6-22-2012

THE AUSCHWITZ VOLUNTEER
Beyond Bravery
By Witold Pilecki
Translated by Houstonian, Jarek Garlinski

Poland had been destroyed a year earlier by its two powerful neighbors: eastern Poland had been annexed by the Soviet Union; the western half, including Warsaw, was taken by Nazi Germany. The Soviets overwhelmed Polish attempts at resistance in their zone, but under the Germans, officers like Pilecki managed to establish confidential networks that would come to be known as the Underground State and the Home Army. (..)