This week Molly and Sam discuss Witold Pilecki, an unsung heroes of World War II whose legacy was buried by Soviet Russia.
Like many of the heroes of the Warsaw Uprising, nearly no one in the Anglosphere has ever heard of Witold Pilecki, a deeply Catholic member of the Polish resistance. However, his heroism is inspiring far beyond his actions during the largest single act of Polish resistance to the Nazi regime.
When we speak of resistance against the Nazis by occupied nations, we speak almost exclusively of the French and sometimes of the Dutch. Rarely mentioned are the Poles, despite the fact that they had a functioning government in exile coordinating with an underground government on the ground with its own military arm, the Polish Home Army.
As part of his duties in the Polish Home Army, Pilecki volunteered for service as a prisoner in Auschwitz so that he could gather intelligence. This made him one of the first people to report on Nazi atrocities during World War II.
Unfortunately, like many others, he picked the wrong side of the coin in Eastern Europe, backing the liberal-democratic government of Poland against the Communist government backed in Moscow. This meant that much of his heroism was unknown until the 1990s, after the fall of Communism and the release of documents that had been suppressed by the Communists for decades.
You can read Sam’s full article “Witold Pilecki: The Inspiring Story of the Polish Spy Who Led a Resistance Against the Nazis” in Ammo.com’s Resistance Library.
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