SPY WEEK Famous Polish Spies - Krystyna Skarbek

Krystyna Skarbek

Krystyna Skarbek (1 May 1915 – 15 June 1952) was a Polish Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent who became a legend in her own time for her daring exploits in intelligence and sabotage missions to Nazi-occupied Poland and France.

She was a British agent just months before the SOE was founded in July 1940 and had been the longest serving of all British women agents during World War II.  Skarbek was extremely resourceful and quite persuasive. Because of her influence the SOE began to recruit increasing numbers of women agents into the organization.

In 1941 she chose her began using the nom de guerre Christine Granville, which she ultimately legally adopted after the war. Skarbek was a friend of Ian Fleming, and is said to have been the inspiration for the charachters of Bond girls Tatiana Romanova and Vesper Lynd.

Krystyna Skarbek was born on an estate at Mlodzieszyn, 56 km (35 miles) west of Warsaw, to Count Jerzy Skarbek, a Roman Catholic and Stefania née Goldfeder, the daughter of a wealthy assimilated Jewish banker. It was a marriage of convenience which allowed Jerzy Skarbek the benefit of using Stefania`s dowry to pay his debts and continue his lavish life-style.

The Skarbeks were well connected with notable relations such as the composer Fryderyk Chopin, Chopin's godfather and prison reformer Fryderyk Skarbek, and American Union General Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski.

The couple's first child, Andrzej took after the mother's side of the family while, Krystyna, second born, took after her father. She shared his love for riding horses, which she sat astride, rather than side-saddle. During family visits to Zakopane in the mountains of southern Poland, she developed into an expert skier. From the very beginning, there was a complete rapport between father and daughter and her penchant for being a tomboy developed quite naturally.

Krystyna first met Andrzej Kowerski her childhood playmate, a her family stables, when his father met with her father the Count to discuss agricultural business.  The 1920s financial crisis had left the family in dire financial straits in which they had to give up their country estate and move to Warsaw.  In 1930, when Krystyna was just 22, her father died. The financial empire of the Goldfeder family had almost all but collapsed leaving barely sufficient money to support the widowed Countess Stefania.

Krystyna found work at a Fiat dealership but soon had to quit due to illness incurred as a result of the auto fumes. Initially, a doctor's diagnosis concluded that the shadows on her chest e-rays were that of tuberculosis, since her father had died of the disease.  She received compensation from her employer's insurance company and followed the advice of her physician to spend as much time in the outdoors as possible.  She spent a great deal of time hiking and skiing the Tatra Mountains in southern Poland.

During this time, Krystyna married a young businessman, Karol Getlich but the marriage ended amicably. They were incompatible.  Subsequently, she was involved in a love affair, but it was nipped in the bud, as Karol's mother refused to allow him to marry a penniless divorcee.

One day while skiing at Zakopane, Krystyna lost control on the slopes and was saved in the nick of time  by a giant of a man who stepped into her path and saved her. His name was Jerzy Giżycki - a brilliant, moody, irascible eccentric young man, who came from a wealthy family in Ukraine. At the age of fourteen, he had quarreled with his father, run away from home, and worked in the United States as a cowboy and gold prospector. Eventually he became an author and traveled the world in search of material for his books and articles. He had visited Africa and knew it well. It was his hope to one day return.

On 2 November 1938, Krystyna and Jerzy Giżycki married at the Evangelical Reformed Church in Warsaw. Shortly thereafter Jerzy accepted a diplomatic posting to Ethiopia, where he served as Poland’s consul general until September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. Skarbek would later refer to Giżycki as having been "my Svengali for so many years that he would never believe that I could ever leave him for good."

LONDON

Frederick Voigt

With the outbreak of World War II, the couple sailed for London, England, where Skarbek offered her services to the British Empire. At first the British authorities had little interest in considering her, but were eventually convinced by Skarbek's acquaintances, including that of journalist Frederick Augustus Voigt, who had previously introduced her to the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).  In 1940 Voigt was working as advsor for the British in the Department of Propaganda in Enemy Countries.  After World War II, George Orwell described Voigt as a "neo-tory" who expounded on the need to maintain British imperial power as a necessary bulwark against communism and for the maintenance of international peace and political stability.

Skarbek travelled to Hungary and in December 1939 persuaded Polish Olympic skier Jan Marusarz, brother of Stanislaw Marusarz, to escort her across the snow-covered Tatra Mountains into Poland. Having arrived in Warsaw, she pleaded with her mother to leave Nazi-occupied Poland. Tragically, Stefania Skarbek refused to comply and died at the hands of the occupying Germans. In what was a cruel twist of fate, she perished in Warsaw's infamous Pawiak prison The prison had been designed in the mid-19th century by Krystyna Skarbek's great-great-uncle Fryderyk Florian Skarbek, a prison reformer and Frédéric Chopin's godfather, who had been tutored in French language by Chopin's father.

Pawiak Prison

An incident in February 1940, illustrates the danger she faced while working as an undercover spy on home turf. At a Warsaw café, she was greeted by a female acquaintance who exclaimed: "Krystyna! Krystyna Skarbek! What are you doing here? We heard that you'd gone abroad!" Skarbek, with cool composure, denied that her name was Krystyna Skarbek, though the woman persisted that the resemblance was such that she could have sworn it was Krystyna Skarbek! After the woman had left, Skarbek remained some time at the cafe before leaving, so as not to arouse suspicion.

Krystyna Skarbek helped to organize a team of Polish couriers that transported intelligence reports from Warsaw to Budapest. Among them, was her cousin Ludwik Popiel who managed to smuggle out the unique Polish anti-tank rifle, model 35, with the stock and barrel sawed off for easier transport but it never saw wartime service with the Allies. Its designs and specifications had to be destroyed upon the outbreak of war and there was no time for reverse engineering. Captured stocks of the rifle were, however, used by the Germans and the Italians. For a period of time Skarbek, had the weapon concealed in her Budapest apartment.

In Hungary, Skarbek met long-lost childhood friend, Andrzej Kowerski, a Polish Army officer, who would later use the British nom de guerre "Andrew Kennedy". Skarbek met him again briefly before the war at Zakopane. Kowerski had lost part of his leg in a pre-war hunting accident, and was now exfiltrating Polish and other Allied military personnel and gathering intelligence.

Skarbek demonstrated her penchant for quick-thinking strategy. When she and Kowerski were arrested by the Gestapo in January 1941 she feigned symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis by biting her tongue until it bled. She won their release. Skarbek was related to the Hungarian Regent, Admiral Mikos Horthy, though a distant one at that. A cousin from the Lwów side of the family had married a relative of Horthy. The pair made good their escape from Hungary via the Balkans and Turkey.

Cairo

As soon as they arrived at SOE offices in Cairo, Egypt, they were stunned to discover that they were under suspicion.because of Skarbek's contacts with a Polish intelligence organization called the "Musketeers". The organization was formed in October 1939 by Stefan Witkowski, an engineer-inventor  who would be assassinated in October 1941, whose identities have never been determined.  Another source of suspicion was the ease with which she had obtained transit visas through French-mandated Syria and Lebanon from the pro-Vichy French consul in Istanbul, a concession offered only to German spies.

Suspicions also surrounded Kowerski and were addressed in London by General Colin Gubbins, head of the SOE (from September 1943). In a letter dated 17 June 1941 to Polish Commander-in-Chief and Premier Władysław Sikorski, he wrote the following:

General Gubbins

Last year […] a Polish citizen named Kowerski was working with our officials in Budapest on Polish affairs. He is now in Palestine […]. I understand from Major [Peter] Wilkinson [of SOE] that General [Stanisław] Kopański [Kowerski's former commander in Poland] is doubtful about Kowerski's loyalty to the Polish cause [because] Kowerski has not reported to General Kopański for duty with the [Polish Independent Carpathian] Brigade. Major Wilkinson informs me that Kowerski had had instructions from our officials not to report to General Kopański, as he was engaged […] on work of a secret nature which necessitated his remaining apart. It seems therefore that Kowerski's loyalty has only been called into question because of these instructions.

 
Eventually,Kowerski was able to clarify any misunderstandings with General Kopański following which he resumed intelligence work. Similarly, when Skarbek visited Polish military headquarters in her British Royal Air Force uniform, she was treated by the Polish military chiefs with the highest of respect.

Intelligence obtained by Skarbek through her connections with the Musketeers, had accurately predicted the invasion of the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941). Consequently, when Skarbek and Kowerski's services were dispensed with, Jerzy Gizycki took umbrage and abruptly resigned from his own career as British intelligence agent. (It was discovered only later that a number of Allied sources, including Ultra, also had similar advance information about Operation Barbarossa.)

Skarbek informed Jerzy, her husband that the man she loved was Kowerski.  Giżycki left for London, eventually emigrating to Canada. Their divorce became official at the Polish consulate in Berlin on 1 August 1946.

Krystyna Skarbek was sidelined from mainstream action. The assistant to the head of F section, Vera Atkins, described Skarbek as a very brave woman, though very much a loner and a law unto herself.

France

By 1944 events had occurred that would lead to some of Skarbek's most famous of exploits. Due to her fluency in French, her services her offered to SOE teams in France, where she worked under the nom de guerre, "Madame Pauline". The offer was timely one - the SOE was encountering a shortage of trained operatives to meet the increased demands being placed on it in the run-up to the invasion of France. Though new operatives were already in training, the process took time to complete. The could not be posted throughout occupied Europe until they acquired the necessary physical and intellectual skills, otherwise their fate as well as that of other SOE colleagues and that of the French Resistance would be greatly compromised.

Cecily Lefort

Skarbek's track record in courier work was exceptional during her missions in occupied Europe and required only a little "refresher" work and some guidance about working in France. There was one particular incident which required immediate attention: the replacement of SOE agent Cecily Lefort, a courier who was lost on a busy circuit whose mission it was to be the first to meet the proposed Allied landings. Skarbek was chosen to replace Lefort, who had been captured, tortured, and imprisoned by the Gestapo.

The SOE had set up several branches in France. Though most of the women in France reported to F Section in London, Skarbek's mission was launched from Algiers, the base of the AMF Section. This fact, combined with Skarbek's absence from the usual SOE training program, has been the source of mystery to many historians and researchers. The AMF Section was only set up in the wake of the Allied landings in North Africa, 'Operation Torch', comprising of staff from London's F Section and the MO4 from Cairo.

The functions of the  AMF Section were three-fold: it was simpler and safer to run the resupply operations from Allied North Africa acroos German-occupied France, than from London; since the South of France would be liberated by separate Allied landings there ("Operation Dragoon"), SOE units in the area needed to be transferred to have links with those headquarters, not with forces for Normandy; the AMF Section tapped into the skills of the French in North Africa, who did not generally support Charles de Gaulle and who had been linked with opposition in the former "Unoccupied Zone".

After the two invasions, the distinctions became irrelevant; and almost all the SOE Sections in France would be united with the Maquis into the Forces Francaises de l'Interieur (FFI). (There was one exception: the EU/P Section, which was formed by Poles in France and remained part of the trans-European Polish Resistance movement, under Polish command.)

On July 6, 1944, Skarbek, as "Pauline Armand", parachuted into southeastern France and became part of the "Jockey" network directed by a Belgian-British lapsed pacifist, Francis Cammaerts. She assisted Cammaerts by linking Italian partisans and French Maquis for joint operations against the Germans in the Alps and by inducing non-Germans, in particular Poles who had been conscripted in the German occupation forces to defect to the Allies.

