In the autumn of 1918, the First World War was drawing to a close. The Germans were retreating, but the Bolsheviks were advancing, so voluntary Polish military groups were formed; they were known as the Self-Defense of Lithuania and Belarus or the Vilnius Self-Defense. Witold joined these troops and in 1918/19, he took part in liberating Vilnius. Therefore it can be seen that he fought in the war against the Bolsheviks from the very beginning. When Polish troops were forced to leave the city, Witold joined the Dąmbrowski brothers’ Vilnius Unit of the Polish Army, which was later renamed as the 1st Uhlan Regiment. It was under their command that Witold participated in guerilla warfare in the Polish Eastern Borderlands, fighting for their incorporation to the reborn Poland. He served with the Vilnius Uhlans from December 1918 to October 1919, with a two-month break in the spring, when – under orders from Jerzy Dąmbrowski – he commenced education in a secondary school in Warsaw. Krzysztof Tracki, who researched the life of Witold Pilecki, wrote that „The period of service […] with «Łupaszka’s» [Dąbrowski’s] unit proved invaluable. Suffice it to say that over those several extremely difficult months in 1919 [Witold] was transformed from a belligerent scout into a mature soldier – an uhlan and a guerilla.” At the beginning of October, Witold returned to Vilnius and to the Lelewel Secondary School. He also became the troop leader of the Adam Mickiewicz 8th Vilnius Scouting Troop in the Vilnius Region. At the time the scouts offered assistance to law enforcement agencies, performing policing duties in the city ravaged by the German occupation.

Due to a catastrophic financial situation, in March 1920 Ludwika Pilecka went with Maria and Witold to Sukurcze, the Pilecki family estate, leaving Julian with two younger children in the city. The estate was in ruin. Witold took care of the estate until he returned to the front in July 1920. In the face of the looming Bolshevik offensive, he attempted to rejoin his unit in Vilnius. When this proved impossible, he joined the 1st Company of the Vilnius Scouts Battalion as section (platoon) commander. His troops were tasked with defending Vilnius. Despite the heroic defence, the city surrendered on 14 July. Next the scouts were ordered to defend the line of the Neman River. They fought without respite, but had to retreat towards Warsaw under pressure from enemy forces. Witold and his battalion reached the capital on or around 5 August. There Witold ran into his former commander, Jerzy Dąmbrowski, and joined his unit. On 12 August, he was promoted to senior uhlan and fought several battles with his new brothers in arms. In October, he fought under the command of General Lucjan Żeligowski; he also took part in the so-called mutiny that was aimed at incorporating the Vilnius region into Poland.

Pilecki left active service towards the end of December. He returned to school to take his secondary school-leaving examination, which he passed in May 1921. He wanted to study art at the University of Vilnius, but his family was in a poor financial situation, because his father entered into disadvantageous agreements with the tenants of Sukurcze. Eventually, Witold had to take a job instead. In February, he joined the National Security Union – an apolitical organisation aimed at protecting Poland’s territory. In order to become its member, a candidate had to have a good reputation and be recommended by two active members. Having sworn an oath, Witold completed non-commissioned officer training courses. In May 1921, he was sent to Nowe Święciany as a division commander. He remained active in the National Security Union for three more years, but was thus forced to leave the scouts. As he explained himself: „These were uncertain times, and the aim was to revive military traditions. We trained with weapons and held drills to be prepared for everything.” Other tasks of the National Security Union included the promotion of Polishness in the local communities. The union members distributed brochures and books, organised courses for the illiterate, held meetings and discussions, organised celebrations of public holidays etc. In the spring of 1922, Witold Pilecki began working with the „Demat” (Military Surplus Liquidation Unit) where he was tasked with dismantling military equipment from the war.

In 1923 in Nowe Święciany, Witold met his first great love – Kazimiera Dacz. A few years ago, over a hundred letters she had received from Witold were discovered in the attic of the house where she had lived. These letters demonstrate that despite his great affection, Kazimiera was not equally smitten. They also depict Witold’s transformation from, to use Krzysztof Tracki’s words, „an almost starving veteran of the fight for independence, a functionary of the National Security Union and an unassuming clerk at the «Demat», through the secretary to the investigative judge at the Regional Court in Vilnius, into a proud owner of Sukurcze who commands respect in the neighbourhood.” Witold returned to Sukurcze on 1 September 1926, when – having won a lawsuit – he finally managed to get rid of a fraudulent tenant. The estate was in ruin, and the family suffered abject poverty. Over the course of thirteen years, Witold made numerous efforts to restore the estate to its former glory. He wrote: „Farming the land is the type of work that suits my needs and gives me what I treasure the most: freedom, independence, a chance for implementation of my individual plans, as well as sustenance.”
 
