According to American critics, the monodrama by a Polish actor living in the US, Marek Probosz (pictured above in a role of Pilecki), “Auschwitz Volunteer: Captain Witold Pilecki”, was one of ten must-see plays at the United Solo theatre festival.
Probosz himself has been promoting the figure of Witold Pilecki on stages in the USA and Canada for the last five years. The monodrama is an adaptation of the book “Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery” – the first English translation of Pilecki’s report from Auschwitz. The owner of the book’s publisher, Terry Tegnazian fulfills the role of narrator in Probosz’s play.
Capt. Witold Pilecki in Auschwitz
The book-report has garnered many positive reviews, including one from the “New York Times” which called Pilecki “one of the greatest heroes of the 20thcentury.”
Pilecki famously said that in comparison to his torture at the hands of communists “Auschwitz was a trifle”
On the 11thof November, on Poland’s independence centenary, the tickets for the play on Broadway sold out immediately. The show was so popular that the organizers of United Solo decided to put it on twice more during the following week.
Capt. Witold Pilecki in 1930s’
During the Second World War, Captain Witold Pilecki volunteered for a Polish resistance operation which involved imprisonment in the Auschwitz concentration camp. The aim was to gather intelligence and later escape.
After the communist takeover of Poland, he was arrested for espionage in 1947 by the Stalinist secret police and executed after a show trial in 1948. Pilecki famously said that in comparison to his torture at the hands of communists “Auschwitz was a trifle.”
In 2013, he was promoted to Colonel by the Minister of National Defence.
