I escaped from Auschwitz

[v2]

Kazimierz Piechowski is one of just 144 prisoners to have broken out of the notorious Nazi camp and survive. Today aged 97, he tells his extraordinary story.
n 20 June 1942, the SS guard stationed at the exit to Auschwitz was frightened. In front of him was the car of Rudolph Höss, the commandant of the infamous concentration camp. Inside were four armed SS men, one of whom – an Untersturmführer, or second lieutenant, was shouting and swearing at him.
"Wake up, you buggers!" the officer screamed in German. "Open up or I'll open you up!" Terrified, the guard scrambled to raise the barrier, allowing the powerful motor to pass through and drive away.
Yet had he looked closer, the guard would have noticed something strange: the men were sweating and ashen-faced with fear. For far from being Nazis, the men were Polish prisoners in stolen uniforms and a misappropriated car, who had just made one of the most audacious escapes in the history of Auschwitz. And the architect of the plot, the second lieutenant, was a boy scout, to whom the association's motto "Be prepared" had become a lifeline...

full stroy: I escaped from Auschwitz

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Gnomey]

Remarkable story!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

 

[mikewint]

The definition of Cojones and big ones at that!

 

[Old Wizard]

 

[swampyankee]

Kazimierz Piechowski is one of just 144 prisoners to have broken out of the notorious Nazi camp and survive. Today aged 97, he tells his extraordinary story.
n 20 June 1942, the SS guard stationed at the exit to Auschwitz was frightened. In front of him was the car of Rudolph Höss, the commandant of the infamous concentration camp. Inside were four armed SS men, one of whom – an Untersturmführer, or second lieutenant, was shouting and swearing at him.
"Wake up, you buggers!" the officer screamed in German. "Open up or I'll open you up!" Terrified, the guard scrambled to raise the barrier, allowing the powerful motor to pass through and drive away.
Yet had he looked closer, the guard would have noticed something strange: the men were sweating and ashen-faced with fear. For far from being Nazis, the men were Polish prisoners in stolen uniforms and a misappropriated car, who had just made one of the most audacious escapes in the history of Auschwitz. And the architect of the plot, the second lieutenant, was a boy scout, to whom the association's motto "Be prepared" had become a lifeline...

full stroy: I escaped from Auschwitz

PBS showed a piece about the escape for Sobibor.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Yeah!

 

[swampyankee]

It seems to be a common meme that people went to the death camps and just hung around being tortured to death. Another is that the local people in Eastern Europe all just sat around, greeting the nazis with flowers. There were very active resistance movement. Of course, the nazis tended to respond to these by killing everybody in a village or town if they thought the residents were aware of the resistance group.

 

[v2]

Only the Ukrainians, Belarussians and Russians greeted the Nazis with flowers. What's worse, many of them embarked on the SS and served faithfully Hitler, murdering Poles for example during the Warsaw Uprising. They all hoped that the Germans would free them from Stalin's yoke. They were wrong, as we know...

 

[swampyankee]

Only the Ukrainians, Belarussians and Russians greeted the Nazis with flowers. What's worse, many of them embarked on the SS and served faithfully Hitler, murdering Poles for example during the Warsaw Uprising. They all hoped that the Germans would free them from Stalin's yoke. They were wrong, as we know...View attachment 377261

Certainly, it was not universal among them, either. Ukraine, definitely, and Belarus and Russia, possibly, had somewhat fraught relations with Poland, also, which may have been a second factor encouraging them to help the nazis. A lot of Eastern Europeans were also notoriously anti-semitic, being more than willing to help in exterminating Jews. See, for example, Yad Vashem - Request Rejected, Yad Vashem - Request Rejected, Yad Vashem - Request Rejected