At the time Witold undertook agricultural correspondence courses in Poznań, organised a farmers’ collective and established a dairy cooperative. He became engaged in social service and formed voluntary units of “Krakus” Mounted Cadet Corps, training the local youth to defend their country. He also found time for artistic activities: he wrote poems and painted. He did not leave the army – as a second lieutenant in the reserves, he was assigned to the Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz 26th Greater Poland Uhlan Regiment. He regularly took part in military exercises and training. Witold married Maria Ostrowska, who worked at the school in nearby Krupa. Maria came from Ostrów Mazowiecka, where the couple got married on 7 April 1931. They met in the area of Sukurcze in 1929, during “social work”, as Maria later recalled. She was staging a school play and he helped with the decorations. It took him two years to win her affection. After the wedding, they took residence in Sukurcze. Soon their two children were born: son Andrzej (born 1932) and daughter Zofia (1933). Due to his wife’s ill health and her work, Witold Pilecki took an active part in the upbringing and care of his children. They both have many memories from that time. Together they formed a happy and loving family. The happiness, however, was shattered with the outbreak of the Second World War.

In August 1939, Witold Pilecki was called to arms and he took part in the defensive war together with his „Krakus” unit and his favourite horse Bajka. His troops were defeated near Piotrków Trybunalski; that was also where his beloved mare perished. He reached Warsaw on foot, looking for a unit which he could join to continue his fight. Under the command of General Wacław Piekarski, he began to organise cavalry for the 41st Reserve Infantry Division – he managed to gather 160 horsemen and 70 cyclists. On 15 September, the division was joined by Major Jan Włodarkiewicz and a dozen uhlans. Pilecki knew Włodarkiewicz from training in the 26th Uhlan Regiment. Since he had a higher rank, he assumed command of the troops. On 17 September, when the Soviets attacked Poland, the Commander-in-Chief ordered a retreat through Romania and Hungary. Nevertheless, soldiers from Pilecki’s unit decided to stay in the country and continued fighting till the first days of October. When they learned of the fall of Warsaw and Modlin, they decided to change tactics. They arranged to meet in the apartment of Major Włodarkiewicz’s mother at the beginning of November.

After the end of the defensive war, Witold went to Ostrów Mazowiecka, hoping to meet with Maria, who had stayed in Sukurcze in September. She was not there, so on 1 November he cycled to Warsaw to create underground resistance structures. On 9 November, in the apartment of Eleonora Ostrowska, Maria’s sister-in-law, Pilecki established the Secret Polish Army together with Włodarkiewicz. The founding members were Jan Włodarkiewicz, Witold Pilecki, Jerzy Maringe, Jerzy Skoczyński, as well as Jan and Stanisław Dangel. On the following day, in a church on Długa Street in Warsaw, they took an oath in the presence of Father Jan Zieja, the chaplain of the Secret Polish Army.

Content of the oath

Assuming as the motto of my life the watchword:

God, Honor, Fatherland,

vowing unconditionally loyal and dedicated service to the Polish Nation, I hereby declare that the military oath which I once took before God continues to apply to me in relation to the present, solely legal government of General Sikorski and the authorities of the NAP clandestine military organisation, and pursuant to this oath I solemnly promise upon my word of honour:

1. – to maintain absolute discipline and complete obedience with respect to superiors within the organisation,
2. – to loyally and strictly keep the organisational secrets entrusted to me,
3. – while laying the entirety of my strength at the disposal of the Fatherland – to fulfil the duties with which I have been encumbered with complete diligence and devotion, until such time as I shall be released from my promise.

So help me God.

Włodarkiewicz was the leader of the Secret Polish Army, and Pilecki became his deputy. He was tasked with recruiting new members and creating organisational structures. In 1940, the Secret Polish Army numbered approx. 19,000 people in the vast Polish territories. The members were mostly young people who received training from reserve officers. The organisation had a distinctively Christian and patriotic character and was subordinate to the Polish Government-in-Exile. At the time Witold Pilecki was already using identity papers issued in the name of „Tomasz Serafiński”.

