[anonymouzz]

At first nobody believed because there really was no concrete evidence. This was changed by Witold Pilecki:

> During World War II, Pilecki volunteered for a Polish resistance operation that involved being imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp in order to gather intelligence and later escape. While in the camp, he organized a resistance movement and informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz atrocities as early as 1941. He escaped from the camp in 1943 after nearly 2½ years of imprisonment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witold_Pilecki

By 1944 the evidence was massive, yet Arthur Koestler still needed to write this piece.

[maxxxxx]

Pilecki was one tough dude. I always thought he got in, looked around and quickly left. But his biography describes how he participated in camp life for more than 2 years like other prisoners and with the same risk to his life.

This guy was a true hero.

[NeedMoreTea]

> This guy was a true hero.

Absolutely. Nor did he stop. Having left Auschwitz he volunteered to fight in the Warsaw uprising. He hid his rank so fought as a private but later took command of a unit. At war's end he tried to rebuild his network to seek evidence of Soviet atrocities in Poland. That eventually resulted in his capture, show trial and execution.

There are very few of his mould.

[anonymouzz]

(this is based on chats with guides in Auschwitz)

Apparently survival inside the camp for this long was only possible if you knew how to climb the hierarchy, and Pilecki did it well. For example - on the day he (and a few of his friends) fled they were assigned to a job in a bakery. A job in a bakery is one of the best jobs you could possibly get there, as you can steal enough food to not die of starvation.

[maxxxxx]

True. He was very smart and built up a network that kept him alive.

[tomjen3]

Which biography is that (I assume he never got a chance to write his own?)

[maxxxxx]

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/books/review/the-auschwit...

[praptak]

When the evidence builds up gradually it might be less persuasive because of people sticking to their opinions formed when the evidence was weak.