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<span><span><span>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.
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THE AUSCHWITZ VOLUNTEER: BEYOND BRAVERY
AQUILA POLONICA®
T HE AUSCHWITZ VOLUNTEER Beyond Bravery by Captain
Translated by
Jarek Garliński
Witold Pilecki
AQUILA POLONICA (U.S.) LTD. 108 50 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 300, Los Angeles, California 90024, U.S.A. www.AquilaPolonica.com Copyrights © 2012 Jaroslaw Garlinski and Aquila Polonica (U.S.) Ltd. All rights reserved. The moral right of the author has been asserted.
First published 2012.
Published in both hardcover and trade paperback 2012. eBook edition published 2014. ISBN (Cloth): 978-1-60772-009-6 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ISBN (Trade Paperback): 978-1-60772-010-2 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ISBN (eBook): 978-1-60772-014-0 Printed in the U.S.A. Library of Congress Control Number 2012931262 eBook conversion: Sellbox.com Acknowledgements: Cover design, interior book design and maps in this Aquila Polonica edition are by Stefan Mucha, and are reproduced with permission. Photographs and other illustrative material are reproduced with permission, and are from the collections of the following: The Archive of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum (“ABM”); Bundesarchiv; Jarek Garliński (“JG”); Stefan Mucha (“SM”); Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe (“NAC”); Zofia Pilecka-Optułowicz and Andrzej Pilecki (“Pilecki Family”); The Polish Underground Movement (1939-1945) Study Trust (“PUMST”); United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (“USHMM”); and Yad Vashem (“YV”). The publishers wish to extend special thanks to Zofia Pilecka-Optułowicz and Andrzej Pilecki for sharing their family photos for use in this book, and for the cooperation of the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (“IPN”) and the Muzeum Woli (“MW”) in providing access to such photos. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration is abbreviated as “NARA.” The views or opinions expressed in this work, and the context in which the images are used, do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of, nor imply approval or endorsement by, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Publisher’s Note: Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyrig