DOCSLIB.ORG

Wannsee Memorandum

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Wannsee Memorandum The Standards of Management and Commemoration of the former German Concentration and Extermination Camps Wannsee Memorandum Expert Meeting Berlin-Wannsee 7th April 2017 The Standards of Management and Commemoration of the former German Concentration and Extermination Camps Wannsee Memorandum Expert Meeting Berlin-Wannsee 7th April 2017 Warsaw 2018 Auschwitz-Birkenau is the only former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp that was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is, however, viewed as representing all other sites of this kind. The very organization of places of memory and the main aspects of their functioning have varied widely across Europe. A multitude of factors came into play: various political systems, the historical value of individual sites, decisions taken by numerous governmental and self-governmental bodies, and also the fundraising efficiency of the institutions established to preserve former concentration camp sites. In 2017, representatives of the international community came together to work out a universal code of good practice – a set of guidelines to be implemented by all contemporary institutions entrusted with protecting these places of immense suffering and death. The Council of Experts convened for its first meeting on 7 April 2017 in Berlin-Wannsee, at the historical lakeside villa. After the Second World War, this residence became an important symbol of that phase of the Shoah which was carried out within the system of concentration and extermination camps. The proper commemoration of all the Victims necessitates collective reflection and international cooperation. The present publication contains the findings and determinations of the Council’s session, ordered and presented in the form of a memorandum which should facilitate further work on the future of remembrance. Photo: Mikołaj Grynberg Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński Director The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum 2 Wannsee Memorandum Expert Meeting Berlin-Wannsee 7th April 2017 3 The second half of the 20th century has been called the age of commemoration. The first decades of the century witnessed the two bloodiest global conflicts in the history of the continent. The German Nazi concentration camps stand as the most terrible and disturbing legacy of the Second World War. Millions of people of many ethnicities were Victims of German nationalism, but the Wannsee Conference remains fundamental in the process of exterminating six million European Jews. Remembering the Holocaust relies on sites, where it happened. The former German Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau grew into the symbol of the Holocaust and genocide. Putting the camp on the UNESCO World Heritage List, carried out through Polish initiatives in 1979, created a precedence in the entire history of the nomination procedure, because for the first time it did not preserve a monument of human ingenuity, but rather the material evidence of the brutality of perpetrators and the suffering of Victims. After the fall of communism, an important step forward in commemorating this kind of site was to establish – through dialogue between, amongst others, Israel and Poland – a set of basic standards such as: displaying clear information about the Victims or creating archives in situ. These standards have been observed at the former death camps in Sobibór, Treblinka, Majdanek, and camps like Gross-Rosen. However, only in a few instances have they reached sites outside of Poland. The fate of the former KL Gusen in Austria is a telling example. On its spot, a residential area was built, the camp’s gate was turned into a villa, and the original camp square has been covered with piles of rubble. Rules and standards of memorialization developed over the years by the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau are universal in character and form the content of the Memorandum of Wannsee. In honor of the Victims Photo: Dorota Czoch and for the sake of future generations, the states are recommended to implement them in other former concentration camps. Prof. Magdalena Gawin General Conservator of Monuments The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage 4 Wannsee Memorandum Expert Meeting Berlin-Wannsee 7th April 2017 5 MEMORANDUM Those convened at the Council of Experts in Berlin-Wannsee hereby recommend for other sites of that type, former concentration on 7 April 2017 camps and extermination centres located beyond the borders of Poland, to accept the following standards of management: taking into consideration that it is the mission of UNESCO, expressed in the Preamble to its Constitution by the Organization’s founding emulation of practices developed by the Auschwitz-Birkenau countries in 1945, to "construct the defences of peace in the minds Museum, expressing extremely significant for UNESCO principles of men”, in order to prevent a reoccurrence of the tragic events of authenticity, integrity of artefacts and archival collections, of the Second World War, and international cooperation; recognizing the exceptional significance of the German Nazi development of educational forms with respect for the truth concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and based on international dialogue and cooperation; established by Nazi Germany on the territory of occupied Poland, collecting artefacts that belonged to the Victims (name tags, initially for Poles and Soviet prisoners, which in the years 1942-1944 shoes, suitcases etc.) and archival documentation (documents, became the primary and most important center for the extermination photographs, films, maps) and storing in