The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery

by Captain Witold Pilecki

  67 Pilecki confuses the letters, using Z for their ultimate destination Bochnia, as well as for this intermediate location which Adam Cyra says is Babice; see Cyra, Ochotnik do Auschwitz. Witold Pilecki (1901–1948) (Oświęcim: Chrześcijańskie Stowarzyszenie Rodzin Oświęcimskich, 2000), p. 398. Cyra also says that IX is Bochnia, op. cit., p. 404. Translator’s note.

  68 The part of occupied Poland that the Nazis ran as a separate administrative entity, using the ancient Polish city of Kraków as its capital. Warsaw, Poland’s capital, was within the Generalgouvernement. Translator’s note.

  69 Lieutenant General Stefan “Grot” Rowecki was commander of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa, or AK); see footnote 42, p. 146. Translator’s note.

  70 Kedyw (Kierownictwo Dywersji—Guerrilla Warfare and Sabotage Command) was an elite section of the Polish Home Army, whose mission was sabotage, propaganda and armed action against the enemy. Translator’s note.

  71 Ravensbrück is better known as a women’s concentration camp, but there was a small men’s camp adjacent. Translator’s note.

  72 It is now widely accepted that about 1.1 million died in Auschwitz throughout the war, of whom about 90 percent were Jews. Translator’s note.

  Montage of Auschwitz inmate identity photographs.

  ABM

  APPENDIX 1

  Glossary of English, German and Polish Terms and Acronyms

  AK

  –

  Armia Krajowa: the military arm of the Polish Underground State during World War II; also known as the Home Army

  Aleja Szucha

  –

  shorthand reference to Gestapo headquarters in occupied Warsaw, which were located on Aleja Szucha

  Arbeitsdienst

  –

  work assignment office or leader

  arbeitsfähig

  –

  fit for work

  Arbeitskommando

  –

  a camp work detail

  Arbeitslager

  –

  a labor camp

  arbeitsunfähig

  –

  unfit for work

  Armia Krajowa

  –

  the military arm of the Polish Underground State during World War II; also known as the AK or the Home Army

  Aufräumungskommando

  –

  salvage Kommando

  Awo

  –

  camp slang for a kind of broth

  Bademeister

  –

  a washroom supervisor

  Baderaum

  –

  refers to communal washing facilities in the camp

  Baubüro

  –

  a construction site office

  Bekleidungskammer

  –

  the clothing storeroom

  Bekleidungswerkstätte

  –

  the clothing workshop

  Binden

  –

  armbands

  Blockältester

  –

  a block chief or leader (this position was held by an inmate)

  Blockführer

  –

  an SS block supervisor

  Blockführerstube

  –

  an SS guardroom

  Blocksperre

  –

  confinement to blocks, or block lock-down

  Brotabladungskommando

  –

  bread-unloading Kommando

  Bunker

  –

  confinement cell used for punishment; different types of bunkers provided for varying levels of punishment

  “Canada”

  –

  the Auschwitz name for stores of goods looted from people (mainly Jews) who were sent straight to the gas chambers1

  Durchfall

  –

  “the runs,” or dysentery

  Effektenkammer

  –

  the storeroom for inmates’ personal belongings

  Erkennungsdienst

  –

  the records office

  Fahrbereitschaft

  –

  the motor pool

  Funkstelle

  –

  the SS garrison’s radio room

  Gemeiner

  –

  as used by Pilecki, refers to a low-level SS man

  Gemeinschaftslager

  –

  a camp for civilian workers; at Auschwitz, virtually all such workers would have been forced laborers conscripted from the German-occupied territories

  Generalgouvernement

  –

  the part of occupied Poland that the Nazi Germans ran as a separate administrative entity using the ancient Polish city of Kraków as its capital. Warsaw, Poland’s capital, was within the General-gouvernement.

