19 ms·

A Man Who Volunteered for Auschwitz (2012)

348 points by Moodles 9y ago

SpaceInvader 9y ago
While this article in general is fine, some of the details are wrong. Namely - he died on 25th of May, not 22nd as written there, also he was arrested May 8th not 5th. Not sure about the other details, I didn't had time to check it.
tryonqc 9y ago
I finished reading Pilecki's reports (turned into a book) a year after visiting auschwitz. The reports are quite hard to read. I just had to know how somebody could get out of that camp. (Being in the military, he knew many people in the camp that helped him along the way) This article is a great follow-up story for the book.
pmoriarty 9y ago
Some other good articles on Pilecki: [1] [2] Of his imprisonment under the Soviets he told his wife: "I cannot live. They killed me. Because compared to them Auschwitz was just a trifle." [1] - http://www.poloniainstitute.net/witold-pilecki-bravery-beyond-measure/ http://www.poloniainstitute.net/witold-pilecki-bravery-beyon... [2] - https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/story-of-the-man-who-volunteered-for-auschwitz.html https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/story-of-the-m...
- batushka2 9y ago
  Yes, soviet (actually Russian) atrocities were far worse, yet we have to struggle every day to put equals sign between NAZI and Soviets
  - dang 9y ago
    Please keep nationalistic flamewar off HN. This is a highly international community and the last thing we need is old regional resentments breaking out all over the place.
    - zeveb 9y ago
      I think that pointing out that Soviet atrocities were worse than Nazi atrocities (and Maoist atrocities were worse still) isn't a matter of 'regional resentments' but of ground truth.
      - dang 9y ago
        Maybe, but I think the data we see on Hacker News points against that view. It's moot either way, though. "Nazis vs. Soviets" is a reductio of internet forum topics and the sort of flamewar material that's off topic here.
- laumars 9y ago
  It never ceases to shock and disappoint me the depravity that humanity can sink to.
- Moodles 9y ago
  Pilecki's report is available online: http://witoldsreport.blogspot.be/2008/05/volunteer-for-auschwitz-report-by.html http://witoldsreport.blogspot.be/2008/05/volunteer-for-ausch... He really was quite an amazing individual.
- dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
  Sadly, Pilecki was killed by the fellow Poles, not by Soviet Russians. The article you quoted makes goes even as far as to distort the reality: > His Soviet prosecutor, Czesław Łapiński, died on the way to the hospital, before his trial for judicial murder. This person wasn't Soviet - he was a Pole, born in Silesia, a Polish soldier fighting the Nazi. I know it's more convenient to portray it as "the Russians were guilty of all wrong", but the reality is that during the Stalinist rule many atrocities were committed by Poles on Poles. This point o view is actually present in the official version of the history as taught in many countries, with a notable exception of Germany: one's own country is always portrayed at its best, and its citizens as good fellows. The idea that one's ancestors might commit many atrocious crimes is terrifying. Yet, it is often the case. In this particular situation, some people were motivated by greed, some by their survival instinct, but some were just firm believers in Communism and were convinced they do the right thing. To them, Pilecki was just a bandit and a traitor. It's important to be aware of that, because this lesson from the past has bearing on present and future, for whoever is able to reason and draw conclusions.
  - scott_karana 9y ago
    Soviet doesn't necessarily equate to Russian, in the same way that you can be a non-German Nazi...
spunker540 9y ago
It’s amazing how quickly our Russian allies turned into our Cold War enemies at the end of WWII. I’ve heard a lot of blame on both sides, the US stockpiling arms, McCarthyism fanning the flames. But the end of this story drives home just how brutal Russia was. A wwii hero who not only deliberately went to Auschwitz for three years, organized prisoners, compiled intelligence reports, then escaped and fought bravely for the resistance in Warsaw and somehow survives it all ends up getting tortured and killed by Russians a few years after the war.
- OnlyOnlyOnly 9y ago
  "It’s amazing how quickly our Russian allies turned into our Cold War enemies at the end of WWII." Britian and France lost their empires and were destroyed after WWII. Germany lost it's (small) empire already in 1918. Russia became a major empire with their new Vassal states, the US grew as an empire now undisputed by Britain. So it's clear both Russia and US would compete for power.
- 6d6b73 9y ago
  Allies? There were as bad or in some cases worse than Germans. And it's not surprising that they killed and tortured Polish resistance fighters- after all they attacked Poland just two weeks after Germans did.
- ams6110 9y ago
  The alliance with Stalin was always one of convenience, not of shared values. The Soviet Union was at war with Germany, so on that basis Churchill and Roosevelt were happy to have their help. They were never really on the same side otherwise.
- dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
  This is a bone of contention and a heavily discussed subject, because the world is not a black-and-white place. The Red Army was indeed a savior. It is thanks to those masses of poor soldiers, of which eight millions died, that the horror of WWII last only five years or so. All Europe and all world indeed should be grateful to them. On the other hand, there was the Stalinist regime, ruthless rule, killing one's own people and others - for power and control. Whenever someone makes any judgement about Russians, they make a generalizing mistake. On top of that, I'd be very careful when making judgements about people's behaviors in extreme situations, it's quite easy to make that at a distance.
frytaz 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pilecki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pilecki
- warmwaffles 9y ago
  Also a really good song about the guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvDg7UftJw8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvDg7UftJw8
bobthechef 9y ago
Another man with a related story was Jan Karski [0]. Interestingly, Jozef Cyrankiewicz, future communist PM of Poland who testified against Pilecki, smuggled Karski out from the Nazis. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Karski https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Karski
- divbyzer0 9y ago
  Excellent book by Jan Karski. Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World. Reads like fiction. He also entered a concentration camp to report on the activities there. Interviews with him can be found on youtube.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
- ajuc 9y ago
  Some people believe Earth is flat and/or 6000 years old.
dandare 9y ago
In my book, Witold Pilecki is in the same folder as Irena Sendlerowa, a Polish nurse who smuggled hundreds of Jewish kids from the ghetto, who was tortured so severely that the Nazis bastinado-fractured her feet - to no avail. Un-fucking-believable bravery that inspires me every day to resist the silly trumps and putins of our time.
- reitanqild 9y ago
  Agree to a lot of it. But it would probably have more weight if you didn't compare Trump and Putin with the systems that systematically tortured and killed millions of people. And for the record: I'm no big Trump fan. Edit: as usual I'm honest and I'm not trying to troll anyone. And as the downvotes pile up it would be interesting to know what I've written that was so horribly wrong or offending. Edit2: I don't care aboit those stupid points. But I do care to get my point across efficiently and without insulting anyone unnecessarily.
  - j2bax 9y ago
    I didn't vote you one way or another, but what I gathered from the post was that he/she doesn't put Trump/Putin anywhere even close to the atrocities of the Nazi's and despite how he feels about them, times are far better than they were. Your post is essentially agreeing with him while chastising him, which is why I can imagine some have down voted you. I think looking back on history and far darker times, is an acceptable way to reduce your anxiety about the current state of affairs, while also ensuring it never gets that bad again.
    - reitanqild 9y ago
      Ok. I see. I misread. Downvotes deserved and I'm happy I got an explanation for the (good) reason.
  - dandare 9y ago
    trumps and putins in lowercase as archetypes, not Trump and Putin specifically.
- 9y ago
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
retox 9y ago
"Hacker News"
- dang 9y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

348 points by Moodles 9y ago

While this article in general is fine, some of the details are wrong. Namely - he died on 25th of May, not 22nd as written there, also he was arrested May 8th not 5th. Not sure about the other details, I didn't had time to check it.

tryonqc 9y ago

I finished reading Pilecki's reports (turned into a book) a year after visiting auschwitz. The reports are quite hard to read. I just had to know how somebody could get out of that camp. (Being in the military, he knew many people in the camp that helped him along the way) This article is a great follow-up story for the book.

pmoriarty 9y ago

Some other good articles on Pilecki: [1] [2] Of his imprisonment under the Soviets he told his wife: "I cannot live. They killed me. Because compared to them Auschwitz was just a trifle." [1] - http://www.poloniainstitute.net/witold-pilecki-bravery-beyond-measure/ http://www.poloniainstitute.net/witold-pilecki-bravery-beyon... [2] - https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/story-of-the-man-who-volunteered-for-auschwitz.html https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/story-of-the-m...

batushka2 9y ago
Yes, soviet (actually Russian) atrocities were far worse, yet we have to struggle every day to put equals sign between NAZI and Soviets
- dang 9y ago
  Please keep nationalistic flamewar off HN. This is a highly international community and the last thing we need is old regional resentments breaking out all over the place.
  - zeveb 9y ago
    I think that pointing out that Soviet atrocities were worse than Nazi atrocities (and Maoist atrocities were worse still) isn't a matter of 'regional resentments' but of ground truth.
    - dang 9y ago
      Maybe, but I think the data we see on Hacker News points against that view. It's moot either way, though. "Nazis vs. Soviets" is a reductio of internet forum topics and the sort of flamewar material that's off topic here.
laumars 9y ago
It never ceases to shock and disappoint me the depravity that humanity can sink to.
Moodles 9y ago
Pilecki's report is available online: http://witoldsreport.blogspot.be/2008/05/volunteer-for-auschwitz-report-by.html http://witoldsreport.blogspot.be/2008/05/volunteer-for-ausch... He really was quite an amazing individual.
dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
Sadly, Pilecki was killed by the fellow Poles, not by Soviet Russians. The article you quoted makes goes even as far as to distort the reality: > His Soviet prosecutor, Czesław Łapiński, died on the way to the hospital, before his trial for judicial murder. This person wasn't Soviet - he was a Pole, born in Silesia, a Polish soldier fighting the Nazi. I know it's more convenient to portray it as "the Russians were guilty of all wrong", but the reality is that during the Stalinist rule many atrocities were committed by Poles on Poles. This point o view is actually present in the official version of the history as taught in many countries, with a notable exception of Germany: one's own country is always portrayed at its best, and its citizens as good fellows. The idea that one's ancestors might commit many atrocious crimes is terrifying. Yet, it is often the case. In this particular situation, some people were motivated by greed, some by their survival instinct, but some were just firm believers in Communism and were convinced they do the right thing. To them, Pilecki was just a bandit and a traitor. It's important to be aware of that, because this lesson from the past has bearing on present and future, for whoever is able to reason and draw conclusions.
- scott_karana 9y ago
  Soviet doesn't necessarily equate to Russian, in the same way that you can be a non-German Nazi...

