Poland continues its remembrance of its anti-communist heroes with Witold Pilecki

With the current tensions in the region, it’s of little surprise that the National Bank of Poland is looking to its anti-communist heroes for numismatic inspiration. Just this year we’ve seen coins commemorating the 1920 Battle of Zadworze, Fighting Solidarity, the WWII Warsaw massacres and the 1982 Battle of Lubin. Prior to all of this was the initial release of a new series called “The Enduring Soldiers Accursed by the Communists”.  Looking to be a 22-coin series split over the next 4-5 years, this is obviously a subject close to the Polish heart and anybody that reads the stories of these people will understand why.

The first half-ounce sterling silver coin featured Danuta Siedzikówna and this one commemorates a soldier of exceptional courage – Witold Pilecki. You can read more about this brave man further down, but suffice to say there are plenty of reasons his story needs to be widely told. Each coin has a small band of colour on the reverse face, but is otherwise cleanly struck to a proof finish.

The reverse face depicts images of Witold Pilecki “Witold”, a military eagle, a white and-red-flag with the symbol of Fighting Poland and the inscription “They acted as they should”. This mirrors the basic design style of the previous coin and we can assume the series as a whole. Again designed by Dobrochna Surajewska and struck by the Mint of Poland, the common obverse by Urszula Walerzak is present again, featuring prison bars torn apart and the Polish eagle emblem.

The first two coins are available now and this one will be on sale from 28 September with site sponsors Pela-Coins and Mennica Gdanska likely to get them in, the latter having them up for sale right now at around the 160 Zloty mark (€38 / $40 / £32).

Witold Pilecki was born in an aristocratic family (coat of arms of Leliwa) in Olonets in Karelia on 13 May 1901. During his youth he was active in the Scout movement. In the years 1918-1921 he served in the Polish Army. He fought in the Polish-Soviet War and was twice awarded with the Cross of Valour. In the newly independent Poland he managed the Sukurcze estate near Lida (today in Belarus) which was recovered by the Pilecki family.

At the initiative of Marshal Edward Śmigły-Rydz, Pilecki began to cooperate with the Polish counterintelligence, known as the “second department”. He fought in the Polish defensive war in September 1939, after which he co-organized one of the frst anti German resistance groups: the Secret Polish Army, which joined the Home Army. On 19 September 1940 he voluntarily went to the Auschwitz death camp on behalf of the Secret Polish Army. The goal of his mission was to gather intelligence on the ground and establish a conspiracy self-help and armed resistance movement among the prisoners (Military Organization Union), which was supposed to liberate the camp with help from outside.

During his mission he was the first person to inform the world of the ongoing German genocide. Afer two years and seven months of imprisonment, he managed to escape from the camp in order to continue the implementation of his plan to liberate the prisoners. Due to his volunteer mission in Auschwitz he was recognized in the West as one of the bravest men in German-occupied Europe. During the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, he led the defence of a fortifed area that became known as Witold’s Redoubt (Starynkiewicz Square) and which was never seized by the Germans. Afer being liberated from the German Oflag in Murnau, Pilecki convinced General Władysław Anders that he should return to the Soviet-occupied Poland and establish an underground intelligence-gathering group subordinated to the Polish Armed Forces in the West.

Thanks to his activity, the world learned about the extent of the country’s subjugation to Stalin. At the critical moment Pilecki declined the possibility to escape to the West, saying: “Somebody has to stay here regardless of the consequences”. He was arrested in May 1947 by the Stalinist security services and subjected to brutal interrogation. He was sentenced to death on trumped up charges and executed at the prison’s torture chambers at Rakowiecka street in Warsaw on 25 May 1948. A former fellow prisoner at Auschwitz Józef Cyrankiewicz, who was the Prime Minister at the time, didn’t stand up for Pilecki. Pilecki’s statement that when compared with Communist repressions “Auschwitz was merely child’s play” allow  us to compare the two totalitarianism of the 20th century.

Meanwhile, his request to his wife to buy and read to their children the book “Imitation of Christ” by Thomas à Kempis constitutes the Rittmeister’s lasting message and legacy. The place of burial of the Polish hero hasn’t been identifed to this day (it was probably the “hole of death” at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw, known as the Meadow – Łączka). Those responsible for his death – the Communist authorities, brutal investigators, prosecutors, judges – have never been punished. In 2006, Pilecki was posthumously awarded with the Order of the White Eagle, and in 2013 promoted to the rank of Colonel.

Tadeusz Płużański

SPECIFICATION

NAME 2017 ENDURING SOLDIERS
DENOMINATION 10 Zloty
COMPOSITION 0.925 silver
WEIGHT 14.14 grams
DIAMETER 32.0 mm
FINISH Proof
MODIFICATIONS Colour
MINTAGE 15,000
BOX / COA Yes / Yes