situ; of European Jews, establishing preservation laboratories in situ; recalling to mind the fundamental reason for the inclusion of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz- conducting archaeological research on the basis of international Birkenau in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, this being cooperation and under rabbinical supervision; to symbolically encompass all other former extermination camps functioning of an advisory and opinionative body patterned after and centers from the Second World War established by the Third Reich, the International Auschwitz Council; being aware that the restriction of the inscription in the UNESCO performing solid research on the Victims as well as perpetrators; World Heritage List only to Auschwitz-Birkenau, recognized as a representative for other post-camp Memorials, does not exempt the obligation to include – in the permanent exhibitions, information from reflection on preservation and methods of revealing the truth materials as well as on the internet websites clear information about the most terrifying crimes of the 20th century, particularly regarding the citizenship and nationality of the Victims. about the unique in the history of mankind crime of the Holocaust, Recognition of the abovementioned practices of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorialas as universal, fully reflects the symbolic significance of this site, which was emphasized by its entry in the World Heritage List. It is also a precondition for remembrance which should stand as a warning and a lesson for the future generations. 6 Wannsee Memorandum Expert Meeting Berlin-Wannsee 7th April 2017 7 MEMORANDUM Les réunis au Conseil des Experts, Berlin–Wannsee, le 7 avril nous recommandons que dans les autres importants sites de ce type, 2017 anciens camps de concentration et centres d’extermination situés en dehors des frontières de la Pologne, soient adoptés les standards considérant le fait que la mission de l’UNESCO, proclamée par les de gestion présentés ci-dessous, qui consistent à: États fondateurs en 1945 dans l’Acte constitutif, vise à « construire la paix dans l’esprit des hommes » en vue de prévenir que les événe- suivre les pratiques élaborées au Musée d’État d’Auschwitz-Birkenau ments tragiques de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale ne se reproduisent – qui mettent en oeuvre les principes d’authenticité, de sauvegarde plus, de l’intégralité des artefacts et des fonds d’archives, et de coopération internationale, si importants pour l’UNESCO; conscients de l’extraordinaire importance du camp de concentration et d’extermination allemand nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau, créé par développer des activités éducatives dans le respect de la vérité l’Allemagne nazie sur le territoire occupé de la Pologne, à l’origine et dans l’esprit de dialogue international et de coopération; pour les Polonais et les détenus soviétiques, qui, de 1942 à 1944, réunir et sauvegarder in situ les artefacts ayant appartenus aux est devenu le principal et le plus important camp d’extermination Victimes (matricules, chaussures, valises, etc.) et les documents des Juifs européens, d’archives (documents, photos, films, cartes); en soulignant le poids de l’inscription du camp de concentration mettre sur pied des ateliers de conservation in situ; et d’extermination allemand nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau sur la Liste du Patrimoine Mondial de l’UNESCO, intervenue en 1979, comme faire des fouilles archéologiques en coopération internationale symbolique pour les autres anciens camps et centres d’extermination et sous la surveillance rabbinique; du temps de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, organisés par le Troisième fonctionner en s’assurant le soutien d’organes consultatifs composés Reich, d’experts, à l’instar du Conseil International d’Auschwitz; considérant que l’inscription sur la Liste du Patrimoine Mondial faire des recherches honnêtes concernant aussi bien les Victimes de l’UNESCO, restreinte seulement à Auschwitz-Birkenau, avec que
Load more

Recommended publications
  • HBO and the HOLOCAUST: CONSPIRACY, the HISTORICAL FILM, and PUBLIC HISTORY at WANNSEE Nicholas K. Johnson Submitted to the Facul
    HBO AND THE HOLOCAUST: CONSPIRACY, THE HISTORICAL FILM, AND PUBLIC HISTORY AT WANNSEE Nicholas K. Johnson Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in the Department of History, Indiana University December 2016 Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Master’s Thesis Committee __________________________________ Raymond J. Haberski, Ph.D., Chair __________________________________ Thorsten Carstensen, Ph.D. __________________________________ Kevin Cramer, Ph.D. ii Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank the members of my committee for supporting this project and offering indispensable feedback and criticism. I would especially like to thank my chair, Ray Haberski, for being one of the most encouraging advisers I have ever had the pleasure of working with and for sharing his passion for film and history with me. Thorsten Carstensen provided his fantastic editorial skills and for all the times we met for lunch during my last year at IUPUI. I would like to thank Kevin Cramer for awakening my interest in German history and for all of his support throughout my academic career. Furthermore, I would like to thank Jason M. Kelly, Claudia Grossmann, Anita Morgan, Rebecca K. Shrum, Stephanie Rowe, Modupe Labode, Nancy Robertson, and Philip V. Scarpino for all the ways in which they helped me during my graduate career at IUPUI. I also thank the IUPUI Public History Program for admitting a Germanist into the Program and seeing what would happen. I think the experiment paid off.
