Prof. Legutko appeals to Tajani to honour Witold Pilecki: So far, those who resist Nazism have not been properly honored

Ryszard Legutko, Co-President of the European Conservatives and Reformists (EKR) Group, addressed a letter to the head of the European Parliament, Antoni Tajani, in which he called for the commemoration of Witold Pilecki and for his name to be named after one of the rooms in the European Parliament.

Legutko recalls that this week the EP is organising a special session in connection with the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and, in previous years, has adopted a series of resolutions commemorating the victims of totalitarian regimes who were responsible for the 20th-century genocides in Europe committed on an unprecedented scale.

However, I do not believe that those who resisted Nazism and communism in the strongest possible terms by opposing their cruel methods of action have so far been duly honoured. I would therefore like to propose that they be commemorated by naming Witold Pilecki Hall PHS3C050 in the European Parliament in Brussels

— writes Legutko.

In his letter, EKR co-chairman describes Pilecki’s heroic attitude towards two regimes: fascism and communism.

I believe that a man who has shown such great courage deserves to be commemorated. Moreover, it would be difficult to find among European heroes a clearer example of moral values and commitment in the fight against fascism and communism during one of the darkest periods in European history

— Legutko stressed.

Mayor Witold Pilecki (1901-48) is a participant of the Polish-Soviet War, co-founder of the Polish Secret Army, soldier of the Home Army and, since the end of September 1941, a prisoner of Auschwitz, from which he fled in April 1943. In the camp he joined the organization of the resistance movement and then prepared the first reports on the Holocaust, known today as Pilecki Reports.

After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising, together with his company from the „Chrobry II” Group, he was taken prisoner by the Germans. At the beginning of October 1944 he was brought to Stalag Lamsdorf (Łambinowice, opolskie province). After a short stay, on October 19, he and other officers were transported to Oflag VII A Murnau (Germany).

After the war, Captain Pilecki was accused and sentenced to death by the communist authorities of Poland. The sentence was executed in May 1948. The Institute of National Remembrance is still looking for the remains of Pilecki, whose body was probably buried in the former detention centre at Rakowiecka Street in Warsaw. Until 1989, all information about the achievements and fate of Pilecki was subject to censorship.

Tłum. K.J.