Hon. Robin Scott

We believe that the heroic contribution of Pilecki in the battle to maintain the dignity of man, his deeply felt compassion for each victim, his determination to spread information about the mass extermination of Jews, Poles and other nationalities in the German concentration camp of Auschwitz, deserves world recognition. This book and exhibition present the most unusual hero who deserves commemoration.

The exhibition is dedicated to Captain Witold Pilecki - the founder of the underground organization in the German extermination camp KL Auschwitz and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, part of which presents profiles of Australian pilots who took part in helping the Warsaw insurgents. The aim of our exhibition is to convey to the public the most important historical narratives of the Warsaw Uprising within the history of the Second World War.

The Uprising was essentially a response to the brutal German occupation of Poland, but for all its heroism, more than 200,000 Polish civilians were killed in the 63 days of its duration. The sacrifice of these innocent civilians must be remembered equally with that of their comrades in arms. Our aim is to show how, for these two months in 1944, strength and dignity surpassed the fear of death; how one’s individual survival mattered less than the universal message of freedom from oppression.

While the Germans aimed to subjugate and destroy the Polish nation during the five years of occupation since 1939. August 1944 saw the culmination of Polish opposition to this persecution. In the largest single military response by a European resistance movement, the Uprising stated clearly: “We have had enough; we will stand up to you together regardless of what anyone else does. Poland will fight.”

Polish Ambassador Michal Kolodziejski

About "Report W" Report W provides irrefutable and detailed first-hand evidence of the existence of German Nazi built and operated concentration and extermination camps, in particular about the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. The Pilecki report, an honest, insightful, comprehensive, detailed and fair account of what the life inside the camp was like certainly corrects some misguided views and makes it possible for the whole truth about those days of horror to come to the surface.

We owe it to Pilecki and to the resistance movement he helped set up at Auschwitz that the first message from inside that camp reached Warsaw already in November 1940. That message was taken by an underground ZWZ courier to London in March 1941 and presented to the governments of all major Western allies of Poland.

The Polish Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki, veteran of the First, and Second, World War, a prominent and very active member of one of the first Polish military underground organization operating under German occupation during WWII (TAP) took such a vivid interest in finding out what the prisoners’ conditions of life and practices within the Nazi established Auschwitz camp were like that on 19 September 1940 he joined a group of Poles as they were being rounded up by Germans in a Warsaw street, so that he could be sent to that camp, get acquainted with it, provide various forms of assistance to inmates, improve their morale, and assess the chances of liberating the camp with assistance from the Polish underground detachments operating in the region, or Polish airborne units from Great Britain.

His task was also to let the headquarters of Polish underground military organizations in Warsaw know of the overall situation and camp practices, including those in place at the Birkenau mass extermination sub-camp of Auschwitz. He sent a number of messages to Warsaw through released prisoners or escapees, and also sent many of them from a radio transmitter prisoners built and clandestinely operated at Auschwitz.

The Hon. Robin Scott Min. for Multiculturalism

Tragically, his alarming messages from the Auschwitz camp and the evidence of unheard of scale of extermination and atrocities were practically ignored by the Western powers. We believe that the heroic battle fought at Auschwitz, and later, by Pilecki to uphold the dignity of every human being, his deeply felt compassion for every victim, his determination in spreading the information about the mass extermination of Jews in the German concentration camp KL Auschwitz, deserve a global recognition. In his book "Six Faces of Courage", British historian Michael Foot counts Pilecki amongst six bravest members of resistance movement during WWII.

In the foreword to the book “The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery” which was published in USA in 2012 by Aquila Polonica, Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, had this to say about Pilecki: “…Pilecki is a shining example of heroism that transcends religion, race and time…” When God created the human being, God had in mind that we should all be like Captain Witold Pilecki, of blessed memory. May the life of Witold Pilecki inspire us all to do one more good deed, of any kind, each day of our lives?”

In February 2014 the Pilecki Project Committee has donated, to the Jewish Holocaust Museum in Melbourne, authentic copies of the original historical documents provided by Polish Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamieci Narodowej)relating to the extraordinary conspiratorial activities of Captain Pilecki in the Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp.

Polish Ambassador M. Kolodziejski with IPN's VicePresident Jan Baster

The Pilecki Project Committee’s book „Report W KL Auschwitz 1940-1943 by Captain Witold Pilecki” was distributed to the following organisations worldwide:
• Jewish Holocaust Museum in Melbourne
• Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem
• Auschwitz-Birkenau Former German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Memorial and Museum
• The Australian War Memorial
• National Library of Australia - State Library of Victoria
• Monash University Library
• The Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw
• Glen Eira Libraries and Learning Centres

About our Pilecki Project Committee
A volunteer group of friends and polish organizations formed with the purpose of drawing attention to the heroism and achievements of Captain Pilecki, in Australia. Board of Pilecki Project Committee President: Andrzej Nowak
The Committee consists of:
• Veterans of Polish Home Army (who fought in the Warsaw Uprising)
• Associations of Poles in Melbourne
• Association of Polish Political Prisoners in Australia
• Social activists

About the Polish Community Council of Victoria Inc. The Polish Community Council concentrates on activities such as:
• Polish Language Schools Program
• Polish Care Services Bureau also concentrates on events such as:
• Polish Seniors’ Day
• Picnic for Polish Seniors in Healesville
• Anniversary of the First Polish Democratic Constitution – (3 May 1791)
• Debutante Ball
• Polish Festival at Federation Square
• Polish Sports Festival
• Anniversary of the restoration of Poland's sovereignty

Workers at the Polish Community Council of Victoria are bilingual and are aware of customs, culture and religious needs that are significant and valued by clients. Thus, the services provided by the Polish Community Council, are carefully planned and delivered to address clients’ individual needs.

About Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamieci Narodowej)
The Institute of National Remembrance was established to address issues, which are considered essential to the legislative power in Poland, primarily to preserve the memory of:
• The losses which were suffered by the Polish Nation as a result of the World War II and the post-war period;
• Patriotic traditions of fighting against occupants, Nazism and Communism;
• Citizens’ efforts to fight for an independent Polish State, in defence of freedom and human dignity;

About the Exhibition Report X 8 -10/05/2018
8:30am – 5:30pm
Official Launch of the Exhibition on Tuesday 8th at 11:00am Parliamentof Victoria . Media Contact: Mr Marian Pawlik OAM President of Polish Community Council of Victoria Inc. Phone: 0407 353 962 Email: marianp@netspace.net.au