Witold Pilecki

Witold Pilecki (May 13, 1901 – May 25, 1948: Polish soldier; founder of the resistance movement, Secret Polish Army, Tajna Armia Polska):

• "During the first 3 years at Auschwitz, 2 million people died; over the next 2 years—3 million." (Witold's Report.)

On May 14, 1947, in Block X of the Mokotów Prison, Pilecki wrote a poem, "Dla Pana Pułkownika Różańskiego" ("For Colonel Różański"), which ends:

"Dlatego więc piszę niniejszą petycję,

By sumą kar wszystkich - mnie tylko karano,

Bo choćby mi przyszło postradać me życie -

Tak wolę - niż żyć, a mieć w sercu ranę".

That is why I write this petition,

That all the punishments, punish only me,

For though I should lose my life -

I prefer it so - than to live, and bear a wound in my heart.

• "If Józef Cyrankiewicz finds out I'm here, I'm dead." (In prison, 1948.)

• "I was not a[n intelligence] resident, only a Polish officer. I carried out my orders until arrested. I had no sense that I was spying, and I ask that this be taken into account in deciding my verdict." (At trial, 1948.)

• "So they didn't let anybody else off. I can't live like this, I'm finished. Auschwitz was easy." (After death sentence had been pronounced, 1948.)

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