10 June 1942 | A group of prisoners of the penal company at #Auschwitz who were digging the main draining ditch at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp, decided to escape. About 50 Poles started to run, only 9 managed to flee the pursuit. Some were later captured. | THREAD
Aleksander Buczyński, on the 4th day after the escape he was captured by German gendarmes near Mysłowice. During the investigation he was incarcerated in Block 11. He was executed on 14 July 1942.
Tadeusz Chróścicki managed to swim across the Vistula river and after a long march, thanks to assistance provided by the Poles encountered on the way, he crossed the border of the General Government. He remained in hiding in Radom. He survived.
August Kowalczyk managed to cross the Vistula river and hide thanks to the assistance of the Poles he met. Then he crossed the border of the General Government. He was a soldier in the Home Army. He survived.
Jan Laskowski broke free from the chase. However he was caught on 28 July 1942 in Tarnów and deported to Auschwitz again.
Jerzy Lachecki (Łachecki) fled the pursuers and survived the war.
Józef Pamrow fled the pursuers but on 27 February 1943 he was captured and sent to Auschwitz again. He was shot during his next escape attempt.
Zenon Piernikowski fled the pursuers. His further fate remains unknown.
Eugeniusz Stoczewski was captured by German gendarmes on 14 June 1942 near Mysłowice. During the investigation he was held in Block 11 at Auschwitz I. He was shot on 14 July 1942.
Józef Traczyk perished on 10 June during the chase.
Our online lesson describes the geographical location of the Auschwitz camp, its security system, alarm system, repressions faced by captured escapees, the collective revolts and finally tells the stories of 25 escapes. lekcja.auschwitz.org/en_15_ucieczki/
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25 May 1948 | Witold Pilecki was executed in Warsaw. A Polish soldier in 1920 & 1939 wars, volunteer prisoner of the German #Auschwitz camp, co-founder of camp resistance. He escaped in April 1943 & wrote a report about the crimes in the camp. lekcja.auschwitz.org/en_16_ruch_opo…
After his escape #Pilecki participated in the Warsaw Uprising, he was a POW at Lamsdorf & Murnau camps. After the war in the Polish II Corps of gen. Władysław Anders in Italy. During the communist terror in Poland sentenced to death & murdered on 25 May 1948.
"I've been trying to live my life so that in the hour of my death I would rather feel joy, than fear." (Witold Pilecki)
26/27 April 1943 | Three Poles escaped #Auschwitz: Edward Ciesielski (12969), Witold Pilecki (4859) & Jan Redzej (5430). #Pilecki was one of the co-founders of military resistance inside the camp. After the escape, he wrote an elaborate report about German crimes in Auschwitz. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Telegrams sent by the camp Gestapo (Politische Abteilung - Political Department) in #Auschwitz informing about the escape. One mentions "Thomas Serafinski" (false identity of Witold Pilecki) and "Johann Retko" (Jan Redzej). The other, Edward Ciesielski.
This is how Witold Pilecki described his escape in his report.
16 April 1947 | SS-Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of the German #Auschwitz camp was hanged after he was sentenced to death by the Supreme National Tribunal in Warsaw.
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Rudolf Höss was born in Baden-Baden on 25 November 1901. He joined the Nazi Party in 1922 and the SS in 1934. He started his career in Dachau in December 1934, then he worked in KL Sachsenhausen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_H%…
In May 1940 Rudolf Höss was appointed by Heinrich Himmler as the commandant of a new concentration camp created in occupied Polish territory annexed to the Third Reich - #Auschwitz.
Jozef & Wiktoria Ulma risked their lives to help Jews during the #Holocaust. On 24 March 1944 the German police discovered the Jews in hiding.
The Jewish family was shot, as was the entire Ulma family - parents & 6 children. Wiktoria was 7 months pregnant.
March 24 - the anniversary of the murder of the Ulma family - is today in Poland the National Day of Remembrance of Poles who saved Jews during German occupiation. See this thread to learn about #Righteous linked with #Auschwitz.
22 March 1943 | The Zentralbauleitung of the #Auschwitz camp (Central Construction office) completed the construction of gas chamber and crematorium IV at Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. The undressing rooms, gas chamber and crematorium were located on the ground level. 1/5
The gas chamber space was divided into three smaller rooms and had a total of 236.78 square meters. The exterior walls had holes with gas proof trapdoors for inserting Zyklon B. 2/5
The crematorium was equipped with one eight-oven furnace. According to the calculations made German manufacturer Topf & Soehne, 768 corpses could be burned in this crematorium every 24 hours. 3/5
#Auschwitz survivors Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Władysław Bartoszewski were honoured for their work in "Żegota" - the Polish Council to Aid Jews en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBego…