Witold Pilecki in the dock in 1948.
Witold Pilecki
Polish soldier, cavalry captain, voluntary prisoner of KL Auschwitz. Witold Pilecki was born on May 13, 1901. He grew up in Vilnius, he was one of the scouts. At the end of World War I, in 1918, he joined the self-defense troops. In the years 1918-1921, in the ranks of the Polish Army, he took part in the Bolshevik War. After the war, he was a member of the National Security Union. He briefly studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius.
He was a participant in the September 1939 campaign. In occupied Warsaw, he was one of the founders of the Secret Polish Army. In 1940, Captain Witold Pilecki provoked his arrest by the Gestapo and, as Tomasz Serafiński, he was sent to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, the purpose of which was to investigate the situation in the camp. He founded the Military Organization Union in the camp. He received the number 4859 in it. Threatened by exposure, on April 27, 1943, he and two inmates made a successful escape attempt. Then he was active in Kedywo, that is the Diversion Directorate of the Home Army Headquarters. He took part in the Warsaw Uprising, commanded one of the units of the Chrobry II grouping. After the fall of the uprising, he was taken prisoner by the Germans, he was, among others, in Murnau. After the end of World War II, he was assigned to the Polish II Corps. In December 1945, by order of General Władysław Anders, he was sent to Poland to conduct intelligence activities.
He was arrested on May 8, 1947. Rtm Pilecki was subjected to torture and brought before a military district court for, among other things, preparing an attempt on the life of high-ranking secret police officers. The trial began on March 3, 1948. The accusation was Maj. Czesław Łapiński, the chairman of the judging panel was Lt. Col. Jan Hryckowian. Witold Pilecki was sentenced to death on March 15, 1948 and executed on May 25, 1948. The execution by a shot to the back of the head took place in the prison on ul. Rakowiecka. The burial place of Captain Witold Pilecki has not been disclosed. The annulment of the judgment in the case of Witold Pilecki and the other defendants sent to him in 1948 took place on October 1, 1990. The Military Supreme Court released the convicts from the charges brought against them in the past, emphasizing the unfair nature of the sentences passed in violation of the law. In 2002, the Institute of National Remembrance brought an indictment against the prosecutor Czesław Łapiński, who accused the captain in the trial. The sentence was not issued due to the death of the accused in 2004. In 2006, Captain Pilecki was posthumously awarded the Order of the White Eagle.
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