An officer in the Polish underground voluntarily went to Auschwitz.
“In September 1940, [Witold] Pilecki didn’t know exactly what was going on in Auschwitz, but he knew someone had to find out. He would spend two and a half years in the prison camp, smuggling out word of the methods of execution and interrogation. He would eventually escape and author the first intelligence report on the camp.”[1]
Here’s an English version of Pilicki’s Report from Auschwitz [pdf].
The image at right is of me with my copy of Pilecki’s report, published by the outstanding World War II Museum in Gdańsk. I recommend Pilecki’s Report highly for those wanting a first-hand, detailed, and sobering account of the conditions inside Auschwitz by one of the heroes of the era.
For 2.5 years, Pilecki organized resistance and mutual-support cells inside Auschwitz — and eventually escaped himself along with several other prisoners. After the war was over, however, he was arrested by the Soviets, tortured and executed. Neither National Socialist nor International Communist — almost impossible for Poles in the 20th century.
Sources: Meet The Man Who Sneaked Into Auschwitz. An audiobook version. Pilecki’s Wikipedia entry.
Related:
Broken Trough, Block 5 [poem].
Photos from my January 2017 visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
“The Philosophers and the Birth of National Socialism” — 2018 Gdańsk lecture.
People like this snowflakes. Unrepeatable.