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Witold Pilecki. Confronting the legend of the “volunteer to Auschwitz”
Ewa Cuber-Strutyńska
redakcja@holocaustresearch.pl Author BiographyEwa Cuber-Strutyńska, historian, completed post-graduate studies at the Institute of History of the Pedagogical University of Cracow. Author of scholarly articles regarding the history of KL Auschwitz, the Holocaust, and modern military conflicts. Currently working on her doctoral dissertation regarding forms of help provided to KL Auschwitz prisoners by clergymen. Recent publications: Nieliczni z Nielicznych – Polskie Siły Powietrzne na Zachodzie w wybranych dokumentach i wspomnieniach (2016) and Rola i znaczenie środowiska byłych więźniów nazistowskich obozów koncentracyjnych na przykładzie działalności
PZbWP 1946–1949 (2017).
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6259-7960
Institute of History, Pedagogical University in Krakow
Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, No. Holocaust Studies and Materials (2017), Pages: 281-301
Submission Date: 2020-12-06Publication Date: 2017-12-06
https://doi.org/10.32927/zzsim.720
Abstract
This article is an attempt to analyse the historical memory of Witold Pilecki functioning in the reference literature and collective consciousness. The author concentrates on their idealising and simplistic elements, which lead to mythologization of Pilecki, and asks about the genesis and purpose of creation of myths about the Captain. Basing on an analysis of the sources, Cuber questions the legitimacy of the two popular expressions used with regard to Pilecki, that is, “volunteer to Auschwitz” and “the author of the first report about the Holocaust.” In this way the author points out the necessity to correct and supplement Pilecki’s biography by means of a careful and cautious analysis of all the available sources.
Keywords
Witold Pilecki , Captain Pilecki , volunteer to Auschwitz , Pilecki’s report , Raport W
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Copyright (c) 2017 Author&"Holocaust Studies and Materials"
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The journal is published under the Diamond Open Access Standard, CC-BY-4.0 Deed - Attribution 4.0 International - Creative Commons
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