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Remember the Rittmaster on the National Day of the Cursed Soldiers
An Act of Parliament from 2011 established the first day of March as the National Day of the Cursed Soldiers and as a ‘tribute to the soldiers of the second underground movement, testimony to their bravery and an indomitable patriotic attitude’. For many of the ‘Cursed’, the underground movement was a continuation of armed resistance that had been hitherto conducted against the German invader. Captain Witold Pilecki’s example - a Home Army soldier, Auschwitz inmate, Warsaw Uprising insurgent, prisoner of Stalag 344 Lamsdorf and Oflag VII A Murnau - is a case in point.
Witold Pilecki was taken prisoner by the Wehrmacht on 5 October 1944, when - together with the soldiers of ‘Chrobry II’ group - was in the town of Ożarów, from where he was sent to Lamsdorf by rail, and then to the oflag in Murnau. He was remembered as a good guardian of younger insurgents - hence the nickname Tato [Dad]. In July 1945, he left Bavaria to join the Second Corps of the Polish Armed Forces [PSZ – Polskie Siły Zbrojne] in Italy. He stayed for a short time in San Giorgio, sorting out pieces of information from his time in Auschwitz and discussing with his commanders the activities he was tasked with in the country.
He returned to Warsaw on 8 December 1945 with a mission to set up a clandestine network. He obtained secret information on the country's economy and politics, activities of the NKVD and the Polish communists, tracked down manifestations of terror and monitored the situation of the underground fighters. The collected material was sent via couriers to the PSZ in the West. In June 1946, Witold Pilecki was ordered to leave Poland immediately, as a warring, however, among other things, for family reasons, he remained in Warsaw. This decision turned out to have tragic consequences - after being arrested on 8 May 1947 and a long, brutal investigation, he was sentenced to death and executed on 25 May 1948.
We encourage you to take advantage of our online class on the subject of Witold Pilecki - click on the poster below for details.