    [Show full text]
  • Kristallnacht Caption: Local Residents Watch As Flames Consume The
    Kristallnacht Caption: Local residents watch as flames consume the synagogue in Opava, set on fire during Kristallnacht. Description of event: Literally, "Night of Crystal," is often referred to as the "Night of Broken Glass." The name refers to the wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms which took place throughout Germany, annexed Austria, and in areas of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia recently occupied by German troops. Instigated primarily by Nazi Party officials and members of the SA (Sturmabteilungen: literally Assault Detachments, but commonly known as Storm Troopers) and Hitler Youth, Kristallnacht owes its name to the shards of shattered glass that lined German streets in the wake of the pogrom- broken glass from the windows of synagogues, homes, and Jewish-owned businesses plundered and destroyed during the violence. Nuremberg Laws Caption: A young baby lies on a park bench marked with a J to indicate it is only for Jews. Description of event: Antisemitism and the persecution of Jews represented a central tenet of Nazi ideology. In their 25-point Party Program, published in 1920, Nazi party members publicly declared their intention to segregate Jews from "Aryan" society and to abrogate Jews' political, legal, and civil rights.Nazi leaders began to make good on their pledge to persecute German Jews soon after their assumption of power. During the first six years of Hitler's dictatorship, from 1933 until the outbreak of war in 1939, Jews felt the effects of more than 400 decrees and regulations that restricted all aspects of their public and private lives. Many of those laws were national ones that had been issued by the German administration and affected all Jews.
    [Show full text]
  • SS-Totenkopfverbände from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (Redirected from SS-Totenkopfverbande)
    Create account Log in Article Talk Read Edit View history SS-Totenkopfverbände From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from SS-Totenkopfverbande) Navigation Not to be confused with 3rd SS Division Totenkopf, the Waffen-SS fighting unit. Main page This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason Contents has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can. (December 2010) Featured content Current events This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding Random article citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010) Donate to Wikipedia [2] SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV), rendered in English as "Death's-Head Units" (literally SS-TV meaning "Skull Units"), was the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi SS-Totenkopfverbände Interaction concentration camps for the Third Reich. Help The SS-TV was an independent unit within the SS with its own ranks and command About Wikipedia structure. It ran the camps throughout Germany, such as Dachau, Bergen-Belsen and Community portal Buchenwald; in Nazi-occupied Europe, it ran Auschwitz in German occupied Poland and Recent changes Mauthausen in Austria as well as numerous other concentration and death camps. The Contact Wikipedia death camps' primary function was genocide and included Treblinka, Bełżec extermination camp and Sobibor. It was responsible for facilitating what was called the Final Solution, Totenkopf (Death's head) collar insignia, 13th Standarte known since as the Holocaust, in collaboration with the Reich Main Security Office[3] and the Toolbox of the SS-Totenkopfverbände SS Economic and Administrative Main Office or WVHA.
    [Show full text]
  • “And Then They Came for Me...”