On August 13, 1944, just two days before Operation Dragoon landings, Francis  Cammaerts, another SOE operative,Xan Fielding who had been operating in Crete, as well as a French officer, Christian Sorensen, were arrested at a roadblock by the Gestapo.  When Skarbek learned that they were to be executed, she managed to meet with Capt. Albert Schenck, an Alsatian, who was the liaison officer between the local French prefecture and the Gestapo. She introduced herself as a niece of British General Bernard Montgomery and threatened Schenck should any harm come to the prisoners. She reinforced her threat by offering two million francs for the men's release. Schenck in turn introduced her to a Gestapo officer, a Belgian named Max Waem.

For three hours Christine argued and bargained with him and, having turned the full force of her magnetic personality on him... told him that the Allies would be arriving at any moment and that she, a British parachutist, was in constant wireless contact with the British forces. To make her point, she produced some broken... useless W/T crystals.... 'If I were you,' said Christine, 'I should give careful thought to the proposition I have made you. As I told Capitaine Schenck, if anything should happen to my husband [as she falsely described Cammaerts] or to his friends, the reprisals would be swift and terrible, for I don't have to tell you that both you and the Capitaine have an infamous reputation among the locals.'
Increasingly alarmed by the thought of what might befall him when the Allies and the Resistance decided to avenge the many murders he had committed, Waem struck the butt end of his revolver on the table and said, 'If I do get them out of prison, what will you do to protect me?'

Cammaerts and the other two men were released. Capt. Schenck was advised to leave Digne. He did not and was subsequently murdered by a person or persons unknown. His wife kept the bribe money and, after the war, attempted to exchange it for new francs. She was arrested but released after the authorities investigated her story. She managed to exchange the money but received only a tiny portion of its value.

Skarbek's service in France restored her political reputation and greatly enhanced her military reputation. When the SOE teams returned from France some of the British women sought new missions in the Pacific War, however Skarbek, being Polish, was ideally suited to serve as a courier for missions to her homeland during the final missions of the SOE. As the Red Army advanced across Poland, the British government and Polish government-in-exile worked together to establish a network that would report on events in the People's Republic of Poland. Kowerski and Skarbek, fully reconciled with the Polish forces, were preparing to be dropped into Poland in early 1945. However, the mission, Operation Freston, was canceled because the first party to enter Poland were captured by the Red Army (they were released in February 1945).

All women SOE operatives were assigned military rank, with honorary commissions in either the Women's Transport Service  - which was an autonomous, though elite part of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) or the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Skarbek appears to have been a member of both.

In preparation for service in France, Skarbek worked with the Women's Transport Service, but on her return had transferred to the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as an officer, a rank she held until the end of the war.

Skarbek was one of the few SOE female operatives to have been promoted beyond subaltern rank to that of Captain, or the Air Force equivalent, Flight Officer, the counterpart of the Flight Lieutenant rank for male officers. Skarbek, by the end of the war was Honorary Flight Officer, a title that of Pearl Witherington, the courier who had taken command of a group when the designated commander was captured, and Yvonne Cormeau, considered to be the most successful wireless operator.

Decorations

For her remarkable exploits at Digne, Skarbek was decorated with the George Medal. Years after the Digne incident, in London, she spoke about her experiences to another Pole, also a World War II veteran that, during her negotiations with the Gestapo, she was completely unaware of any danger to herself. Only after she and her comrades had escaped did she realize "What have I done! They could have shot me as well!"

In May 1947, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) for her work in conjunction with the British authorities. This award is usually presented to officers about the rank of colonel, and a rank above the "standard" award of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) given to other women of SOE.

In recognition of Skarbek's contribution to the liberation of France, the French government awarded her the Croix de Guerre.

After the war, Skarbek was left without financial reserves or a country to return to. Xan Fielding, whom she had saved at Digne, wrote in his 1954 book, Hide and Seek, and dedicated "To the memory of Christine Granville":

After the physical hardship and mental strain she had suffered for six years in our service, she needed, probably more than any other agent we had employed, security for life. […] Yet a few weeks after the armistice she was dismissed with a month's salary and left in Cairo to fend for herself ... [Alt]hough she was too proud to ask for any other assistance, she did apply for […] a British passport; for ever since the Anglo-American betrayal of her country at Yalta she had been virtually stateless. But the naturalization papers […] were delayed in the normal bureaucratic manner. Meanwhile, abandoning all hope of security, she deliberately embarked on a life of uncertain travel, as though anxious to reproduce in peace time the hazards she had known during the war; until, finally, in June 1952, in the lobby of a cheap London hotel, the menial existence to which she had been reduced by penury was ended by an assassin's knife.

During the latter part of her life, she had met Ian Fleming, with whom she allegedly had a year-long affair,although there is no proof that this affair ever occurred. The man who made the allegation, Donald McCormick, relied on the word of a woman identified only by the name "Olga Bialoguski"; McCormick always refused to confirm her identify and did not include her in his list of acknowledgments.

Death

Christine Granville met an untimely end at a Kensington Hotel on June 15, 1952 where she was stabbed to death by a man by the name of Dennis Muldowney, an obsessed merchant-marine steward and former colleague whose advances she had rejected. After being tried and convicted of her murder, Muldowney was hanged on the gallows at HMP Pentonville on 30 September 1952.

Krystyna Skarbek / Christine Granville was interred in St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery at Kensal Green, in northwest London.

Following his death in 1988, the ashes of Skarbek's comrade-in-arms and partner, Andrzej Kowerski (aka Andrew Kennedy) were interred at the foot of her grave.

A Legend

Skarbek became a legend during her lifetime and after her death, has become forever after immortalized by popular culture.  In Ian Flemings first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, the character Vesper Lynd is said to have been modeled after Skarbeck.  According to William F. Nolan, Fleming also based Tatiana Romanova, in his 1957 novel From Russia, with Love, on Skarbek.

Four decades later, in 1999, Polish writer Maria Nurowska published a novel, Milosnica (The Lover)—a fictional story about a female journalist's attempt to probe Skarbek's story.

A Polish TV series has been announced by Telewizja Polska (Polish Television) about Skarbek.

The Krakow Post report on February 5, 2009 that Agnieszka Holland will direct a big-budget film about Skarbek—Christine: War My Love.

George Medal

Order of the British Empire

Croix de Guerre (France)

 

Source: Wikipedia 

Suggested Links:

The Spy Who Dazzled Churchill

Editors Note:  FYI:  The images of medals posted here may or may not be the exact version which was awarded to the recipient.There are several classes for each medal depending on various factors such as type of military (or civilian)service, rank of officer (or soldier), class of award, year in which it was awarded, etc. The lack of sufficient information on the web (or omission) has compounded the difficulty in selecting the correct class of medal. I apologize for any inaccuracies.

SPY WEEK Famous Polish Spies - Kazimierz Damazy Moczarski

Kazimierz Damazy Moczarski 

Kazimierz Damazy Moczarski ( July 21, 1907 - September 27, 1975 was a solider in the Polish Home Army ( Armia Krajowa) and Head of the Bureau of Information and Propaganda in the last Polish Army General Headquarters and Polish Home Army. His code names were "Borsuk", "Grawer", "Maurycy", Rafal",  In August 1946 he was arrested by the communists and sentenced to ten years imprisonment.  It was later reduced to five years. 

While in prison he was tortured, deprived of medical attention, and was not allowed outside of  his cell for a period of 6 years and 3 months. He had no contact with the outside world for 4 years and 6 months, - family letters, books, newspapers were prohibited and forbidden to shower for 2 years and 10 months.

In 1949, in order to humiliate him the Soviets forced him to share the same prison cell withh SS-Gruppenfuhrer Jurgen Stroop, who was responsible for the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto. 

On November 8, 1953, Moczarski was sentenced to death but his sentence was changed to life in prison. In April 1956 Moczarski was released from prison in Wronki, acquitted on all counts as well as rehabilitated by a court in December 1956. He later published a book entitled "Conversations with an Executioner" chronicling his conversations with the notorious Jurgen Stroop while incarcerated.

49 Types of Torture

K. Moczarski's letter to the [communist] Chief Military Prosecutor Office dated 14 February 1955. It reads as follows:

During the investigation proceedings launched against me on the grounds of my alleged collaboration with Germans (I was faulted with left-wing uncovering activities) - in the period from 30 Nov 1948 to 22 Sep 1952 - the following officers and non-commissioned officers of the former Department of Investigation [of Polish Secret Police from the Ministry of Internal Security - (MBP): Lt Col Dusza Jozef, Maj Kaskiewicz Jerzy, Capts Chimczak Eugeniusz and Adamuszek Adam, Sc Lt Szymanski Tadeusz, Staff Sgt Mazurkiewicz and Sgt Stanislaw Wardynski ([vel] Wardenski or Wardeski) employed the following 49 types of torture and battery against me:

Beating of the whole body ("any possible spot") with:

bare hands (Dusza, Kaskiewicz, Chimczak),

a rubber truncheon (Dusza, Kaskiewicz)

a brass rod (Dusza)

a bar [Dusza and Sgt Stanislaw Wardynski (Wardenski or Wardeski)

a wooden rule with metal fittings (Dusza, Kaskiewicz, Chimczak),

a stick (Dusza)

a whip (Kaskiewicz)

a blotter and inkwell base (Chimczak, Adamuszek)

Beating of particularly sensitive areas of the body:

bridge of the nose with a rubber truncheon (Dusza),

protruding shoulder blades with a rubber truncheon(Dusza)

gland area of the chin - which resemble mumps when swollen - with a rubber truncheon (Dusza) and rule (Dusza, Kaskiewicz)
shoulder joints with a rubber truncheon,
the outside of my bare feet and in the toe area with a viscous-rubber covered bar (Kaskiewicz)
finger tips with a blotter and inkwell base(Chimczak and Adamuszek)
bare toe tips with a rubber truncheon (Dusza)
bare heels (series of 10 blows - with a rubber truncheon - to a heel, several times a day) - (Dusza)

Pulling hair:
 
off the top of my skull (Dusza, Kaskiewicz, Chimczak)
off my temples, above the ear and neck area - so called goose plucking (Dusza, Kaskiewicz, Chimczak)
off my beard and moustache (Dusza, Chimczak)
off my chest (Chimczak)
off my crotch and scrotum (Chimczak)
 
Burning:

of the eye and lip area with a glowing cigarette (Chimczak)
of the eye and lip area with a glowing cigarette (Chimczak)
of each hand's fingers with a burning torch (Dusza, Kaskiewicz, Chimczak)
Crushing each hand's fingers placed between two pencils (Dusza, Kaskiewicz)
Crushing each foot's toes (jumping on my feet) - (Dusza, Kaskiewicz, Chimczak)
Kicking legs and torso (Dusza, Kaskiewicz and Sgt Stanislaw Wardynski)
Kicking shin area in particular (Dusza, Kaskiewicz, Chimczak)
Stabbing with pins and nibs, etc. (Dusza, Chimczak)
Face and ears pinching with a hand and key (Chimczak)
Forcing me to sit on the edge of the stool (Dusza, Chimczak)
Forcing me to sit on a bolt hurting my rectum (Dusza)
Cuffing my hands with American automatic handcuffs which was followed by tearing them off my wrists (Dusza with a platoon Sgt Tadeusz Szymanski)
Physical exercises - forcing me to do knee bends until I swooned (Dusza)
Forcing me to run up and down the stairs for about 20-30 minutes - with the ward supervising at Lt Col Dusza's command)
Solitary confinement for indefinite time (also naked) - (Dusza)
Sleep deprivation for the period of 7-9 days through waking me (I was standing in a freezing cell) with continuous slaps on my face performed by the guarding officer of the former MBP. The method called Beach or Zakopane pushed me into semi-dementia and resulted in mental health problems - visual and auditory hallucinations - their symptoms resembled the body's condition after taking mescaline or peyote (Dusza with wards)
Standing to attention in a prison cell for indefinite time (Dusza with inspecting officers and wards of Mokotow Unit 11 and later (after 11th Nov 1950) Mokotow Block A
Standing to attention in a prison cell and interrogation room with my hands raised above my head for indefinite time (Dusza with inspecting officers and wards of Mokotow Units 10 and 11)