In the summer of 1940, there arose the need to infiltrate the concentration camp established by the Germans in the vicinity of Oświęcim. Witold Pilecki volunteered for the mission. On 19 September, he was arrested during a round-up in the Żoliborz district of Warsaw; two days later, he was transported to KL Auschwitz. He spent two years and seven months at the camp. His main task was to report to the Polish authorities about the situation in the camp and the atrocities committed there by the Germans. At the same time, he was building a clandestine network, whose aim was not only the provision of mutual help in these terrible circumstances, but also the formation of cadres for the future uprising. The organisation, which he called the Military Organisation Union, relied first and foremost on his colleagues from the Secret Polish Army. The basic units were called fives, and these small groups did not know one another. As a result, in case of exposure and brutal interrogations, the Germans could learn only a few names. At the height of its activity, the organisation numbered about 800 members. On the night of 26/27 April 1943, Pilecki escaped from the camp through the camp bakery together with Edward Ciesielski and Jan Redzej. He wrote in his report: „I left in the night, just as I had arrived. I spent nine hundred and forty-seven days and as many nights in that Hell […]. I left with fewer teeth than when I had arrived, as well as a broken sternum. I paid a very small price for such a long stay in that sanatorium.” The fugitives cut the alarm bell wire and, availing themselves of the guards’ inattention, used a previously prepared wrench to undo the nut that was holding the outer door shut. They escaped eastwards along the Soła and Vistula rivers, hiding in the woods, and then crossed the border to the General Government. Finally, they arrived in Bochnia, where the family of inmate Zbawski lived; they knew about the escape and were awaiting the fugitives. At the beginning of May, Pilecki actively sought contact with the local Home Army command. He wanted to organise an operation to liberate the camp as soon as possible. The deputy commander whom he met at the time was Tomasz Serafiński – the man whose name he used at the camp. It was in his house that Pilecki spent the next three months writing the first draft of his report.

Since he had no answer from the Home Army, on 23 August Witold left for Warsaw – he hoped that he would be able to intervene on behalf of the prisoners and their liberation would then be organised. Unfortunately, the Home Army did not have sufficient forces at its disposal for such an operation. Witold wrote another account – „Witold’s Report” – which focused on his imprisonment at KL Auschwitz, describing in greater detail the living conditions and the structure of his clandestine network. During his stay in Warsaw, Witold organised financial help for the families of KL Auschwitz and KL Lublin (Majdanek) prisoners. In February 1944, he learned that he had been promoted to cavalry captain a few months earlier. Since Pilecki was a member of the Directorate of Sabotage and Subversive Activity, Colonel August Emil Fieldorf assigned him to organise a covert „NIE” organisation („NIE” stood for „Niepodległość”, i.e. independence), which was to succeed the Home Army after the Soviets had driven the Germans from Poland. Under the command of Stefan Miłkowski, Pilecki was to organise a combat planning division.

On 1 August 1944, although his superiors explicitly forbade him from doing so, Witold Pilecki took active part in the Warsaw Uprising. He joined the Chrobry II Battalion as a common soldier, without revealing his rank. His most important task was to hold the intersection between Aleje Jerozolimskie, Żelazna Street and Starynkiewicza Square. This place later became known as „Witold’s Stronghold”. After the fall of the Uprising, Pilecki hid a few weapons and came forward under his own name. He was imprisoned at the Lamsdorf camp, and later, together with other Polish officers, he was sent to Oflag VII-A in Murnau. He stayed there until 29 April 1945, when the camp was liberated by American troops. He wanted to return to the country and continue the fight against the new occupiers. In July, he went to Italy and joined General Władysław Anders’ Polish II Corps. In Porto san Giorgio, with the help of Maria Szelągowska, whom he had met and worked with in Warsaw and Murnau, Witold Pilecki wrote down a longer version of his „Report” from KL Auschwitz and a memoir about his life up until his mission at the camp. He handed a copy of the „Report” to General Tadeusz Pełczyński.

Pilecki returned to Poland with Maria Szelągowska under the name of Roman Jezierski. He moved into the apartment of a former Secret Polish Army member, Makary Sieradzki, and used his contacts with the Secret Polish Army, the Military Organization Union, the „NIE” organisation, as well as his friends from Auschwitz and the Warsaw Uprising to establish another secret network. Its members were not bound by an oath, and the aim was to pass information about the social and political conditions in the country to the II Corps. As Witold later wrote: „It never occurred to me that my activities could be described as espionage, for I did not work for any foreign power, but sent information to my native Polish unit; I always hoped that one day the Polish government and the émigré authorities would reach some sort of an understanding.”

Witold was arrested on 8 May 1947 in Warsaw. Following a brutal investigation, he was sentenced to death on 15 March 1948. The sentence was carried out on 25 May. The body of Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki has never been found. His family learned about his death only after the collapse of communism in Poland, during Pilecki’s rehabilitation trial in 1990.