Portal:Poland/Selected biography/4
Witold Pilecki in a colorized photograph
Witold Pilecki (1901–1948) was a Polish soldier, founder of the Secret Polish Army resistance group and member of the Home Army during World War II. He was the only person to volunteer to be imprisoned at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. While there, he organized inmate resistance, and as early as 1940, informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz atrocities. He escaped from the camp in 1943 and took part in the Warsaw Uprising. Pilecki was executed in 1948 by communist authorities. Until 1989, information on his exploits and fate was suppressed by the Polish the communist regime. (Full article...)