(JTA) — A monument to a non-Jewish Polish Army officer who reported on atrocities at Auschwitz after allowing himself to be captured and later fought in the resistance was unveiled in Warsaw.
Saturday’s honor for Capt. Witold Pilecki came in the presence of his son and daughter and other descendants, The Associated Press reported.
Pilecki allowed himself to be captured by German troops in 1940 in order to provide the anti-Nazi underground and their allies with reports from Auschwitz. He wrote and smuggled out reports on the death camp to his superiors before fleeing in April 1943, heading to Warsaw and fighting in the Polish resistance.
After the war Pilecki went to Italy before returning to Soviet-dominated Poland, where he was executed in 1948 for espionage and treason by the communist authorities. His body was buried in a mass grave.
