
The man who smuggled himself into Auschwitz - dwynings
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8382457.stm
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ajuc
Truly brave man. Another one:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pilecki> \- "Polish James Bond" - he
voluntered to go to Auschwitz in 1940, made reports about what happened there,
organized resistance in camp, stolen some German documents and escaped when
nobody wanted to try and attack the camp (he was trying to persuade Aliants
and Polish Home Army to do that, but they thought it wouldn't work).

~~~
Estragon
"Thought it wouldn't work." Bah, they just didn't care. The Poles were just as
virulently anti-Semitic as the Germans, and the Allies, if they'd given a
damn, would have provided visas for Jewish refugees years before the war even
started.

~~~
p47
In addition to viraptor's post. I want just add that for sure some Poles we're
anti-Semitic. But labeling whole nation like this is a terrible mistake, which
lead humanity to at least one holocaust. In 1930 Jews were 11% of Poland's
population. There we're 116 Jewish newspapers. In September 1939, around 120k
Jews fight with Germans in Polish Army (as officers as well, please find
officer in Whermaht or in SS) against Germans and Russians. All pow's with
Jewish ancestors we're murdered by Germans :-/, only because they we're
Jewish.

Well what my point is, you cannot say things like this, it's just wrong.
You're harming a memory of wonderful and amazing cultural contribution.

I would gladly show you Łódź or Kraków in Poland, so you can witness with your
eyes, how wonderful we're coexistence of Poles and Jews.

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norswap
There is something that puzzles me in all this : why didn't he spoke of it
earlier ? Especially since it's advertised that he did it "so he could tell
others the truth".

Perhaps he spoke about it and it didn't catch media's attention.

Anyway, if it's true then it sure is very brave, and crazy. I mean
infiltrating an extermination camp ? You gotta be insane (or suicidary) to try
something like this.

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colbyolson
Not exactly sure why this story is on HN, but it was interesting read
nonetheless. A very courageous man he was to have done such a thing- twice.

~~~
YuriNiyazov
I'd say that it qualifies under the "it teaches you somethinng about the
world" clause.

~~~
aw3c2
And hacking the real world. The mindset required is not that different.

~~~
potatolicious
Gah! Again with HN's obsession with labeling anything impressive and daring a
"hack".

~~~
colbyolson
I agree. The story here is impressive, courageous, daring, and brash, but
calling it a "great hack" doesnt seem fitting.

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nkassis
Wow, incredible story. That guy must have some incredible nerves of Tungsten.

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joeycfan
Two things.

First, this is irrelevant here. The is about geekdom, remember? And since
Holocaust Remembrance Day in the media is yesterday, today and tomorrow, we
don't need any more reminding.

Second, the reason they didn't bomb the camps is that they knew full well that
right in the middle of a life-and-death struggle, the Nazis were actually
diverting who-know-how-many SS soldiers and their immense support systems to
running these camps.

The war, which tettered on a tipping point several times. might have been way
different if those soldiers has been allowed to actually soldier. The camps
held them down as effectively as several armored divisions.

~~~
ajuc
Camps would be even better at holding soldiers if a few planes bombed them,
and some millions of
Jews/Poles/Russians/Gypsies/Ukrainians/Muslims/Homosexualists, and other
"subhumans" would be free. Nazists would have to catch them again, make these
camps defended better, fight with the people that were escaping, etc.

The more chaos on enemy teritory, the better for me, right?

They (England etc) just didn't believe raports about that camps, and anyway
didn't cared that much about some Jews and Eastern Europeans. They showed the
same in Jalta.

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sown
That's one hell of a hack.

~~~
cema
It is. I think people may have modded you down because they thought you were
being ironic.

~~~
xtho
Or maybe because it doesn't contribute much to the discussion?

~~~
sown
I should have qualified it with "I wonder how he got in; that is one heck of a
hack". This article wasn't mean for that perspective, though. Sorry.

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Zarathu
How is this relevant?

I've been mentally bombarded enough with WW2.

