THE HELP OF A PRIEST AND SEVERAL LOCALS ALONG THE WAY, THEY FINALLY REACHED THE POLISH SAFEHOUSE, OWNED AND OPERATED, REMARKABLY, THE BY THE SAME JEWISH MAN WHOSE IDENTITY HE HAD ASSUMED FOR NEARLY THREE YEARS IN AUSCHWITZ.
THE REPORT HE DRAFTED ABOUT THE CONDITIONS AT AUSCHWITZ WAS CRITICAL INFORMATION TO THE ALLIES AS THEY PLANNED THE LIBERATION OF EUROPE.
PILECKI CONTINUED TO BE AN ACTIVE MEMBER OF THE RESISTANCE, AND ONCE THE WAR ENDED, HE LIVED UNDER VARIOUS ASSUMED NAMES TO HIDE HIMSELF FROM THE SOVIET OCCUPATION FORCE. AT ONE POINT HE HAD A CHANCE TO FLEE THE COUNTRY WITH HIS FAMILY, BUT HIS WIFE WAS UNWILLING TO RISK THE MOVE WITH THE CHILDREN.
IN 1946 HE WAS INFORMED THAT HIS IDENTITY WAS UNCOVERED BY THE MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SECURITY, AND IN MAY OF 1947 HE WAS ARRESTED BY COMMUNIST AUTHORITIES. HE WAS TORTURED, ALTHOUGH GAVE UP NO INFORMATION, AND THEN AT A SHOW TRIAL, WAS FOUND GUILTY OF ESPIONAGE. IN MAY OF 1948, WITOLD PILECKI WAS EXECUTED.
HIS BRAVERY WASN’T KNOWN BY MANY AFTER THE WAR. IN FACT, IT WASN’T UNTIL THE 1990S THAT PILECKI’S STORY WAS RELEASED BY THE POLISH ARCHIVES, AT WHICH POINT HIS OWN FAMILY FIRST LEARNED OF HIS HEROISM.
THIS IS ONE OF THOSE STORIES THAT HELPS ME REFLECT ON THE GOOD OUT THERE THAT WE DON’T HEAR ABOUT…THERE’S MORE THAN WE REALIZE.
WITOLD PILECKI DIDN’T LIVE HIS LIFE THE WAY HE DID FOR NOTORIETY. I THINK HE ALWAYS KNEW THAT HIS INTEREST IN FIGHTING TO SUPPORT PEOPLE BEING PERSECUTED FOR NOTHING MORE THAN THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, WOULD LEAD TO HIS DEATH.
WHAT HE SAID JUST BEFORE HE WAS EXECUTED WAS POIGNANT. HE SAID, “I’VE TRIED TO LIVE MY LIFE SO THAT IN THE HOUR OF MY DEATH, I WOULD FEEL JOY RATHER THAN FEAR.”
IT WASN’T THE NUMBER OF DAYS IN HIS LIFE THAT DROVE WITOLD PILECKI – INSTEAD IT WAS THE GOODNESS HE FELT WHILE HE LIVED THAT MATTERED.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pilecki
https://www.ranker.com/list/heroic-moments-in-history-that-sound-fake-but-are-true/tpetersccc