Captain Pilecki has grown into one of the greatest heroes of modern Polish history in recent years. It is not surprising:he is a truly monumental figure. Nevertheless, historian Ewa Cuber-Strutyńska argues that he is exaggeratedly called a "volunteer to Auschwitz". Is he right?
The article 'Witold Pilecki. Confrontation with the legend of a "volunteer to Auschwitz" ". The author, Ewa Cuber-Strutyńska, attempts to verify the common belief that the heroic Captain volunteered for the conspiratorial mission in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Order executor?
The researcher notes that Pilecki himself testified during the interrogations by the UB :"Major Włodarkiewicz Jan persuaded me to take this step by telling me that he had mentioned my name in front of Col. Rowecki ps. Grot, who was then the chief commander of the ZWZ, as a man who would decide to enter the first one on the edge of the camp and organize underground work there. "
Did Witold Pilecki really come here voluntarily?
Knowing the investigative methods used by the communist Security Office, the credibility of this source can be questioned, but it is not the only one. In 1945, Pilecki wrote down memoirs in Italy, which also mention the mission in Auschwitz. He noted in them that his superior, the aforementioned Maj. Włodarkiewicz, told him: "you have been honored, I mentioned your name with" Grot "as the only officer who will do it" .
Additionally, the attorney of Pilecki, Lech Buszkowski wrote to Bolesław Bierut that his client "came [to Auschwitz - R.S.] of his own free will, on the orders of General« Grot », to organize military work there." In mid-1940, no one was aware of what the Auschwitz camp really was. So can the captain be considered a volunteer sensu stricto ? ?
Hero
Although Ewa Cuber-Strutyńska tries to slightly change the image of the captain, she does not discover anything new. Adam Cyra, the historian from the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, author of Pilecki's best biography so far, has already clearly written about the order concerning his most famous mission.
The material is based on a scientific article published in the periodical "Zagłada Żydów".
The scholar points out that the hero of his book hesitated at first and did not take the first opportunity to be captured and transported to a camp. Cyra continues:
In the light of the above considerations, it is not confirmed that Pilecki was the sole originator of this action and persistently sought the approval of his superiors. Nevertheless, he cannot be denied courage and determination in action, and undertaking such a dangerous task today is respected and recognition [Emphasis - R.S.].
Regardless of whether Pilecki acted on his own initiative or on the orders of his superiors, his attitude of heroism cannot be denied. Undoubtedly, he was deliberately arrested by the Germans, with the intention of reaching Auschwitz this way and organizing a conspiracy there. It seems secondary whether he did it because of an order.
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