World War II Activities
In the summer of 1939 Piasecki went to Wilno where he stayed during the invasion of Poland in World War II. In September 1939, he volunteered to the Border Defence Corps, to fight the Soviets. After capitulation of Poland, he was offered a chance to move to France, but refused and decided to stay in his occupied homeland. Even though he had never been a member of the Home Army (he said he worked for its executive branch No 2, which – like many of his stories – was never confirmed), he had cooperated with the Polish resistance, and in 1943 became an executioner, carrying out capital punishment sentences handed down by underground Polish courts. His wartime noms de guerre were "Sucz", "Kira" and "Konrad". Later, he wrote two books about his war activities. These are Wieza Babel (The Tower of Babel) and Adam i Ewa (Adam and Eve). Among those who he was ordered to execute, was Józef Mackiewicz, falsely accused of cooperating with the Germans. However, Piasecki refused to kill him, and later it was revealed that Mackiewicz's accusations had been made up by the Soviets.
Read more about this topic: Sergiusz Piasecki
Famous quotes containing the words world, war and/or activities:
“So may the outward shows be least themselves—
The world is still deceived with ornament.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“When they are not at war they do a little hunting, but spend most of their time in idleness, sleeping and eating. The strongest and most warlike do nothing. They vegetate, while the care of hearth and home and fields is left to the women, the old and the weak. Strange inconsistency of temperament, which makes the same men lovers of sloth and haters of tranquility.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–c. 120)
“That is the real pivot of all bourgeois consciousness in all countries: fear and hate of the instinctive, intuitional, procreative body in man or woman. But of course this fear and hate had to take on a righteous appearance, so it became moral, said that the instincts, intuitions and all the activities of the procreative body were evil, and promised a reward for their suppression. That is the great clue to bourgeois psychology: the reward business.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)