The man who infiltrated Auschwitz to expose the atrocities of Hitler and the Nazis to the world

photo caption, Photographs of Witold Bielecki taken by Nazi authorities when he was arrested at Auschwitz.

- author, Amy McPherson
- Author title, For BBC Travel
November 30, 2025

On January 27, 1945, prisoners in the main concentration camp at Auschwitz watched as soldiers from the 1st Ukrainian Front arrived and opened the bars under the notorious ferry. Arbit Macht Free (Work is liberating). After more than four years of terror, they were finally released.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the most famous wartime concentration camp, where more than 1.1 million people were killed, most of them Jews (April 30 also marks the 80th anniversary of the death of Adolf Hitler, the man whose ideology led Nazi Germany to commit those atrocities).

Auschwitz was founded in 1940, when the Nazis opened a new camp complex in Auschwitz, southern Poland, to house prisoners. What began as a political prison for Polish citizens developed into a death factory for European Jews, and the name Auschwitz soon became synonymous with genocide and the Holocaust.

During its first year of operation, little was known about the camp’s activities, until one man decided to risk his life to discover it.

To the guards and other prisoners, this man was Tomasz Seravinski, Prisoner No. 4859, a defector who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But for a small, secret resistance group against Nazi Germany, his name was Witold Pilecki, an army second lieutenant, intelligence agent, husband, father of two, and Catholic.

“Witold Pilecki was one of the founders of the resistance movement organization called the Polish Secret Army (TAP),” said Dr. Piotr Sytkiewicz, a historian at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum.

“When TAP learned about the new camp at Auschwitz, discussions began about sending someone to investigate what was happening there. Pilecki agreed to take on this mission.”

The main entrance to Auschwitz with its infamous phrase "Work is liberating" — photo caption, The main entrance to Auschwitz with the words “Work makes you free” was built by Polish political prisoners, on orders of the Nazis.

“It must be emphasized that at that time no one at TAP knew what Auschwitz was,” Sitkiewicz continued. “Only then did telegrams begin to arrive reporting the death of the people deported on the first transport from Warsaw.”

However, Bilecki needed an infiltration plan. So, one day in September 1940, he managed to show up at his sister-in-law’s apartment in Warsaw’s Zoliborz district during a raid and used the Jewish identity of a dead Polish soldier to secure his arrest.

Three days later, Pilecki walked through the barred doors carrying the inscription Arbit Macht FreeHe spent two and a half years infiltrating the camp and sending evidence to alert the world of his activities, while he was exposed to forced labor, hunger, and the risk of death like any other prisoner.

He wrote reports that were secretly extracted from the camp, including information about conditions, torture, and deaths. At the same time, he inspired an underground movement that sabotaged facilities and killed SS officers while organizing the entry of smuggled food and medicine.

With the exception of his sister-in-law, his family had little idea of his military activities.

“We had a dim idea that Dad was performing some important duties, but we certainly, as kids, didn’t know what kind of duties,” said Zofia Bjelica-Optolovic, Bilecki’s daughter. “I’m not sure if my mom knew anything else, but I think she didn’t know the details of Dad’s job either.”

“The conspiratorial requirements mean that for the safety of Mom and Dad, the less we know, the better.”

Witold Pilecki in military uniform — photo caption, Witold Pilecki was actually a second lieutenant in the Polish Army, but few knew of his secret activity.

In his reports, Pilecki described the reality of Auschwitz and asked the Allied forces to attack the camp.

Although the documents reached some senior commanders, they were largely ignored because Poland was not a military priority. Even on the day of the camp’s final liberation, the Red Army only learned of its existence by chance, after the neighboring city of Krakow was liberated.

Although Pilecki’s testimonies did not directly lead to the camp’s liberation, they did create the first general idea of conditions there.

He was the first to provide first-hand information to the world about the torture and death of prisoners three years before Allied leaders officially acknowledged the existence of the concentration camp.

It took another two years after their escape for the surviving Auschwitz prisoners to be rescued. By then, of the nearly 1.1 million people detained in the camp, only about 7,000 had been released.

Pilecki became known as “the man who voluntarily went to Auschwitz”, although his story was not widely reported for many years. After the war, Poland fell under Soviet rule and Pilecki and his underground unit continued to fight for Polish independence in the Warsaw Uprising.

Eventually, he was arrested, forced to sign a confession as a traitor, and secretly executed in prison in 1948. Witold Pilecki’s name was forbidden from being mentioned and reports and documents on his activities were destroyed or archived.

Women in uniform carry banners with pictures of Witold Pilecki and other anti-communist martyrs in the so-called Revolutionary March. "Damned soldiers" — photo caption, In Poland, the “Cursed Soldiers” march is held to commemorate Witold Pilecki and other anti-communist martyrs.

Bjelica Optolović and her brother Andrej heard reports of Bilecki’s trial and execution on the radio and grew up with people telling them that their father was a traitor and an enemy of the state.

It was only in the 1990s that they discovered that their father had been a hero all along.

Bjelica Optolović has memories of her father as a loving but strict man. A man of principles who loves his family.

“I remember very clearly the many conversations I had with my father about nature, how the chain of life works, and how important all creatures are in this chain,” he said.

“He also revealed the world to me in a friendly and loving way and told me how to act in different situations… He instilled in us the importance of punctuality and honesty in particular. I have carried these lessons throughout my life.”

photo caption, Zofia Bjelica-Optolovic, Bilecki’s daughter, didn’t know her father was a champion until the 1990s.

Soviet communism in Poland ended in 1989, and Pilecki’s true story could finally be told. Books were published about it, streets were named after it, and its history was taught in Polish schools.

The Bielecki Institute was created to research Poland’s political history and to honor all who supported Polish citizens in difficult times, and Bielecki’s story is part of the exhibitions at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum.

A museum tour is an emotional and intense experience. A first-hand account of the cruelty that humans are capable of upon themselves.

A group of foreigners visits the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz — photo caption, A visit to Auschwitz is very daunting and depressing, says the memorial museum guide.

Dorota Kuczynska has worked as a guide and press officer at the museum for 27 years, and finds her responsibility difficult and emotionally exhausting. Their work not only guides and tells the history, but sometimes includes meeting and listening to friends and relatives of former prisoners who have lost family members in that place.

He explained: “This is an exceptional place, and the subject matter we address during the tours is very difficult and depressing.”

However, he added that it has many interesting moments.

“Seeing young people not only listening to the story of the past, but also engaging in discussions about the present and how to build a world based on respect, empathy and truth, gives us hope in humanity and motivates us to continue this vital work.”

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