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The Auschwitz Volunteer
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Artikel-Nr:
9781607720140
Veröffentl:
2014
Seiten:
460
Autor:
Captain Witold Pilecki
eBook Typ:
EPUB
Kopierschutz:
Adobe DRM [Hard-DRM]
Sprache:
Englisch
Beschreibung:
September 1940. Polish Army officer Witold Pilecki deliberately walked into a Nazi German street round-up in Warsaw and became Auschwitz Prisoner No. 4859. He had volunteered for a secret undercover mission: smuggle out intelligence about the new German concentration camp, and build a resistance organization among prisoners. Pilecki's clandestine intelligence, received by the Allies in 1941, was among earliest. He escaped in 1943 after accomplishing his mission. Dramatic eyewitness report, written in 1945 for Pilecki's Polish Army superiors, published in English for first time.
In 1940, the Polish Underground wanted to know what was happening inside the recently opened Auschwitz concentration camp. Polish army officer Witold Pilecki volunteered to be arrested by the Germans and reported from inside the camp. His intelligence reports, smuggled out in 1941, were among the first eyewitness accounts of Auschwitz atrocities: the extermination of Soviet POWs, its function as a camp for Polish political prisoners, and the "final solution" for Jews. Pilecki received brutal treatment until he escaped in April 1943; soon after, he wrote a brief report. This book is the first English translation of a 1945 expanded version. In the foreword, Poland's chief rabbi states, "If heeded, Pilecki's early warnings might have changed the course of history." Pilecki's story was suppressed for half a century after his 1948 arrest by the Polish Communist regime as a "Western spy." He was executed and expunged from Polish history. Pilecki writes in staccato style but also interjects his observations on humankind's lack of progress: "We have strayed, my friends, we have strayed dreadfully... we are a whole level of hell worse than animals!" These remarkable revelations are amplified by 40 b&w photos, illus., and maps.
CONTENTS
Introduction by Norman Davies …………………………………………. xi
Foreword by Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland …………. xv
Translator's Introductory Note …………………………………………… xix
Publisher's Note ………………………………………………………….. xxiii
Selected Highlights from Pilecki's 1945 Report …………………………. xxix
List of Maps ………………………………………………………………. xxxi
Historical Horizon
Captain Witold Pilecki: The Report, the Mission, the Man ………. xxxiii
Captain Pilecki's Covering Letter
to Major General Tadeusz Pelczynski …………………………… 1
Captain Witold Pilecki's 1945 Auschwitz Report …….…………………. 5
Appendices
1 Glossary of English, German and Polish Terms
and Acronyms …………………………………………………...335
2 German-Language Positions and Ranks at Auschwitz
Mentioned by Pilecki …………………………………………….343
3 Index of People and Places Referred to by Pilecki
with Either a Code Number or Letter …………………….…...…345
4 Chronology of Pilecki's 1945 Report …………………………...……355
Index ……………………………………………………….……………..365
Discussion Questions ……………………………………………………..397
LIST OF MAPS
Europe 1939 ……………………………………………... vi
Poland–September 1939 ……………………………….. ix
Occupied Poland 1939–1941 …………………………… x
Auschwitz and Environs–1944 …………………………. 9
KL Auschwitz 1 …………………………………………. 10
Pilecki's Escape Route from Auschwitz …………………300