I was not allowed to receive parcels from my family (every week my sister would send parcels with food, although - according to the regulations at that time - I was allowed to collect merely 10 - 15 out of 70 parcels. The remaining number on Dusza's orders was not returned to my sister.

Reduction in food rations (during the peak period of my investigation I would be given only 0,5 of coffee, about 350 grams of bread and a litre of thin soup daily). Furthermore, there were times when I would not be allowed to have anything to drink - the torture of thirst on Dusza's orders

Security checks in my cell, at nights when - after waking - I was forced to stand to attention, unclothed and in a freezing draught for up to an hour (the torture was supervised on Dusza's orders by an inspecting officer - called Hiszpan or Gruby - of Unit 10 and wards.)

Removing windows from my cell (October 1949) for 24 hours while I was sleeping under 1 blanket, partly touching the concrete floor (1 pallet shared between 3 prisoners). The torture was supervised by an inspecting officer of Unit 11 with Mazurkiewicz, a ward, all that at Dusza's orders.

Pouring buckets of water in to the cell regularly. The torture was supervised by an inspecting officer of Unit 11 and the wards - Mazurkiewicz and Stanislaw Wardeski. All of that on Dusza's orders.

Medical help deprivation, although I was ill (urinating blood for 1,5 month). I was suffering at Dusza's orders until dr Kaminska's medical attention (very caring attitude) to all prisoners from Block A.

I was not allowed to have open air [outside] walks and [was] prohibited from leaving the building for the period of 6 years and 3 months on Dusza's orders until 22nd September 1952 when I had my first walk in cell 22 of Mokotow Block A. In addition, I could not have showers for the period of 2 years and 10 months,

Moral abuse:

Vulgar and elaborate verbal insult aimed at me and my family members. The abusers included Lt Col Dusza, Maj Kaskiewicz, Capt Chimczak and inspecting officers of Mokotow Unit 11 (Mazurkiewicz, Wardynski and others). While in Unit 11 I was continually bullied by the inspecting officers and wards on Dusza's orders.

I was deprived of any contact with the family (not a single letter or a piece of news from my mother, wife and sister for the period of 4 years) or the outside world (no newspapers etc.) or books (from 30th Nov 1949 to 6th Nov 1952 I did not read a single printed word). All of those on Dusza's orders.

I was subject to moral tortures of the following types: an official (yet false) statement - read to me by Col Rozanski in the presence of Capt Dusza - that my wife, Zofia Moczarska, whom I love dearly, died of tuberculosis b) an insinuating statement (additionally embellished with crude remarks and insults) of Capt Chimczak concerning an alleged unethical conduct of my wife.
 
I was subject to moral tortures supervised by: Maj Kaskiewicz who, similarly to other investigating officers, called me a Nazi and wrote the word in bold on my forehead with an acrylic pencil. Furthermore, he would not allow me to wash it off and I was forced to wear it in my cell and during the interrogation.

Lt Col Dusza who - in order to humiliate me - ordered to place me in one cell with Nazis (the executioner of the Warsaw Ghetto - SS Gen. J. Stroop among others.

Lt. Col.Dusza Jozef, Maj.Kaskiewicz Jerzy, Capt.Chimczak Eugeniusz, Lt. Adamuszek Adam, an inspecting officer Ludwik Wlodarczyk, whom prisoners called Hiszpan or Gruby (currently one of the three inspecting officers of Mokotow Block A and wearing lieutenant uniform or civilian clothes; in 1949 he used to have a badge of the participants in the Spanish Civil War pinned to his jacket lapel; he is about 5.8 ft, obese, 40-something-year-old), the following inspecting officers: Tadeusz Szymanski (recently a Sc Lt of Mokotow Unit 10), Mazurkiewicz (recently a Staff Sgt for general purposes in Mokotow), Wardynski (Wardenski or Wardeski) Stanislaw (recently a Staff Sgt in Mokotow Prison) and many others, whose names I do not know, employed all previously described tortures and abusive methods against me with the consent and in the presence of Cols Jozef Rozanski and [Anatol] Fejgin as well as the Deputy Minister - general [Roman] Romkowski. The latter declared - around 30th Nov 1948 and in the interrogation room situated on the first floor of Unit 10 as well as in the presence of Col Rozanski - that I will experience a "living hell" - and apparently he was right about it.

I would also like to stress that not all of the investigation and inspecting officers of Unit 10 and Block A and not all wards, although clearly instructed and ordered as to the methods of torture and abuse, would gladly and eagerly employ them against me.
 

