carrying turnips in, 144
moving gravel in, 33–35
“on the barrows,” 35, 63–64
putting bread in, 19, 55
White August, 53, 58
Wicek (Wincenty Gawron; 44), 21, 106n29, 121, 128, 141, 150, 165–167, 322, 328
Wiejowski, Tadeusz, 66
Wieliczka (location VII), map 300, 315
Wielopolski, Aleksander, 37n11
Wierusz, First Lieutenant Witold (168), 260–262, 265
Wierzbicki, Second Lieutenant Stanisław (Stasiek; 156), 232, 239–242, 250–251, 274
Wietschorek, Leo (Leon Wieczorek; inmate no. 30), 30, 31, 65, 80–81, 94, 353n2
Wilk (Major Karol Jabłoński; Zygmunt), 325
Winkels, 16, 17, 20–23
Wiśnicz prison, 18
Witold, Cavalry Captain (Witold Pilecki), 3
Witold (Officer Cadet Witold Szymkowiak; 15), 105, 186
Władek (Captain Dr. Władysław Dering or Dziunko; 2). See Dering, Captain Dr. Władysław
Władek (Colonel Władysław Surmacki; 1), xx, xxvii, 36–37, 59, 106, 149, 153–154, 165, 240
Władek (Władysław Kupiec; 17), 105, 115
Włodarczyk, Alfred (80), 70, 150, 218, 221, 291
Włodarkiewicz, Major Jan (Janek W.; 82), xlvi, 17, 125, 146
Włodek (First Lieutenant Włodzimierz Makaliński; 29), 106, 117, 163, 204, 240
women inmates. See female inmates at Auschwitz
woodcarving shop, Pilecki in, 127–129, 140–141, 167, 215
work assignment office or leaders. See Arbeitsdienst; Arbeitsdiensts
work assignments or details. See Kommandos; Arbeitskommando
World War II, misconceptions about, xi–xiii
Woźniak, Sergeant Antoni (Antek; 14), 104–105, 153, 240
Wyspiański, Stanisław, 129n39
Y
“youngsters’ block” (located in Block 5, old no.), 80–81
Yugoslav inmates at Auschwitz, 209
Z
Z (Babice/Bochnia), 153, 240, 283, map 300, 308n67, 317, 319, 320, 352n1
Zabawska, Helena (177; wife of Edmund), 318
Zabawski, Second Lieutenant Edmund (164), 259, 276, 283, 317–318
Zagner, Roman (5), 37, 241
Zakrzewski, Dr. Zygmunt (120), 184, 241
Zalewski, Lieutenant Colonel Jerzy (63), 138
Zaturski, First Lieutenant Eugeniusz (117), 184, 240, 241, 243, 250
Zettel (camp assignment card), 287–288
Zofia (Zofia Szczerbowska; 13), 97
able to take over the camp, 230–231
active asset, not considered by outside world to be, 242–243
arms store, reserve under baubüro or construction site office, 235
Bolshevik POW camp jobs scorned by, 135
camp authorities’ efforts to uncover, 160–163, 184–185, 243–244, 249–250
camp court set up by, xl
chaplain for (Father Zygmunt Ruszczak; 87), 157
death at Auschwitz and, 92
escapes, opposition to, 126, 262
escapes, organization of, 166–167, 226, 241
establishment of, xlviii, 36–38
goals of, xlii–xliv, 36
information box, sabotage of, 159–160
Kapos used by, 94–97
Kommandos, control of, 92–94, 116, 166, 168
Kuczbara’s betrayal of, 324
leadership of, lii, 129–130, 139, 183–184, 227, 275–276
mass shooting of Polish inmates, decision to not resist, 235–239
“organizing,” spreading new meaning of word, 92–93
plan of eventual action, 183–184, 226–227, 231–232, 243, 268
political cell, 139–140, 150
post-escape work of Pilecki regarding, 323–327
reliance on Krankenbau (hospital) and Arbeitsdienst (work assignment office), 166
reports and communications, xli, li, 37, 125, 129, 167, 168–169, 204, 231, 260
senior officers in camp under own names, problem of, 105–106, 138–139, 160
SS members working with, 268
transport of Poles to other camps, Pilecki’s decision to avoid, 270, 271, 273
Zugangs (new arrivals), 18, 24, 51, 64, 108, 116, 117, 143, 164, 166, 169, 182, 214, 244, 269, 270
Związek Organizacji Wojskowych or Union of Military Organizations. See ZOW
ZWZ (Związek Walki Zbrojnej or Union for Armed Combat), xlviii, 146
Zygmunt (Major Karol Jabłoński; Wilk), 325
Zyklon B, gassing with, 134, 194, 195. See also Prussic acid; gas chambers
Witold Pilecki with his young nephew Marek Ostrowski—son of Eleonora Ostrowska, 1940.
Pilecki Family
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
On the first page of his report, Captain Witold Pilecki writes that he has been advised to “stick to the bare facts without any kind of commentary.” Was he able to do that or are there moments in the book when his feelings are revealed?
During his incarceration at Auschwitz, the author survived the relentless brutality that felled so many of the other prisoners. What techniques did he use to stay alive?
What did Pilecki hope to accomplish during his undercover mission at Auschwitz? Was he successful?
Pilecki’s intelligence reports smuggled out of Auschwitz were among the first reports to reach the Allies about the Germans’ treatment of Jews and the establishment of an extermination camp. What impact did these reports have?