    “AND THEN THEY CAME FOR ME...” (Image: The National WWII Museum, 2014.057.036_1.) Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party’s rise to power in Germany ushered in an era of attacks against people Hitler deemed undesirable. Jews living across Europe became the primary target of Nazi hatred and violence. Attacks against other groups of people—such as individuals with mental or physical disabilities, political prisoners, Romani, Soviet citizens and prisoners of war, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, Slavs, and Jehovah’s Witnesses—also became a part of the Nazi program to “purify” German society. Those who did not fit within Nazi standards of a “master race” faced capture and horrific brutality in the attempted genocide now known as the Holocaust. From 1939 to 1941, the Nazis steadily took steps toward a formal policy of extermination. Known as the Final Solution, this policy spread to each region that fell under Nazi rule throughout World War II. Anti-Semitism had been present throughout Europe for centuries, peaking during times of upheaval, such as the Crusades or outbreaks of plague. This historical precedent perpetuated hateful stereotypes that again resurfaced in the era of upheaval that followed Germany’s defeat in World War I. While anti-Semitism had been limited to fringe political groups, the rising popularity of the Nazi Party helped promote ideas of segregating and removing the Jewish population from the region. While not all Germans actively supported the anti-Semitic attacks taken by the Nazis, many adopted an attitude of indifference toward the treatment of their Jewish neighbors.
    [Show full text]
  • "Witold Pilecki. Confronting the Legend of the "Volunteer to Auschwitz""
    Ewa Cuber-Strutyńska Witold Pilecki. Confronting the legend of the “volunteer to Auschwitz” Death had many opportunities to prematurely end the life of Witold Pilecki, who participated in the ight for independence during the war against the Bolsheviks and fought in World War II. Despite the risk he took, he managed to avoid death when he was at the front, when he found himself in the Auschwitz concentration camp and when he took part in the Warsaw Uprising. That it reached him in seemingly independent Poland and that it happened owing to, among others, his old brothers in arms should be considered a tragic paradox. Pilecki became a victim of the Communist regime, which brought death to him twice. The irst death, with a bullet in the back of his head, came on 25 May 1948; the second, symbolic one, involved killing the memory of Pilecki by censoring it for several dozen years. The memory of Pilecki was liberated and he was rehabilitated only after the fall of the regime that had brought death upon him. In the 1990s, we witnessed the publication of the irst biographies of Pilecki, which led to his return to the history of Poland and placed him in the pantheon of Poles who served their homeland to the greatest extent. Moreover, the past several years have shown a growing interest in Pilecki. His igure is now popularised by not only academic publications (which after all reach a rather small audience) but also various kinds of activities undertaken by state institutions, non-governmental organisations as well as football club fans.1 Among the increasing number of initiatives intended to honour Pilecki was even the idea to make an attempt at his beatiication.2 1 During a match between Śląsk Wrocław and Jagiellonia Białystok that took place on 3 May 2012, the supporters of Śląsk Wrocław prepared a setting including Pilecki’s portrait with a caption “Volunteer to Auschwitz” and the quote “Because compared with them Auschwitz was just a trile”.
    [Show full text]
  • State of Florida Resource Manual on Holocaust Education Grades
    State of Florida Resource Manual on Holocaust Education Grades 7-8 A Study in Character Education A project of the Commissioner’s Task Force on Holocaust Education Authorization for reproduction is hereby granted to the state system of public education. No authorization is granted for distribution or reproduction outside the state system of public education without prior approval in writing. The views of this document do not necessarily represent those of the Florida Department of Education. 2 Table of Contents Introduction Definition of the Term Holocaust ............................................................ 7 Why Teach about the Holocaust............................................................. 8 The Question of Rationale.............................................................. 8 Florida’s Legislature/DOE Required Instruction.............................. 9 Required Instruction 1003.42, F.S.................................................. 9 Developing a Holocaust Unit .................................................................. 9 Interdisciplinary and Integrated Units ..................................................... 11 Suggested Topic Areas for a Course of Study on the Holocaust............ 11 Suggested Learning Activities ................................................................ 12 Eyewitnesses in Your Classroom ........................................................... 12 Discussion Points/Questions for Survivors ............................................. 13 Commonly Asked Questions by Students
    [Show full text]
  • Institute of National Remembrance
    Institute of National Remembrance https://ipn.gov.pl/en/news/959,IPN-representatives-at-the-opening-of-an-exhibition-devoted-to-Captain -Witold-Pi.html 2021-09-24, 19:18 08.11.2017 IPN representatives at the opening of an exhibition devoted to Captain Witold Pilecki and the Warsaw Uprising in Australia An exhibition devoted to Captain Witold Pilecki and the Warsaw Uprising was opened on 5 November at the Kadimah Jewish Cultural Center in Melbourne. The exhibition was prepared by the Pilecki Project Committee in cooperation with the Polish Community Council of Victoria, the Polish Home Army Ex- servicemen Association in Melbourne as well as the Institute of National Remembrance. The IPN delegation present at the opening included the Deputy President of the Institute, Dr Mateusz Szpytma, Dr Rafał Leśkiewicz - the Director of the IT Office and Agnieszka Jędrzak - the Head of the Division of International Relations. The undertaking was carried out as part of the celebration of the 99th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence. The IPN delegation took part in a mass at the Catholic center in Essendon celebrated by Fr. Wiesław Słowik , Rector of the Polish Catholic Mission in Australia and New Zealand, and laid flowers at a monument in the form of a cross commemorating the victims of the Katyń Massacre. In the same place, the IPN’s Deputy President, Dr Mateusz Szpytma delivered a speech during which he emphasized that without sacrifice, often the sacrifice of one’s life, there is no freedom or independence - because freedom can often be measured in crosses, said Dr Szpytma.