" The initial fragments of K. Moczarski's letter to the Chief Military Prosecutor Office dated 14 February 1955 are published in accordance with the description enclosed in K. Moczarski's letter to a solicitor, Wladyslaw Winawer, and sent from prison in Sztuma on 25th February 1955 - a typescript copy from the collection of Aniela Steinsberg. The content of this document, and its translation is being published here under the Greater Public Good doctrine.   Translated by Katarzyna (Kasia) Urbaniak

Notes: Maj. Jerzy Kaskiewicz, one of many of Moczarski's tormentors died in December 1999, and until his death lived on Spacerowa Street in Warsaw. "  




Reproduced from Doomed Soldiers.com

SPY WEEK Famous Polish Spies - Interview with Andrzej Kiszka

THE FOREST WAS MY ONLY SAFETY
AN INTERVIEW WITH FAMOUS POLISH SPY ANDRZEJ KISZKA

Andrzej Kiszka “Dab”  captured by Polish Secret Police (SB)  on 30 December, 1961

Andrzej Kiszka, code name “Leszczyna”, and “Dab” was an AK-WiN and an NSZ Soldier. For years he was able to evade capture until 1961 when the Polish Secret Police, the SB (Sluzba Bezpieszenstwa) and the MO (Milicja Obywatelska)surrounded his bunker in the forests near Huta Krzeszowska and arrested him.  He was sentenced to life in prison though he committed no crime. He was released from jail in 1971 however the courts of the Third Polish Republic refuse to clear him of his “crimes”. 

THE FOLLOWING IS AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDRZEJ KISZKA

Under what circumstances did you join the largest Home Army – NOW (pol. Narodowa Organizacja Wojskowa - National Military Organization) partisan unit, under command of Franciszek Przysiezniak “Ojciec Jan” (translated:  “Father John”), operating in our area?

I joined the underground in 1941. Initially I was with BCh (pol. Bataliony Chlopskie – The Peasants’ Batalions), and later from October 1942 in AK/NOW. My immediate superior in Maziarnia was Bednarski, and under him I took the oath before the Holly Cross, and the red-and-white [Polish] flag.  It was then, that I decided that I will be faithful to her [Poland] until my death.  It was dictated by my faith and my love for my country.

Initially, along with my colleagues from NOW we dug up arms [which were hidden] in 1939, and we gave them to the “Ojciec Jan” unit.  After German pacification operations in 1943, I transferred to the unit under [command of] Przysiezniak, and participated in all operations, until the Soviets came in July, 1944.

You joined the People’s Militia (pol. Milicja Obywatelska) after that?

After the Soviets entered, I retuned to my unit, and reported to the commandant Bednarski, from whom I received orders to join the Militia.  I was to report to him all communications received by the County Office of MO.  In November, 1944, an order came from Bilgoraj, that the lists of those to be sent into Siberia are being prepared, because the NKVD regiment will be arriving to conduct arrests along with the [local] MO unit.  It was a secret, but one of the Militia men (he was in PPR – Communist Party of Poland) told me about it.  I told the commandant of the station, that I am leaving with two of my colleagues from the “Ojciec Jan’s” unit.  I was lucky, because, we found out later, that we were among the first ones on the list of those to be sent into Siberia.  I took my RKM [light machine gun], and immediately reported this to Bednarski.


Later you were in the NZW of Jozef Zadzierski, nom de guerre “Wolyniak”.  After his tragic death in December, 1946, you didn’t lay your arms down, but continued [fighting] in the Adam Kusz “Garbaty” unit.

The NKVD action didn’t go as planned. They arrested people who didn’t belong to any [underground] organization, and they were sent to Siberia. Many of them died there, and those who returned, didn’t live for very long. Several innocent farmers were also murdered.  It is then, that I decided to join the NZW unit of “Wolyniak”.  His second in command was my friend from the “Ojciec Jan” unit, Adam Kusz “Garbaty”. With this unit, I took part in all of the operations, including a 10-hour long battle for Kurylowka, against NKVD, and UB. After the death of “Woyniak”, only few of us were left.

We were with Kusz, “Garbaty, who in 1947, asked that I reveal myself [to the communists as a part of the amnesty they announced], and I did so. If this amnesty was to be for real, the rest of the unit was to reveal themselves as well. However, it quickly became clear, that this is an operation directed at arresting most active members of the underground. I returned to the Adam Kusza [‘s unit], where I remained until it was destroyed, that is, until 19 August, 1950.

In July 1950, “Garbaty” initiated contact with people who [he thought] were, allegedly trustworthy. They supplied us with money to purchase food, and promised us fake documents, so we could escape to the West. The “Kapitan” was to be from the District Command of WiN in Lublin.  Through his initiative, in order to maintain contact with the West, a short wave radio, along with two men to operate it were brought into the unit. Unfortunately, we found out, that they were UB agents, and the radio transmitter was used to locate the place where we were staying. On August 15, 1950, the Janow forests were encircled by 3,000 men from the KBW, UB, and MO. Our commander divided us into two groups, and along with five of my colleagues, we went on our own. “Garbaty” along with rest of the unit, and the radio operators, went in the opposite direction.  We were escaping into direction of the Lipsk forests (pol. Lasy lipskie), and we were able to pierce through the encirclement, when on the third day, after we went through the swamps.  “Garbaty” knew the Janow forests like the back of his own hand, and certainly was able to pierce through the encirclement. He and his colleagues, had to be certainly murdered by the [commmunist] UB radio operators.