  Gestapo

  –

  Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police): the Nazi German secret police

  Große Postenkette

  –

  the outer security perimeter

  Häftling

  –

  a camp inmate or prisoner

  Häftlingsküche

  –

  the camp inmates’ kitchen

  Harmense

  –

  a small subcamp of Auschwitz

  Hauptscharführer

  –

  the equivalent in the German SS of Master Sergeant

  Hauptwache

  –

  the main gate guard or guard-house

  Home Army

  –

  the military arm of the Polish Underground State during World War II; also known as the Armia Krajowa or AK

  Kapo

  –

  a supervisor or “trusty” (this position was held by an inmate)

  Kedyw

  –

  Kierownictwo Dywersji (Guerrilla Warfare and Sabotage Command): an elite branch of the Polish Home Army, whose mission was sabotage, propaganda and armed action against the Nazi Germans

  Kiesgrube

  –

  a gravel pit

  KL Auschwitz

  –

  Konzentrationslager Auschwitz (Auschwitz Concentration Camp)

  Kleine Postenkette

  –

  the inner security perimeter

  kommandiert

  –

  ordered to stay at work

  Kommando

  –

  a camp work detail

  Krankenbau

  –

  the camp hospital

  Kriegsgefangenenlager

  –

  a prisoner of war camp

  KZN

  –

  Pilecki conflates the Konfederacja Zbrojna (The Armed Confederation—KZ) with the Konfederacja Narodu (The Confederation of the Nation—KN). The KZ was the autonomous military arm of the KN, a Polish underground resistance organization that was formed early in World War II and subsequently integrated into the ZWZ (precursor of the Home Army)

  Lagerältester

  –

  the Head Inmate at the camp

  Lagerführer

  –

  Camp Head; as Auschwitz grew beyond the main camp, each subordinate camp was supervised by an SS Lagerführer, all under the ultimate authority of the Lagerkommandant

  Lagerkapo

  –

  the discipline Kapo (this position was held by an inmate)

  Lagerkommandant

  –

  the Camp Commandant

  Landwirtschaftskommando

  –

  farming Kommando

  Laufschritt

  –

  doing things at the double

  Lederfabrik

  –

  literally, “leather factory”; Pilecki also refers to it as the tannery

  Meldung

  –

  a report

  Muselmann

  –

  camp j
argon for an inmate on his last legs; pl. Musselmänner

  NCO

  –

  a non-commissioned officer

  NIE

  –

  Niepodległość (Independence): a Polish deep-cover anti-communist resistance movement, to be activated when the Soviet Army arrived in Poland in the final stages of World War II

  Oberkapo

  –

  a senior Kapo (this position was held by an inmate)

  Obersturmführer

  –

  the equivalent in the German SS of First Lieutenant

  Ofensetzer

  –

  a stove fitter

  Pawiak

  –

  the Pawiak Prison in Warsaw

  PE

  –

  physical exercise

  Pfleger

  –

  a nurse

  Postenkette

  –

  the security perimeter

  Postzensurstelle

  –

  the mail censorship office

  POW

  –

  a prisoner of war

  PZP

  –

  Polski Związek Powstańczy (Polish Insurrectionary Organization): a name under which the Home Army often hid its identity.

  Rapportführer

  –

  an SS officer responsible for discipline and roll calls in the camp

  Reichsdeutsche

  –

  a German person from the German Reich; pl. Reichsdeutschen

  Scharführer

  –

  the equivalent in the German SS of Staff Sergeant

  Schonungsblock

  –

  the convalescence block

  Schreiber

  –

  a clerk (this position was held by an inmate)

  Schreibstube

  –

  camp term for an office

  Schutzhäftling

  –

  a camp inmate or prisoner held under indefinite detention pursuant to the Nazi German law of Schutzhaft (protective custody)

  Senior Uhlan

  –

  the rank in a Polish uhlan cavalry regiment equivalent to Private First Class

  SK

  –

  Strafkompanie (Penal Company); assignment to the SK, where treatment of inmates was even more brutal than in the rest of the camp, was one of many forms of punishment meted out to camp inmates

  SOE

  –

  Special Operations Executive, a clandestine British organization whose mission was to encourage and facilitate espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance behind enemy lines

  SS

  –

  Schutzstaffel (Protective Guard): an elite paramilitary unit of the German Nazi party which operated under its own command structure separate from the regular German Armed Forces (the Wehrmacht)

