Video: 'AUSCHWITZ ,THE NAZIS AND THE FINAL SOLUTION'
(Saturday, June 20, 1942, morning Central European Summer Time; during The Holocaust, part of World War II) — Kazimierz Piechowski, who was among Polish Boy Scouts sent to the camp as political prisoners in 1940, and three other inmates (Stanislaw Gustaw Jaster, Józef Lempart, and Eugeniusz Bendera), conducted a daring escape today from Auschwitz I, the main camp (Stammlager) of the Nazi death camp in Oswiecim.
On the morning of June 20, 1942, exactly two years after Piechowski’s arrival, the escapees left through the main Auschwitz camp through the Arbeit Macht Frei (“work sets you free”) gate. They had taken a cart and passed themselves off as a Rollwagenkommando, a workgroup that consisted of between four and twelve inmates pulling a freight cart instead of horses.
Bendera, an auto mechanic from Czortków (now Chortkiv, Ukraine), went to the motor pool. Piechowski, Lempart, and Jaster went to the warehouse in which the uniforms and weapons were stored. They entered via a coal bunker that Piechowski had helped fill. He removed a bolt from the lid so it wouldn’t self latch when closed. Once in the building, they broke into the room containing the uniforms and weapons, arming themselves with four machine guns and eight grenades.
Video: 'Uciekinier -Kazimierz Piechowski -Auschwitz escape story.'
Bendera arrived in a Steyr 220 Sedan belonging to SS-Hauptsturmführer Paul Kreuzmann. As a mechanic, he was often allowed to test drive cars around the camp. He entered the building and changed into an SS uniform like the others. They then all entered the car: Bendera driving; Piechowski in the front passenger seat; Lempart and Jaster in the back.
Bendera drove toward the main gate. Jaster carried a report that Witold Pilecki (deliberately imprisoned in Auschwitz to prepare intelligence about The Holocaust and who would not escape until 1943) had written for Armia Krajowa’s headquarters. When they approached the gate it did not open.
With the car stopped, Piechowski opened the door and leaned out enough for the guard to see his rank insignia and yelled at him to open the gate. The gate opened and the four drove off.