From the moment the “Garbaty’s” unit was liquidated, until 1961, you hid from the communist security apparatus, i.e. in the bunker in the forest. Who helped you? I had a contact with colleagues who collaborated with the forest unit of “Garbaty”.  They were Stanislaw Flis “Czarny”, Jozef Klys “Rejonowy", Stefan Wojciechowski “Bogucki”. The winters were the worst, and it was difficult to hide in barns, because we left too many tracks in the snow.  For this reason we build a bunker in the forest, and under cover of snow we would stay there for three, or four months. Later Jozef Klys and Stefan Wojciechowski were murdered by the UB (pol. Urzad Bezpieczenstwa – Office of Security) from Pilatka [office].  When I was the only one left, I hid in bunkers and in forests. With the help of two trusted people, I built bunker number three. First, we prepared materials, and then at night we dug up a hole. We covered it with tree logs, and sheets of tar, so the moisture wouldn’t get inside. On the top [of the bunker] we planted pine trees and moss. The entrance was built in such way that you couldn’t see it. Inside was a small well, so that the water could be boiled, and a metal bucket served as a toilet. We also created two openings to allow the air to circulate, and for sleeping I had a bed. The bunker was built in the area of the Huta Krzeszowska forest inspectorate, near the village of Cismy, on the hill, in a thick forest.In Ciosmy, I had a contact with two guys, but they were helping me only during the summer months. They didn’t know about the existence of the bunker. I had provisions for the Winter: potatoes, some macaroni, and bread. The meat, and the fat were from deer I hunted, and that was marinated. These provisions would last me entire winter. I would cook two times a day on a small alcohol-fueled stove, and for the duration of winter I had about 40 liters of this fuel. During the winter, I would lock myself in the bunker. I couldn’t leave it, since I would be leaving tracks in the snow. The bunker was warm inside, and I would sit inside wearing only a shirt, and I had books to read. During one winter, a small mouse got into the bunker, and fell into an empty jar from the grease, and she lived in it whole winter, and I had someone to talk to. I let her go in Spring. I was hiding by myself, and a slew of the UB snitches were doing everything they could to arrest me, or to murder me. So during the winter, I would stay in the bunker, and during the Spring and Summer, I was in charge of my forests. They saved me. All of my colleagues who hid in the villages were murdered by the UB, usually as a result of being betrayed [by the conmunist collaborators]. And so I survived until the 31 December, 1961.I spent winter in the bunker. There was about half a meter of snow [covering it], and the bunker was well concealed.  Based on many years of experience, I didn’t leave the bunker.  Nonetheless, someone had to betray me, because they knew exactly where under a thick layer of snow was my bunker. I heard them clearing out the snow, and digging.  I heard that during the interrogations they didn’t torture people as much as before, and even though I had an arsenal of weapons, I surrendered without a fight. For your activities on behalf of sovereign Poland you were sentenced to life in prison.  The Supreme Court changed your sentence to 15 years.  As a result of amnesty, you left the prison walls after 9 years.  How were you able to live with a mark of a “reactionary bandit”? I left the prison in 1971.  I traveled to my family.  A local parish priest summoned me.  I found out from him, that the UB (Urzad Bezpieczenstwa – Polish Secret Police) were giving him American Dollars and a car, to confess my family and extract from them where I am hiding.  He warned me to be careful of people. I left for Western Poland, into the Szczecin voivodship, where a wife of my deceased brother lived. She had small children and a farm.  I married her.  Despite many difficulties we managed to live, and dream of free Poland.  Not even our neighbors knew about what I have gone through, and after so many disappointments and betrayals, I  was careful.  I knew that the communist regime was watchful, and was interested in what I am doing. During the Third Polish Republic, the soldiers of the Anticommunist Underground were rehabilitated and decorated.  In your case, both the Polish courts, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, refused to acknowledge that you sacrificed 29 years of your life for a sovereign Poland. It is a very painful subject for me.  The existing law can only be described as shameful and barbaric.  I am guilty of fighting for the honor of the Polish Soldier.  On October 23, 1954, along with my unit, I went to the Rataj Ordynacki, where Jan Lukasik, a secretary of the communist PZPR party, and before that NKVD collaborator, and UB confident lived.  I intended to rough him up a little and warn him that he better stop handing over information about the underground soldiers to the “bezpieka”.  He slept when I entered, he reached for his revolver which was under the pillow.  I was quicker, and while trying to save my own life, I fired. According to the presently existing laws, if he killed me it would have been a "Communist Crime" (pol. "Zbrodnia Komunistyczna"). But since it is me who shot him, I became a bandit.  The testimony of witnesses didn’t do any good.  The commanding officer of the NSZ (pol. Narodowe Sily Zbrojne – National Armed Forces) partisan unit, Skamrbimir Socha,  even testified, that since Lukasik contributed to sending scores of Home Army (pl. Armia Krajowa) soldiers into Siberia, I had a right to carry out a death sentence against him. These were the last orders of the NSZ (National Armed Forces).  When my lawyers exhausted all legal possibilities, Lt. Col. Skarbimir Socha, received from me an authorization to issue a complaint  before the European Court of Human Rights.  The main argument was that no detailed investigation was ever conducted by the IPN (pol. Institute of Public Remembrance) in Lublin.  Another important argument was issuing to me rights of a combatant until 31 December, 1956, by the Commission for Veterans Affairs (pol. Urzad do Spraw Kombatantow).  (In this decision we read, that the period after 31 December, 1956 can not be included because the law considers 1956 to be the cutoff date). My imprisonment from January 1962 until August 1971, was also recognized as “activities on behalf of the Sovereign Poland”.  The Polish courts however didn’t exculpate me, nor did they ever address the issue of the murder of the soldiers from the “Garbaty” unit committed by the UB in August, 1950. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg reviewed my case, but issued an unfavorable decision to me.   All of my attempts to receive help from the European Parliamentarians whom I asked for help didn’t succeed.  They never even bothered to respond. For my military service against the Germans I was decorated with the National Action Cross (pol. Krzyz Narodowego Czynu Zbrojnego), and the Partisan Cross (pol. Krzyz Partyzancki).  They don’t give any medals for fighting the communists. So, here you have it – the justice in Poland. What would you tell those who know about German and Soviet occupation only from the history books? I am an old man. I am 85 years old. I finished only an elementary school. The rest is the school of hard knocks which thought me a lot. Love your God, because he will give you the strength to survive, and even love people. God is just. Love your church, because it has always been, and always will be your pillar of strength. In the underground, in the UB prisons, the priests were [also] always with us [as they were also jailed]. And love Poland, because you can’t live without her. We were raised by our parents who lived enslaved [by the communist tyranny], but cultivated [free] Poland in their hearts. For her, we were dying, we were tortured, we were imprisoned, and degraded. Even though my heart is aching from sorrow, I don’t regret those 29 years that were taken away from me. I acted, as my honor as a Pole, and as a soldier dictated. I am proud of it. We thank you for taking the time to speak with us.  Andrzej Kiszka among Polish Anti-Communist Resistance soldiers. source: Doomed Soldiers,com

SPY WEEK Famous Polish Spies - Antoni Kocjan

Antoni Kocjan


Antoni Kocjan (August 12, 1902– August 13, 1944), was a renowned Polish glider constructor and contributed to intelligence services of the Polish Home Army during World War II.