spunker540 9y ago

It’s amazing how quickly our Russian allies turned into our Cold War enemies at the end of WWII. I’ve heard a lot of blame on both sides, the US stockpiling arms, McCarthyism fanning the flames. But the end of this story drives home just how brutal Russia was. A wwii hero who not only deliberately went to Auschwitz for three years, organized prisoners, compiled intelligence reports, then escaped and fought bravely for the resistance in Warsaw and somehow survives it all ends up getting tortured and killed by Russians a few years after the war.

OnlyOnlyOnly 9y ago
"It’s amazing how quickly our Russian allies turned into our Cold War enemies at the end of WWII." Britian and France lost their empires and were destroyed after WWII. Germany lost it's (small) empire already in 1918. Russia became a major empire with their new Vassal states, the US grew as an empire now undisputed by Britain. So it's clear both Russia and US would compete for power.
6d6b73 9y ago
Allies? There were as bad or in some cases worse than Germans. And it's not surprising that they killed and tortured Polish resistance fighters- after all they attacked Poland just two weeks after Germans did.
ams6110 9y ago
The alliance with Stalin was always one of convenience, not of shared values. The Soviet Union was at war with Germany, so on that basis Churchill and Roosevelt were happy to have their help. They were never really on the same side otherwise.
dvfjsdhgfv 9y ago
This is a bone of contention and a heavily discussed subject, because the world is not a black-and-white place. The Red Army was indeed a savior. It is thanks to those masses of poor soldiers, of which eight millions died, that the horror of WWII last only five years or so. All Europe and all world indeed should be grateful to them. On the other hand, there was the Stalinist regime, ruthless rule, killing one's own people and others - for power and control. Whenever someone makes any judgement about Russians, they make a generalizing mistake. On top of that, I'd be very careful when making judgements about people's behaviors in extreme situations, it's quite easy to make that at a distance.

frytaz 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pilecki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pilecki

warmwaffles 9y ago
Also a really good song about the guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvDg7UftJw8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvDg7UftJw8

bobthechef 9y ago

Another man with a related story was Jan Karski [0]. Interestingly, Jozef Cyrankiewicz, future communist PM of Poland who testified against Pilecki, smuggled Karski out from the Nazis. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Karski https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Karski

divbyzer0 9y ago
Excellent book by Jan Karski. Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World. Reads like fiction. He also entered a concentration camp to report on the activities there. Interviews with him can be found on youtube.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

ajuc 9y ago
Some people believe Earth is flat and/or 6000 years old.

dandare 9y ago

In my book, Witold Pilecki is in the same folder as Irena Sendlerowa, a Polish nurse who smuggled hundreds of Jewish kids from the ghetto, who was tortured so severely that the Nazis bastinado-fractured her feet - to no avail. Un-fucking-believable bravery that inspires me every day to resist the silly trumps and putins of our time.

reitanqild 9y ago
Agree to a lot of it. But it would probably have more weight if you didn't compare Trump and Putin with the systems that systematically tortured and killed millions of people. And for the record: I'm no big Trump fan. Edit: as usual I'm honest and I'm not trying to troll anyone. And as the downvotes pile up it would be interesting to know what I've written that was so horribly wrong or offending. Edit2: I don't care aboit those stupid points. But I do care to get my point across efficiently and without insulting anyone unnecessarily.
- j2bax 9y ago
  I didn't vote you one way or another, but what I gathered from the post was that he/she doesn't put Trump/Putin anywhere even close to the atrocities of the Nazi's and despite how he feels about them, times are far better than they were. Your post is essentially agreeing with him while chastising him, which is why I can imagine some have down voted you. I think looking back on history and far darker times, is an acceptable way to reduce your anxiety about the current state of affairs, while also ensuring it never gets that bad again.
  - reitanqild 9y ago
    Ok. I see. I misread. Downvotes deserved and I'm happy I got an explanation for the (good) reason.
- dandare 9y ago
  trumps and putins in lowercase as archetypes, not Trump and Putin specifically.
9y ago

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

retox 9y ago

"Hacker News"

dang 9y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html