Resistance movement in Auschwitz

The organization of underground resistance movements in Auschwitz began in the second half of 1940, shortly after the camp became operational in May of that year.

In September 1940 rotmistrz Witold Pilecki arrived in the camp. Pilecki (using the name Tomasz Serafiński, prisoner number 4859) had allowed himself to be captured by Germans in a street round up (łapanka) with the specific purpose of having himself sent to Auschwitz in order to gather information on the then new camp, and to organize resistance inside. Under Pilecki's direction the Związek Organizacji Wojskowej (Union of Military Organization), ZOW, was formed. Initially the resistance organization was composed of Polish political prisoners and POWs, with former soldiers of the Polish Army playing a prominent role. In February 1942 Col. Kazimierz Rawicz (in the camp hiding under the name Jan Hilkner) organized a cell of the Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Union of Armed Struggle), ZWZ.

At about the same time, imprisoned activists of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), such as Stanisław Dubois, began forming their own organizations (Dubois was executed by the SS in 1942). Additionally, prisoners associated with the pre-war Polish right wing, like Jan Mosdorf and Roman Rybarski, also formed their own group. As the number of prisoners grew and the camp expanded, efforts were undertaken to unite the various Polish resistance movements within Auschwitz. This was achieved in 1942 when ZOW and other smaller groups formed a single organization associated with the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK), the successor to ZWZ. The first commander of the larger group was Rawicz, representing ZWZ, who was transferred to Mauthausen concentration camp in 1942. The leadership was then taken over by Juliusz Glilewicz, who was killed in a mass execution in October 1943.



International resistance
By the end of 1942, with the camp now housing prisoners from all across Europe, other resistance cells appeared, usually formed along national and ethnic lines. In addition to a Jewish resistance group, there existed Czech, Russian, Yugoslav, French, Austrian and German ones, mostly with a leftist or socialist political bent. An international organization, Kampfgruppe Auschwitz (Auschwitz Combat Group), was created in 1943. In 1944, together with the Home Army, the Kampfgruppe set up an overall Auschwitz Military Council to coordinate resistance.

The main objectives of the resistance movements were to help prisoners survive, to collect intelligence on Nazi atrocities in the camps, to organize escapes, and to prepare for an eventual uprising within the camp. The last of these never materialized, although several mass mutinies occurred, most notably that of the Jewish prisoners of the Sonderkommando, in October 1944. The Polish resistance organizations, with help from Poles outside the camp, were also involved in smuggling in medicines for the prisoners.

External link

 * The Polish Underground Movement in Auschwitz Concentration Camp