Antoni was the son of Michal Kocjan and Franciszka Zurawska, born in the village of Skalskie near Olkusz. He completed the Gymnasium of Casimir III in Olkusz in 1923 and enlisted in the army during the Polish-Soviet war.



Following the end of the war, he studied at the Warsaw University of Technology in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Aviation and at the Warsaw Agricultural University. During his studies he collaborated with plane constructors of group RWD. He married Elizbieta Zanussi on 1939-11-30.

Kocjann finished a pilot's course in 1929, and a year later won the second award at the Young Pilot's Championship. Later he was part of the crew of the RWD-2 and RWD-7 airplanes which surpassed the world's height record.

RWD-2

In 1931 he obtained an engineer's degree and began working at the Experimental Aviation Workshops in Warsaw and constructed his first plane "Czajka", a trainer glider that was later put into serialized production in several designs.

Kocjan became the head constructor of the Glider Workshops on the Mokotow Field in Warsaw in 1932. and designed the training glider "Wrona" and a year later, the training-sport glider "Komar". These three successful gliders and their improved versions, "Czajka-bis", "Wrona-bis" and "Komar-bis", became mass produced in Poland and in lesser quantities under license abroad in Estonia, Finland, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Palestine.

In 1934 Kocjan designed a trainer glider "Sroka" that was also built in large numbers. Subsequently he designed the aerobatic glider "Sokol" and in 1936, together with Szczepan Frzeszczyk, the aerobatic glider "Mewa". In 1937 he built his most known single-person aerobatic glider "Orlik". The version "Orlik 3" took second place in the competition of standard gliders for the anticipated 1940 Summer Olympics.

In the years 1948-1949, "Orlik 2"  was piloted by the American Paul McCready during which he set the world's height record for gliders at 9,600 meters. In 1937 Kocjan also designed the motor glider "Bak" of which only ten units were built. The production of "Komar" was also renewed after the war.

In the first days of World War II, Kocjan was wounded by bomb shrapnel. After the defeat of Poland in 1939, he enlisted in the underground army, ZWZ which later transformed into the Home Army. On September 19, 1940, he was captured and arrested during a street raid and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. However, after ten months he was released.

Antoni Kocjan possessed great daring in his participation in the Polish Resistance, particularly in connection to the underground production of weapons and planning actions. He made a significant contribution in identfiying Peenemunde as the testing site of the German V-1 and V-2 Rockets and succeeded in working out the technical structure of one of their rockets.

On June 2, 1944 he was arrested together with his wife and imprisoned in the Pawiak prison. He was murdered by the Gestapo on the 13th of August along with the last forty prisoners of Pawiak during the Warsaw Uprising.

source: Wikipedia

SPY WEEK Famous Polish Spies - Boleslaw Kontrym

Boleslaw Kontrym

Boleslaw Kontrym (August 27, 1898—1953) was a Polish army officer, soldier of the Armia Krajowa (Home Army), and fought in the Warsaw Uprising,  and organized the secret police force. He was also known by his codenames: Żmudzin, Biały, Bielski, and/or Cichocki.

Kontrym was born in Zaturka near Luck (Wolyn) He began his military career in March 1915, when he volunteered with the Imperial Russian Army.  Initially he served in the 106th Infantry Regiment  for which he completed NCO
training in Saratov.

Between August and December 1915, he was commander of the platoon of 250th Infantry Regiment and from June 1916 served as an adjutant of the 3rd Battalion of 127 Infantry Regiment. In August 1917 Kontrym was promoted to commanding officer of the cavalry recon unit of the 660th Infantry Regiment and simultaneously promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

Kontrym enlisted in Polish Army units that were formed in Russia; from 1918 he served in the 5th Polish Cavalry Regiment of the II Polish Army Corps but in May of the same year it was disarmed and interned by the Germans at Kaniow.  Kontrym escaped from the German POW camp and attempted to join Polish Army units in Murman, Russia but on October 1918 he was arrested by the Bolshevik Cheka and conscripted into the Red Army. He fought against the Polish Army as a commander of 82 Infantry Regiment and 28th Brigade of the 10th Infantry Division.

For his leadership and bravery, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner three times. On February 1921, he was transferred from his unit to study at the Frunze Military Academy.  At the Academy he contacted Romuald Wolikowski, the Polish Military attaché  to whom he passed Soviet military secrets. When his espionage activities were discovered and he had to escape to Poland.

Kontrym served in the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade. Member of Cichociemni. He also fought with distinction in the Warsaw Uprising.

He was arrested by the Sluzba Bezpieczeństwa and executed for treason. The date of his death is obscure - either on the 2nd or 20th of January 1953.

Medals

Poland
Virtuti Militari V class
Krzyż Walecznych three times.

Soviet Union
Order of the Red Banner three times

Virtuti Militari

Krzyż Walecznych

Order of the Red Banner

source: Wikipedia

Editors Note:  FYI:  The images of medals posted here may or may not be the exact version which was awarded to the recipient.  There are several classes for each medal depending on various factors such as type of military (or civilian) service, rank of officer (or soldier), class of award, year in which it was awarded, etc   The lack of sufficient information on the web (or omission) has compounded the difficulty in selecting the correct class of medal. I apologize for any inaccuracies.