There’s no denying that life in Nazi concentration camps was truly hell. Located in southern Poland, the Auschwitz death camp was the largest of the concentration and extermination camps.
During World War II, millions of Jewish people and perceived enemies of the Nazis were sent to their deaths in concentration camps. Upon hearing about these atrocities, a 39-year-old veteran of the Polish-Soviet War and member of the resistance, Witold Pilecki, volunteered to be imprisoned at Auschwitz to secretly collect intelligence and then escape.
While in the concentration camp Pilecki was responsible for informing the Allies of the atrocities of Auschwitz and organizing a resistance movement.
In 1943, after three years in Auschwitz, Pilecki escaped. He took part in the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944 and served the London-based Polish government in exile, but was executed in 1948 by Stalin’s police for “foreign imperialism.”
Pilecki’s exploits were suppressed by the Communists for years and it wasn’t until 1989 that the world heard of this heroic man and his bravery.
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