Rittmeister Witold Pilecki and Thomas à Kempis

Rittmeister [captain] Witold Pilecki (1901–1948)

As part of the intelligence activities of the Union of Armed Struggle [1] to investigate the situation in the German Nazi concentration camp KL Auschwitz [2], Witold Pilecki, as a voluntary prisoner of the camp, undertook the mission of founding a Polish underground organization in the Konzentrationslager.

After the end of World War II, performing intelligence tasks commissioned to him by Gen. Władysław Anders (1892–1970) [3], on May 5 or 8, 1947, he was arrested by officers of the Ministry of Public Security.

During the brutal investigation, Witold Pilecki was tortured by Col. Marian Krawczyński (1920–2009); Maj. Zbigniew Kiszel (1923–2010) [4]; Jerzy Kroszel [5]; Stefan Alaborski (1923–1972) [6]; Stanisław Łyszkowski [7] and one of the cruelest MBP employees, Lt. Eugeniusz Chimczak (1921–2012) [8]. Pilecki was forcibly impaled on the leg of an inverted stool; fingernails were extracted from his fingers and toes; his genitals crushed. The Rittmeister was also mistreated after the end of the investigation; inter alia both his clavicles were broken [9].

It is also worth noting that Witold Pilecki was interrogated by the director of Counterintelligence of the Ministry of Public Security, then in the rank Col., deputy minister of Public Security, Roman Romkowski [Natan Grinszpan-Kikiel] (1907–1968) [10].

During the trial of Pilecki, the prosecutor was Maj. Czesław Łapiński (1912–2004), while the presiding judge was Lt. Col. Jan Hryckowian (1907–1975) [11]. The members of the judges were: military judge Capt. Józef Badecki (1908–1982) [12] and lay judge Capt. Stefan Nowacki from the Main Directorate of Information of the Polish Army [13] [14]. Such a members of the judges (only one juror instead of two) was against the law of the time.

On March 15, 1948, the Rittmeister was sentenced to death. In the second instance, on May 3, 1948, the Supreme Military Court upheld this verdict. They following persons were members of the body of judges: Col. Kazimierz Drohomirecki (1895–1953); Lt. Col. Roman Kryże (1907–1983); Maj. Leo Hochberg (1899–1978); Lt. Jerzy Kwiatkowski and Maj. Rubin Szwajg. The sentence was carried out on May 25 in the Mokotów prison on Rakowiecka Street, by a shot in the back of the head. The executioner of the sentence was Sen. Sgt. Piotr Śmietański (1899–1950) [15]. So-called „President” of the so-called „Polish Peopleʼs Republic” Bolesław Bierut (1892–1956) [16] did not use the right of pardon.

Stalinist lawyers of Stalinst Poland, as in the USSR, were only obedient puppets of the security organs. In the case of Witold Pileckiʼs trial, supervision over the course of the court hearing, including the death sentence, was exercised by a man of Maj. Gen. Ivan Alexandrovich Serov (1905–1990) [17], director of the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Public Security, Col. Józef [Goldberg] Różański (1907–1981) [18].

During one of the last visits of Pileckiʼs wife to the detention center before his death, the captain stated that the stay in KL Auschwitz, compared to the communist methods of investigation, „was just a dalliance”. He also recommended Maria Pilecka (1906–2002) [11] [19] to read to her son and daughter every day excerpts from the book by Thomas á Kempis (1380–1471) entitled „The Imitation of Christ” (1418) [20].
– „It will give you strength”. – he said [21].

Endnotes:

[1] https://polishhistory.pl/union-of-armed-struggle-the-lost-strongholds-in-the-wester-borderlands/

[2] https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz-Birkenau

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/KZ_Auschwitz

[3] https://przystanekhistoria.pl/pa2/tematy/wladyslaw-anders

[4] https://bliskopolski.pl/leksykon/zbigniew-kiszel/

[5] https://bliskopolski.pl/leksykon/jerzy-kroszel/

[6] https://bliskopolski.pl/leksykon/stefan-alaborski/

[7] https://bliskopolski.pl/leksykon/stanislaw-lyszkowski/

[8] https://katalog.bip.ipn.gov.pl/informacje/59614

[9] http://pressmania.pl/kim-byla-maria-pilecka-zona-witolda-pileckiego/

http://pressmania.pl/kim-byla-maria-pilecka-zona-witolda-pileckiego-2/

[10] https://histmag.org/Roman-Romkowski-kim-byl-komunistyczny-zbrodniarz-25102

[11]
https://naszahistoria.pl/inteligent-i-byly-akowiec-w-sluzbie-ludowej-sprawiedliwosci/ar/c15-16438711

https://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media/files/Palestra/Palestra-r1997-t41-n1_2(469_470)/Palestra-r1997-t41-n1_2(469_470)-s141-151/Palestra-r1997-t41-n1_2(469_470)-s141-151.pdf

[12] https://bliskopolski.pl/leksykon/jozef-badecki/

[13] https://polska-zbrojna.pl/Mobile/ArticleShow/33621

https://inwentarz.ipn.gov.pl/archivalCollection?id_a=3689&id_pz=20580

https://www.jomswsge.com/pdf-80473-16354?filename=Informacja%20Wojskowa%20_%20rys.pdf