May 12, 2020
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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