    [Show full text]
  • Witold Pilecki (1901-1948) Photo
    Witold Pilecki (1901-1948) Photo. Private collection Pilecki of Zofia and Andrzej Private Photo. Witold Pilecki was born in 1901 in Olonets in Russian Karelia. His family had been living in Russia since the January Uprising (1863); following its fall, Witold’s grandfather was exiled to Siberia and the family estates were confiscated. In 1910, the Pilecki family returned to Wilno. At the age of 13, Witold joined the clandestine Polish Scouting and Guiding Association. He was also a member of the Polish Military collection Pilecki of Zofia and Andrzej Private Photo. Organization. In 1918, he volunteered for the Self-Defense of Lithuania, where he achieved the rank of uhlan. In 1920, he took part in the Polish-Soviet War in the rank of senior uhlan. He fought in the Battle of Warsaw (13–25 August 1920), one of the most decisive battles in world history. Witold’s steadfastness was duly noted; he was twice awarded a Cross of Valor. Photo. Private collection Pilecki of Zofia and Andrzej Private Photo. In the 1920s, he began to study art in Wilno, but had to quit due to the family’s poor financial situation. He took a job instead, and made efforts to recover the family estate in Sukurcze (now in Belarus). In 1926, the Pilecki family were able to reclaim their ruined property. Photo. Private collection of Zofia and Andrzej Pilecki Witold immediately set about modernizing the estate. Over a few years, he not only restored it, but also transformed it into a buoyant dairy and agricultural center. Photo. Private collection Pilecki of Zofia and Andrzej Private Photo.
    [Show full text]
  • Simon Wiesenthal Center-Museum of Tolerance Library & Archives for More Information Contact Us at (310) 772-7605 Or [email protected]
    The Holocaust, 1933 – 1945 Educational Resources Kit Glossary of Terms, Places, and Personalities AKTION (Action) A German military or police operation involving mass assembly, deportation and killing; directed by the Nazis against Jews during the Holocaust. ALLIES The twenty-six nations led by the United States, Britain, and the former Soviet Union who joined in fighting Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan during World War II. ANIELEWICZ, MORDECAI Leader of the Jewish underground movement and of the uprising of (1919-1943) the Warsaw Ghetto in April 1943; killed on May 8, 1943. ANSCHLUSS (Annexation) The incorporation of Austria into Germany on March 13, 1938. ANTISEMITISM Prejudice and/or discrimination towards Jews, based on negative perceptions of their beliefs. ARYAN RACE "Aryan" was originally applied to people who spoke any Indo- European language. The Nazis, however, primarily applied the term to people with a Northern European racial background. Their aim was to avoid what they considered the "bastardization of the German race" and to preserve the purity of European blood. (See NUREMBERG LAWS.) AUSCHWITZ Auschwitz was the site of one of the largest extermination camps. In August 1942 the camp was expanded and eventually consisted of three sections: Auschwitz I - the main camp; Auschwitz II (Birkenau) - the extermination camp; Auschwitz III (Monowitz) - the I.G. Farben labor camp, also known as Buna. In addition, Auschwitz had 48 sub camps. It bacame the largest center for Jewish extermination. AXIS The Axis powers originally included Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan who signed a pact in Berlin on September 27, 1940, to divide the world into their spheres of respective political interest.