  Stammlager

  –

  the main or core camp at Auschwitz

  Stehbunker

  –

  the “standing bunker,” one of the most severe of the punishment confinements

  Strafkompanie

  –

  Penal Company, also known as the SK; assignment to the SK, where treatment of inmates was even more brutal than in the rest of the camp, was one of many forms of punishment meted out to camp inmates

  Strassenbaukommando

  –

  road-construction Kommando

  Stubendienst

  –

  a room supervisor (this position was held by an inmate)

  TAP

  –

  Tajna Armia Polska (the Polish Secret Army): a Polish underground resistance organization formed early in World War II that was subsequently integrated into the ZWZ (precursor of the Home Army)

  Tierpfleger

  –

  an animal or veterinary nurse

  Übermenschen

  –

  “supermen”

  Unterkapo

  –

  a deputy Kapo (this position was held by an inmate)

  Untermensch

  –

  a “subhuman”; pl. Untermenschen

  Verkehrsabkürzungen

  –

  literally, “traffic short-cuts”; apparently jargon used in the SS garrison’s radio room referring to the German cipher keys

  Vernichtungslager

  –

  an extermination camp

  Virtuti Militari

  –

  Poland’s highest award for gallantry

  volksdeutsch

  –

  ethnically German

  Volksdeutsche

  –

  an ethnic German, from outside the German Reich; pl. Volksdeutschen, Volksdeutscher

  Volksliste

  –

  the German People’s Register

  Vorarbeiter

  –

  a foreman; pl. Vorarbeiteren

  Waschraum

  –

  a washroom

  Winkel

  –

  an identification triangle worn by a camp inmate

  Zettel

  –

  a camp assignment card

  Zugang

  –

  a new camp inmate, or a new transport of inmates to the camp

  ZWZ

  –

  Związek Walki Zbrojnej (The Union for Armed Combat): the Polish underground resistance organization into which smaller resistance organizations were integrated, eventually renamed the Armia Krajowa (AK, or Home Army)

  1 The country Canada was seen as a symbol of wealth. At Auschwitz, “Canada” was enormous, and its overspill extension in Birkenau alone (“Canada II”) consisted of thirty large barrack huts.

  APPENDIX 2

  German-Language Positions and Ranks at Auschwitz Mentioned by Pilecki1

  * * *

  SS PERSONNEL

  Positions:

  Lagerkommandant

  –

  the Camp Commandant

  Lagerführer

  –

  Camp Head; as Auschwitz grew beyond the main camp, each subordinate camp was supervised by an SS Lagerführer, all under the ultimate authority of the Lagerkommandant

  Rapportführer

  –

  an SS officer responsible for discipline and roll calls in the camp

  Blockführer

  –

  an SS block supervisor

  Gemeiner

  –

  as used by Pilecki, refers to a low-level SS man

  Ranks:

  Obersturmführer

  –

  the equivalent in the German SS of First Lieutenant

  Hauptscharführer

  –

  the equivalent in the German SS of Master Sergeant

  Scharführer

  –

  the equivalent in the German SS of Staff Sergeant

  INMATES

  Lagerältester

  –

  the Head Inmate at the camp

  Lagerkapo

  –

  the discipline Kapo

  Oberkapo

  –

  a senior Kapo

  Kapo

  –

  a work supervisor or “trusty”

  Unterkapo

  –

  a deputy Kapo

  Häftling

  –

  a camp inmate or prisoner

  Schutzhäftling

  –

  a camp inmate or prisoner held under indefinite detention pursuant to the Nazi German law of Schutzhaft (protective custody)

  Zugang

  –

  a new camp inmate, or a new transport of inmates to the camp

  At Work:

  Arbeitsdienst

  –

  work assignment office or leader

  Vorarbeiter

  –

  a foreman; pl.
Vorarbeiteren

  Pfleger

  –

  a nurse

  Schreiber

  –

  a clerk

  Tierpfleger

  –

  an animal or veterinary nurse

  In the Blocks:

  Blockältester

  –

  a block chief or leader

  Stubendienst

  –

  a room supervisor

  Bademeister

  –

  a washroom supervisor

  1 In approximately descending order of authority, where appropriate.

  APPENDIX 3

  Index of People and Places Referred to by Pilecki with Either a Code Number or Letter

  (Military ranks and titles are included, where known.)