The son of World War II Auschwitz death camp hero Witold Pilecki is seeking millions in compensation from the Polish government for his father’s post-war arrest and 1948 execution by the country’s communist authorities of the time.
The case opened Thursday before a Warsaw court and the next session is scheduled for January. Andrzej Pilecki, aged 90, argues that 26 million zlotys ($5.7 million) compensation would be due to his father by Poland’s law that redresses communist-era wrongs.
His father, Cavalry Capt. Witold Pilecki, a Polish resistance member, volunteered in 1940 to be caught by the Nazi Germans and held at Auschwitz in order to organize resistance there and gather evidence of German atrocities. He escaped in 1943 and wrote a report that was the first direct account from Auschwitz made available to the Allies.
After the war he was arrested, tortured and executed by the Moscow-appointed authorities on charges of spying for Poland’s government-in-exile in London. His remains have not been found.
In 1990, Poland’s democratic government paid Pilecki’s widow and two children compensation for the material support that they lost due to his execution.
(AP)
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3 Responses
Wouldn’t this be like asking the Israeli government to pay reparations based on wrongful acts of the British, Turks, Crusaders or Romans? For all purposes Poland was under foreign military occupation (by the Soviet Union) and the “Polish” government during that period was a sham. By what theory would they be liable for what the occupation government did?
Paying the reparation should be shared between the Russians and the Polish? Like the mashel in Perek Chelek of the body and the soul. Where a blind and lame stole the fruits of a tree by the blind hoisting the lame on his shoulders who was able to pick the fruits of the tree. Each one blamed the other as they were unable to accomplish it alone. Similarly the body and soil are judged together,
Akuperma: The Polish government at the time was Polish, not Russian. They were appointed by the Russians and chosen because they were socialist/communist supporters. (look at the last detail on the caption). Had it been a Russian government, you’d probably be right, but the Poles themselves recognize this and have passed a law that makes the current democratic state liable for the actions of its communist predecessor.