    [Show full text]
  • How Much Did the Germans Know About the Final Solution?: an Examination of Propaganda in the Third Reich
    Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Honors Theses Lee Honors College Spring 2010 How Much Did the Germans Know about the Final Solution?: An Examination of Propaganda in the Third Reich Issa A. Braman Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses Part of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Commons Recommended Citation Braman, Issa A., "How Much Did the Germans Know about the Final Solution?: An Examination of Propaganda in the Third Reich" (2010). Honors Theses. 3371. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3371 This Honors Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Lee Honors College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. How Much Did the Germans Know about the Final Solution?: An Examination of Propaganda in the Third Reich by Melissa A. Braman In 1925, while Adolf Hitler was serving a short sentence in jail for his failed Beer Hall Putsch, he wrote in Mein Kampf, “With the year 1915 enemy propaganda began in our country, after 1916 it became more and more intensive till finally, at the beginning of the year 1918, it swelled to a positive flood.” Hitler, a soldier of World War I, had experienced firsthand the power of propaganda during the war. With the failure of Germany to counter-act the Allied propaganda, Hitler noted, “The army gradually learned to think as the enemy wanted it to.”1 Hitler applied this same concept to promoting the rhetoric of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP).
    [Show full text]
  • An Unfolding Genocide Using National Research to Inform Your Classroom Practice
    CENTRE FOR HOLOCAUST EDUCATION An unfolding genocide Using national research to inform your classroom practice. Highlights from our research report ‘What do students know and understand about Research the Holocaust?’ Evidence from English secondary schools (Foster et al, 2016). briefing 3 Free to download at www.ucl.ac.uk/holocaust-education The Holocaust was not a single, monolithic event but a sequential process that developed and became radicalised over time. Why does this matter? If students are to understand that a genocide does not happen merely For students, building a detailed knowledge of the Holocaust’s chronology can enable them to see because someone wills it, it is important that they see how the development the underlying patterns and processes involved. It can allow them to identify key turning points and from persecution to genocide unfolded and evolved over time; that key understand why significant decisions were made in the context of each particular moment. This powerful decisions were taken by a range of individuals and agencies; and that the knowledge can help them to understand how extremist actions in a society can take root and develop. context of a European war was critical in shaping these decisions. This third briefing in our series reports on what English secondary school students know and understand about the chronology of the Holocaust, when it happened and how it developed. Closely linked, the next briefing examines students’ knowledge and understanding of where the Holocaust took place. So that students understand a genocide does not happen merely because of one person’s will, it is important that they see how the Holocaust unfolded over time; that decisions What do students know about were made by a range of different individuals; when the Holocaust happened? and that the people involved were influenced by the context of the unfolding war.
    [Show full text]
  • Witold Pilecki – the Forgotten Polish Patriot -Mary Elmes Competition.Docx
    Peter O’Neill – Witold Pilecki Witold Pilecki in cavalry uniform, colourised pre-19391 Witold Pilecki – The Forgotten Polish Patriot Arguably, the world is most dangerous when it is blind. When the world decides to devote all of its attention to one place or one way of thinking, we let all sorts of horrors pass us by. It takes immense bravery and the greatest courage to survive these events, but it takes even more to volunteer to go through hell to prove and report on these events, so the world is no longer blind to them. This is the story of Witold Pilecki. Witold Pilecki served his country, his community and the world during his adventurous life, and in forty-seven years, he saw Poland rise to become a nation once again, he fought to protect her against several foes, took part in the Warsaw Uprising and volunteered to enter Auschwitz Concentration Camp in order to report on the true nature of the camp. Sadly, like so many resistance heroes in Poland and Eastern Europe, his name was erased by the Communist regime for four decades and the story of his great deeds were almost lost. His life was taken by the Communists, but his legacy would outlive their governments and the Soviet Bloc. Early Life The Pilecki’s were of old Polish Nobility, but when Witold was born in 1901, there was no Poland: only the Russian Empire under the Czar2. When Witold was sixteen years old (the same age as me) he had already joined the movement for Polish freedom.
    [Show full text]