Jan Mazurkiewicz | |
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 Lt. Col. Jan Mazurkiewicz during the Warsaw Uprising | |
| Nickname(s) | Zagłoba, Socha, Sęp, Radosław |
| Born | (1896-08-27)27 August 1896 Lemberg,Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 4 May 1988(1988-05-04) (aged 91) Warsaw,Polish People’s Republic |
| Years of service | 1914–1945 |
| Rank |  Brigadier general |
| Battles / wars | World War I Polish–Soviet War World War II Invasion of Poland Operation Tempest Warsaw Uprising |
| Awards | Order of Virtuti Militari Cross of Independence with Swords Cross of Valour Warsaw Uprising Cross |
| Other work | Veterans' rights activist |
Jan Mazurkiewicz,pseudonym: "Zagłoba", "Socha", "Sęp", "Radosław" (27 August 1896 – 4 May 1988) was a Polish military leader andpolitician,colonel ofHome Army andbrigadier general of thePolish People's Army. Founder of theSecret Military Organization (later merged with the Home Army), commander ofKedyw and theRadosław Group duringWarsaw Uprising. After thewar, he was apolitical prisoner of theStalinist period (until 1956). From 1964 he was vice-president ofSociety of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy.
Jan Mazurkiewicz was born in a craftsman's family inLviv. He spent his childhood inZolochiv, where from 1902 he attendedprimary school and from 1906 to thegymnasium. He was active inScouting, a member of the"Sokół" (Falcon) Polish Gymnastic Society. In 1911 he moved with his family to Lviv, where he continued his education. He was a member of theOrganisation of Independent Youth Zarzewie, and later belonged to theRiflemen's Association.[1]
After a short training, he joined the1st Brigade of Polish Legions, in which he was a soldier of the 1st battalion company. Then he was assigned to the marching battalion of captainLeon Berbecki and in his ranks took part in December 1914 at theBattle of Łowczówek. He was wounded and captured by the Russians. He escaped from it in June 1915, after which he managed to get back to his unit. In October wounded again, then he underwent treatment in thehospital.[2]
As asergeant, in July 1916 he was transferred to the 1st Brigade of Legions, in which he served until theoath crisis. He was arrested on 4 September 1917 and imprisoned inPrzemyśl. He was threatened with the death penalty for active participation in the crisis. Shortly thereafter he was released and forced to join theAustro-Hungarian Army, from which hedeserted in March 1918. He broke into thePolish II Corps in Russia commanded by generalJózef Haller, in whose ranks he took part in theBattle of Kaniów. After escaping fromGerman captivity, he got to thePolish Military Organisation inKiev. He took part in numerous subversive actions and battles with German, and Ukrainian troops. He also infiltrated Austrian troops.[2]
From November 1918 he was a soldier of thePolish Army. Later, he was assigned to theSecond Department of Polish General Staff. During thePolish–Soviet War, he served as a military courier (he imported, among others,Józef Piłsudski's letters toSymon Petliura) and acounterintelligence officer. In 1922, he was transferred to themilitary reserve for a short period and assigned to the8th Legions' Infantry Regiment. From 1924 he served in the13th Infantry Division. He took part in preparations for theMay Coup. From 1930 to 1934, under the cover of an inspector of the Riflemen's Association, he conducted counterintelligence activities against theSoviet Union inVilnius andBrest.
In 1934 he completed the course of the battalion commanders at the Infantry Training Center inRembertów. From 1938 to 1939 he was a lecturer in tactics at courses for company commanders.
During theInvasion of Poland, he was the head of a diversion on the southwestern front section. After theSoviet invasion of Poland, he founded theSecret Military Organization (TOW) inStanisławów.[3] On 19 September 1939, he crossed the Polish-Hungarian border, transferring the organization's headquarters toBudapest. Then he went toFrance, where he met with generalWładysław Sikorski. In June 1940 he returned to the country and assumed the function of the Commander-in-Chief of TOW, an independent combat and subversive organization operating according to the guidelines of theUnion of Armed Struggle.
In March 1943, after merging TOW withKedyw he became the deputy head of the organization, colonelEmil August Fieldorf. On 1 February 1944, he took the post of commander of Kedyw.[2][1]
Shortly before the outbreak of theWarsaw Uprising, Mazurkiewicz was made commander of theRadosław Group. This force was one of the largest, best trained and equipped Polish units in the uprising.[1][4] After the initiation of the uprising, the unit seized major portions of theWola suburbs, and subsequently defended it against German attacks carried out by troops under the command ofSSGruppenführerHeinz Reinefarth andStandartenführerOskar Dirlewanger. One of the battalions of the group,Battalion Zośka, liberated theGęsiówka concentration camp located within Warsaw and freed 384 prisoners (mainly Jews), most of whom then joined the unit.[5] The Radosław Group fought its way toWarsaw Old Town borough when further defense in Wola became impossible. In the areas of Wola that Reinefarth's and Dirlewanger's troops recaptured from the insurgents, at least 40,000 civilians andprisoners of war were murdered in theWola massacre.[note 1][6][7] On 11 August he was seriously wounded during the fighting
On 15 September 1944, he sent hisliaison officer to the east bank of theVistula in order to establish contact with the troops of theFirst Polish Army. In the absence of sufficient assistance on their part, on 20 September he ordered his decimated units to leaveCzerniaków and pass through the sewers toMokotów. He left his soldiers a free hand - they could decide whether they would go to German captivity or leave the city with the civilian population. Shortly before the order was signed, Mazurkiewicz was officially promoted to the rank ofcolonel, by generalTadeusz Bór-Komorowski, the commander of the uprising.
