Drive It Like You Stole It: Escaping Auschwitz In A Stolen Car
When Kazimierz Piechowski and 3 fellow inmates escaped Auschwitz in 1942, they chose the most dauntless of ways: nicking the commandant's own car.
When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, they immediately a comprehensive list of people they didn't like very much. On that list were, besides Jews, communists, gypsies and homosexuals, the Polish Boy Scouts. One of those Boy Scouts was 19-year-old Kazimierz Piechowski. He was, understandably, not very comfortable staying in Poland and decided to try and make a break for it. His goal was France, which at that point in time was not yet occupied. Unfortunatly, he was captured at the Hungarian border and, as one of the first, sent to Auschwitz as a political prisoner.
Lead-up to the escape
In Auschwitz, Kazimierz got relatively lighter jobs, among which was carrying the bodies of dead prisoners to the crematorium to be burned, but he also worked in the camp's supply store, where the uniforms and weapons were kept. Because of that, he was still alive two years later, and had even made a friend, Ukrainian car mechanic Eugeniusz Bendera, who worked in the camp's garage. Neither of them thought about trying to escape, as the camp was very well guarded, had electrified barbed wire and watchtowers every few hundred metres. Life in Auschwitz was horrifying, but escaping, the two men figured, was nowhere near possible. And even if they managed to do it, they both knew 10 other inmates would be starved to death in reprisal for a any succesful escape.
Kazimierz Piechowski in Auschwitz, via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kazimierz_Piechowski_(KL_Auschwitz).JPG
This changed, however, when they found out, through a fellow inmate who had access to the camp records, that Bandera was to be killed. When Kazimierz and Eugeniusz discussed this, they hatched a gutsy plan. Bandera said he could get them a car from the garage. However, they still needed to get past the gate, and prisoners in a German car would not fool the guards. Fortunately, at this time, Kazimierz worked in the camp's warehouse, and could get them uniforms and even weapons, but it wouldn't be easy. So, the two recruited fellow inmates Stanislaw Jaster, veteran of the invasion of Poland, and the priest Józef Lempart, who were also scheduled to be killed, and started working on their plan.
The Great Escape
June 20th, 1942, was designated 'D-Day', and 2 years to the day since Piechowski had entered Auschwitz. All four knew that if they got caught, none of them would live to see another morning, and should their plan fail, they agreed to shoot themselves.
So, the plan went into effect. Three men, led by Kazimierz, stole a trash cart from the camp's kitchen and pretended they were on a job. It worked. When they were out of sight of the guards, they quicky hid the cart and Kazimierz led them into the warehouse through a coal hatch which he had sabotaged the day before. As quickly and quietly as their underfed bodies could, the men grabbed 4 uniforms and matching machine guns, and grabbed another 8 hand grenades. Meanwhile, Bandera went to his job in the garage, as if nothing was happening. Once there, he looked around and picked the fastest car he could see: a 55 bhp Steyr 220 limousine, powered by a 2.3 litre six-cilinder in-line engine, paired with a 4-speed manual gearbox, belonging to camp commandant Rudolf Hoess.
Steyr 220, the model Rudolf Hoess drove, via Autobuy.ru - http://autobuy.ru/wpage/121189
Using a copied key, Bandera got in the car and drove it to the warehouse. Once there, he got dressed and the four prisoners, now disguised as SS officers, drove towards the main gate, doing the Hitler salute to the SS guards as they drove past. But once at the gate, a problem arose: they had counted on the gate being opened on the sight of the commandant's car. But as they approached, the gate remained closed. Bandera stopped, hoping the guards would, by some miracle, open the gate. They didn't. The men were now petrified and sat trembling with fear in their stolen car. Kazimierz didn't know what to do and, with a pale face, stared at the closed gate in terror. Suddenly, Lempart hissed at him to do something, as Kazimierz was the only one who spoke German. So, he mustered up the courage to bluff his way out of Auschwitz.
"Wake up, you buggers! Open up or I'll open you up!"
He opened the door, enough for the guards to see his uniform, and started yelling in German at the guards manning the gate. "Wake up, you buggers! Open up or I'll open you up!" Startled by what they thought was an angry SS officer, the guards rushed to open the gate and let them through. Bandera drove off, and kept driving for 37 miles on dirt roads and through forests, before they abandoned the car and continued on foot until they reached civilization. There, the men shook hands, said goodbye, and each went their own way.
Aftermath
Lempart fell ill during their time in the forest and was left with a parish priest. In revenge for the escape,his mother was sent to Auschwitz, where she died. Lempart never went back to being a priest, and started a family. Józef Lempart died in an accident in 1971.
Stanislaw Jaster joined the Polish resistance, known as the Home Army. After the escape, the Germans sent his parents to Auschwitz, where they died. Jaster himself was later accused of treachery with the Germans, found guilty and executed by the Polish Home Army. This has later been called “one of the biggest mistakes of Polish Home Army” by Kazimierz Piechowski.
Bandera and Piechowski went to Ukraine together, but soon, Kazimierz returned to Poland. Bandera stayed, and fought with the local resistance against the Germans. After the war, Eugeniusz Bandera lived in Warsaw, where he died in the 1980's.
Kazimierz Piechowski joined the Polish Home Army after returning from Ukraine, where he fought the Germans for the remainder of the war. When the communists came to power after the war, Piechowski was in prison for 7 years for being a member of the Home Army. He then went on to become an engineer in Gdansk. After the fall of communism, he travelled the world with his wife, Iga, and together they visited over 60 countries, and returned with her to Auschwitz, 30 years after his escape. On the 15th of December 2017, Kazimierz Piechowski died. He was 98 years old.
Kazimierz Piechowski. Photo: Maciej Kosycarz/KFP, via Gdansk.pl - http://www.gdansk.pl/gdanszczanie/Zmarl-gdanszczanin-Kazimierz-Piechowski-uciekinier-z-niemieckiego-obozu-Auschwitz,a,96574
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Comments (10)
Wow that is quite something! A truly interesting story. I’m now even prouder to be Ukrainian/Polish!!
I didn't know that story. One of my grandmothers was born in Poland. Her parents left their native country with the growth of the nazism in the 1930s. I''ve never known if my Polish family had survived during that awful period. It's still a sad escape of course. The parents of those courageous prisoners gave their lives to save their children. Sometimes, a car isn't a simple machine.
That's exactly what hit home for me with this story. It's heroic and sad at the same time. Good to hear at least your family made it out. Ever tried to find out what happened to those who stayed in Poland?
I tried to have more informations about where my grandma came from but I haven't got answers. She died when I was 2 years ago. After her dead, nobody wanted to talk about her.
I didn't expect to find that kind of article on drivetribe, but I'm glad I found; thanks!
I'll never understand how people could allow to something that unhumanly horrible like WWII, or any other war...
Why isn't this on the main page???
What a harrowing tale. Really terrific.