#BookReview: The man who infiltrated Auschwitz

Witold Pilecki was an ordinary man, but what set him apart in history was his refusal to look away.

In the summer of 1940, after the Nazi occupation of Poland, an underground operative accepted a mission to uncover the fate of thousands of people being taken to a new concentration camp on the border of the Reich – Auschwitz.

Upon arrival he was told his food rations would keep a man alive for six weeks, and by the end of the first day he would witness several prisoners being beaten to death.

Over the next two and half years, Witold forged an underground army that smuggled out evidence of Nazi atrocities.

But despite mounting evidence of Hitler’s plans to use Auschwitz to exterminate Jewish people from across Europe, few listened to Pilecki’s pleas for help.

So desperate was the situation that he asked the Allied Forces to bomb the camp, ‘some of us may die,’ he reasoned, ‘but at least the suffering would end’.

Had they listened, more than 1.1 million men, women and children may not have lost their lives there.

Follow The North Coast Courier on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube for breaking news

Telegram Broadcast Service: https://t.me/joinchat/yJULuN8NaCs5OGM0

WhatsApp Broadcast Service: Add The Courier to WhatsApp at 082 792 9405 and WhatsApp your name and surname to be added.