During the time Auschwitz was in operation, some of the residents of Oświęcim and the nearby localities rendered disinterested aid to prisoners, in spite of the penalties of death or imprisonment in the camp for doing so. They helped prisoners laboring outside the camp by covertly supplying them with food, medicine, and warm clothing and by serving as intermediaries in their secret correspondence with their families. Important forms of action for the sake of the prisoners were help in organizing escapes and hiding escapees, as well as receiving documents from prisoners that attested to the crimes committed by the SS. The conveying of an important number of valuable reports about the situation in the camp to the headquarters of the Polish Underground State and the Polish government‑in‑exile in London is one of the greatest accomplishments of the Polish resistance movement. The fact that the Allies never made the proper use of this information is another matter entirely.

According to findings by historians, more than a thousand people were involved in aiding prisoners. Almost 200 of them were arrested by the German authorities; a few dozen paid with their lives, mostly after being imprisoned in the camp.

(Mini dictionary of terms from the history of Auschwitz)