Poland Unveils Memorial to WWII Hero Slain by Communists

WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Warsaw’s mayor has unveiled a monument to a World War II hero who volunteered to go to Auschwitz and informed firsthand on the atrocities there but later was killed by the communist regime.

The memorial for Capt. Witold Pilecki is located near the place where in 1940 he let himself be caught by the occupying Nazi Germans. It was a step toward becoming an inmate of the Auschwitz death camp.

Pilecki’s descendants joined hundreds of Warsaw residents and authorities at the ceremony Saturday.

Pilecki wrote reports from Auschwitz before fleeing in 1943. As a freedom fighter, he was caught and executed by the communist government imposed on Poland after the war.