Transcript
Raza Jafre (0:00)
Wondery subscribers can binge full seasons of the Spy who early and ad free on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app. Please be advised. This episode is set inside the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, and includes descriptions and references to violence, suicide, mass murder and the Holocaust. March 1941. Nazi occupied Poland. Straight down the lens. Don't smile. Don't cry. In a small building in the Auschwitz concentration camp, polished by Witold Pilecki, sits blinking on a stool in front of a powerful light. An SS photographer adjusts the focus on his camera, then takes Pilecki's picture for the camp's records. It's been six months since Pilecki allowed himself to be arrested by the Nazis. He came to Auschwitz with a secret mission to smuggle out intelligence about this new German concentration camp and build a resistance organization among the inmates, with the ultimate goal of liberating the camp. Now he has a secret resistance network consisting of several hundred prisoners. But with the camp's brutal conditions making a breakout seem impossible, the priority is on keeping each other alive and smuggling out information about the war crimes taking place here. Turn to the side. You chewing a wasp? Relax your face. To protect his family, Pilecki entered the camp using the identity of a lawyer called Tomasz Serafinsky. But now he fears that these photographs could expose him. If the SS compared them to photos of the real Serafinsky, his true identity could be exposed, bringing the risk of immediate execution and retribution for his family. So he's puffing out his cheeks and pulling his chin downwards to distort his appearance. The ploy risks attracting attention, but it's less dangerous than allowing his true face to appear on German documents. A couple of days after the photo shoot, Pilecki strides through the camp courtyard. He has spent the day laboring in a carpentry workshop. His muscles feel bruised. He is hungry. Suddenly, a voice calls out. Pilecki tenses. He senses the other prisoners around the courtyard watching on with interest. He resists the urge to turn around. To do so would expose his true identity. Pilecki continues walking, but the man who called his name rushes to his side. He throws a friendly arm around Pilecki's shoulder. It's you. The Gestapo chopped my ass into little pieces, demanding to know what happened to you, old friend. Quiet.
Grant Ellis (3:01)
Shh.
Raza Jafre (3:01)
His friend is taken aback. He removes his arm from around Pilecki's shoulder. Don't panic. I told him I didn't know you. Obviously. Don't you remember me? Of course I remember you. But in here, my name is Tomasz. Do you want to get me killed? Promise me. You will never say my real name again. Of course. I promise. I didn't think. Pilecki lengthens his stride, leaving the other man standing in the fading light, looking ashamed. Pilecki feels no remorse for his unfriendly response. The incident has not gone unnoticed by other inmates. Now in this camp, where the smallest advantage can mean the difference between survival and death and desperate, starving prisoners often turn informants for as little as a crust of bread, he must pray nobody uses this information against him.