When the author volunteered to undertake his dangerous mission in Auschwitz, he put himself and his family at grave risk. “How much easier it would have been simply to lower the brim of one’s trilby and take the quiet route to anonymous obscurity,” notes translator Jarek Garliński. What do you think motivates heroes like Pilecki to act as they do?
Under what circumstances is it legitimate to endanger the lives of others to further your own laudable goals? Give examples from history.
What role—if any—did the author’s Catholic religion play during his imprisonment?
Eventually the author concludes it is time to escape from what he calls “hell.” What finally prompts his decision?
A strain of patriotic pride runs through Pilecki’s report. For example, he writes of “the Poles’ fine physiques,” and that “Poles were always the best workers in every kommando.” What role does pride play in the face of dehumanizing treatment? Is it ballast for the soul and spirit?
In what ways did The Auschwitz Volunteer enlarge your knowledge of World War II, the efforts of the Polish Underground, and the part played by Auschwitz during the war?
Pilecki was the married father of two young children when he volunteered to organize a resistance and smuggle intelligence out of Auschwitz. Discuss the personal sacrifices made by heroes like Pilecki—men and women who believe it is their duty to risk their lives for the greater good of society.
Pilecki wonders how he could inspire anyone else if he admitted that he was overwhelmed by the situation. Discuss the qualities that distinguish a leader.
At one point, Pilecki says: “The mask of apparent passivity was a burden, when we were ready and eager for action.” In order to carry out his mission, Pilecki had to submit to brutal, punishing domination for nearly three years, instead of acting forcefully against the enemy. This is one type of heroism. Discuss all the different types of heroism. Can they be measured against each other?
Pilecki dutifully followed the Polish military motto of “God, Honor, Country” above all else. How do you think this applies, if at all, to military combatants in recent conflicts?
Why did the Germans establish Auschwitz? How could it have been seen to further German war aims? How did Auschwitz evolve during the period Captain Pilecki was there?
What categories of people were sent to Auschwitz by the Germans? How did their treatment vary
?
Was there any historical precedent for this sort of treatment of such prisoners, and if so, what was it?
Why did the Germans not respect the Geneva Conventions on the Eastern Front, but instead sent Soviet prisoners of war to a concentration camp rather than a POW camp? How did the Germans treat other Allied prisoners of war?
What was the German motivation for the “Final Solution” and their decision to begin murdering Jews in cold blood at Auschwitz? What could they hope to gain?
Discuss the German legal concept of Schutzhaft (protective custody).
Discuss the implications of the phrase “Arbeit macht frei.”
Captain Witold Pilecki (1901–1948), a cavalry officer in the Polish Army, was one of the founders of a resistance organization in Nazi German-occupied Poland during World War II that quickly evolved into the Polish Underground Army.
Pilecki is the only man known to have volunteered to get himself arrested and sent to Auschwitz as a prisoner. His secret mission for the Polish Underground: smuggle out intelligence about this new German concentration camp, and build a resistance organization among the inmates with the ultimate goal of liberating the camp.
Barely surviving nearly three years of hunger, disease and brutality, Pilecki accomplished his mission before escaping in April 1943. He subsequently fought in the Warsaw Uprising (August–October 1944).
After the war Pilecki, who was married and the father of two children, volunteered to return to Poland to liaise with the anti-communist resistance organizations and report back on conditions within the country. He was captured by the postwar Polish communist regime, tortured and executed in 1948 as a traitor and a “Western spy.” Pilecki's name was erased from Polish history until the collapse of communism in 1989.
Pilecki was fully exonerated posthumously in the 1990s. Today he is regarded as one of Poland’s heroes.
Translator Jarek Garliński was born in London, England, and grew up bilingual in English and Polish. His father was noted historian and author Józef Garliński, a former prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau. His mother Eileen Short-Garlińska was one of only a few Britons who spent World War II in Warsaw. Both parents served in the Polish Underground Army during the war.
Educated at the University of Nottingham, the University of Grenoble, and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London, Garliński is fluent in English, French, Polish and Russian, with a distinguished career in education.
Garliński is a member of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America and has been decorated by the Polish Ministry of Defense and the Knights of Malta for services to Polish culture.
He has translated numerous books of Polish literature and history, specializing in the World War II era.
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... Where Heroic Stories Make Epic Reads™
VIDEOS
The Auschwitz Volunteer – Book Trailer
Three Extraordinary Things About Pilecki’s Report
Yale University Professor Timothy Snyder at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
Three Questions With…Jarek Garl
inski
Translator of The Auschwitz Volunteer
Interview with actor Marek Probosz
Narrator of the audiobook, who played Pilecki in a film.
Buy the audiobook at Audible.com
PRAISE for
The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery
Winner of the 2012 PROSE Award for Biography & Autobiography
Winner of the Silver Award for Autobiography/Memoir at the 2013 Benjamin Franklin Awards
“One man volunteered for Auschwitz, and now we have his story. Pilecki’s report on Auschwitz, unpublishable for decades in Communist Poland and now translated into English…is a historical document of the greatest importance.”
— The New York Times, ‘Editors’ Choice’
“A shining example of heroism that transcends religion, race and time. Essential reading for anyone interested in the Holocaust.”
— Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland
“Extraordinary memoir. Extraordinarily powerful prose. Pilecki’s depiction of life in Auschwitz and his description of opposition in Auschwitz deserves to be read alongside the accounts of Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel.”
— The New Republic
“Remarkable revelations.”
— Publishers Weekly
“We have few, if any, descriptions that compare to this one—and, therefore, it's a priceless document.”
—Dr. Timothy Snyder, Bird White Housum Professor of History at Yale University, author of Bloodlands