Warsaw court grants compensation to son of war-hero Pilecki
The son of Captain Witold Pilecki, a Polish war hero who volunteered to be sent to Auschwitz but was later executed by Poland’s communist government, has been awarded PLN 1.5 million (EUR 320,000) for the harm suffered by his father.
Andrzej Pilecki had submitted a claim for PLN 26 million (EUR 5.5 million) in compensation from the State Treasury, and the case opened before the District Court in Warsaw in November 2022.
Captain Pilecki, who was also the co-founder of the Secret Polish Army (TAP) and a soldier in the Home Army (AK), was executed in 1948 for working for "foreign imperialism".
His burial site remains unknown.
The death sentence was annulled in 1990, and in 2006 the captain was posthumously awarded the Order of the White Eagle, and in 2013 he was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel.
During WWII, Pilecki deliberately allowed himself to be captured by the Germans and to be sent to Auschwitz in order to gather information about the camp and form an underground resistance organisation.
He was the author of the 'Witold Report' - the first comprehensive account of the atrocities committed at Auschwitz, which was becoming the epicentre of the Nazi Holocaust of Europe's Jews.
