Witold Pilecki: The Man Who Volunteered for Auschwitz

Polish cavalry officer Witold Pilecki deliberately got himself arrested during a Warsaw street roundup in 1940 so he could infiltrate Auschwitz from inside. For 2.5 years he organized a resistance network inside the camp called the ZOW (Union of Military Organization), smuggled out detailed reports about gas chambers and mass murder to the Allies — reports that were ignored by the British government who called them 'exaggerations.' He escaped during a nighttime assignment outside the camp. After liberation he continued spying against Soviet influence and was executed by the Polish communist regime in 1948. His existence was suppressed for decades.