Poland in Denmark

The author of Pilecki's biography familiarized the Danish audience with the history of Pilecki, the Polish resistance hero who was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1940 of his own accord. Fairweather spoke about Pilecki’s mission to infiltrate the camp, gain intelligence and prepare the reports on the situation in the camp, which were later smuggled out and delivered to the Polish Government-in-Exile in London. Mr Fairweather added that he is in the process of submitting an application to Yad Vashem to award Pilecki the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

The lecture was organized by the Danish Jewish Museum and the Society for the History of Danish Jews on the 120th anniversary of the birth of Witold Pilecki.

 

Witold Piecki (born in 1901) was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1940 of his own accord and with the consent of his commanders. He stayed there for over two and a half years, organizing a secret network and sending reports on conditions and the situation in the camp as well as the annihilation of Jews to the Polish underground. After his escape from Auschwitz, Pilecki worked for the Home Army’s Directorate for Sabotage and Subversion (Kedyw). In 1944, he took part in the Warsaw Uprising, and was captured and deported to Germany upon its defeat. He returned to Poland, now controlled by the communists, in 1945 as an emissary of General Władysław Anders, tasked with setting up an intelligence network. Arrested in 1947 by the Security Office, he was brutally tortured during interrogations and sentenced to death in a show trial. The sentence was carried out on 25 May 1948.

Jack Fairweather is the author of the book "Volunteer. The true story of Witold Pilecki's secret mission ", a biography of Witold Pilecki, which won the Costa Book Award and was translated into 25 languages, including Danish (Danish title:" Den frivillige - den sande historie om modstandshelten, som infiltrerede Auschwitz ") .