He did not go into captivity, he left the ruins of the destroyed capital with his wife. He continued his underground activity inCzęstochowa, where the headquarters of the Home Army was located.[2]
After the dissolution of the Home Army on 19 January 1945 and the liberation of Częstochowa by theRed Army, he took the leadership of the Central Area of theNIE. Later he became a delegate to the Central Area of theArmed Forces Delegation for Poland, under which he conducted further underground activities againstcommunist authorities.[2][8]
In the end, he gave up further conspiracy, considering the resistance pointless. On 1 August 1945, he and his wife were arrested by officers of theMinistry of Public Security. He was released after a month, he headed the so-called Central Liquidation Commission of the Home Army. On 8 September he turned to former Home Army soldiers and people remaining in the underground to call for disclosure andamnesty. For some officers, this was disapproved and even accused of treason. As a result of his appeal, about 50,000 former members of the armed underground were revealed. On 12 September captainStanisław Sojczyński, the leader of theUnderground Polish Army, sent anopen letter to colonel Mazurkiewicz, in which he criticized him and called him a "traitor".[9]
Mazurkiewicz established the Committee for the Care of the Graves of Fallen Soldiers of the Radosław Group. He was in constant contact with his former soldiers, whom he helped find in the difficult post-war years. Through his extensive contacts, he sought employment for his former soldiers - often war invalids. Later, the Stalinist authorities accused him that they were "secret underground meetings aimed at overthrowing the power of thePolish People's Republic".[10]
On 4 February 1949, he was arrested again. Throughout the investigation, he was forced to testify incriminatingly against the first head of Kedyw, general August Emil Fieldorf, but his relentless attitude resulted in the resignation from attempting to use him as a prosecution witness in the political trial against General. On 16 November 1953, his main trial took place before the Military District Court in Warsaw. On the same day, based on crafted evidence, without admitting defense witnesses, he was convicted forlife imprisonment. He served his sentence inWronki Prison, from where he was released as a result of amnesty for political prisoners in May 1956.[11] In 1957 he wasrehabilitated.
After being released, he took up craft. In 1958, he opened (formally registered to his wife) the "Wiklina" cafe, which he ran until the 1970s. Later he handed it over to the Trade Cooperative of Invalids.[12] By resolutionPolish Council of State in October 1980, he was promoted to the rank ofbrigadier general. He solemnly received his general nomination inBelweder from the professorHenryk Jabłoński.
After 1956, he was active in the veterans' right activism. From 1964 he was vice-president ofSociety of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy.[13]
In August 1981, on the occasion of the 37th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising,Telewizja Polska broadcast a documentary in which Mazurkiewicz talked about the real "Soviet assistance to insurgent units of the Home Army". From 1981 to 1983 he was a member of the presidium of theFront of National Unity. In 1983 he was elected a member of thePatriotic Movement for National Rebirth. From 1981 he was the chairman of the commission for theWarsaw Uprising Cross. In the second half of the 1980s, general Jan Mazurkiewicz, then the highest-performing and functioning former Home Army officer in Poland, became part of the Social Committee for the Construction of theWarsaw Uprising Monument, which was unveiled on 1 August 1989, after his death.
He died in May 1988 and was buried atPowązki Military Cemetery.[14] His funeral was attended by representatives of the highest state authorities, including generalsWojciech Jaruzelski andFlorian Siwicki, professorHenryk Jabłoński andJan Dobraczyński.[15]
Commander's Cross with Star ofOrder of Polonia Restituta
Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 2nd Class
Commander's Cross ofOrder of Polonia Restituta
Golden Cross of theOrder of Virtuti Militari
Knight's Cross ofOrder of Polonia Restituta
Silver Cross of theOrder of Virtuti Militari
Cross of Independence with Swords_4r_BAR.svg)
Cross of Valour – eleven times
GoldenCross of Merit
SilverCross of Merit- twice
Warsaw Uprising Cross (1981)
Cross of the Home Army
Medal "For participation in the defensive war of 1939"
Medal of Merit for National Defence
Kapitan (Captain) - 1922
Major (Major) - before 1939
Podpułkownik (Lieutenant colonel) - 13 April 1943
Pułkownik (Colonel) - 2 October 1944 Generał brygady (Brigadier general - 9 October 1980Mazurkiewicz's first wife was Jadwiga,[citation needed] with whom he had three children, Stanislaw and Zofia, and an older son who died in infancy. His wife and daughter were imprisoned by the Russians in the east of the country during the war, but his son escaped to England where he fought with the Polish Army based in Scotland before returning to Poland some years later.[citation needed]
His second wife was Maria Zienkiewicz, alias "Irma" (1903–1985),captain of the Home Army.[16]
He had a brother, Franciszek Mazurkiewicz (1901–1944), an officer in thePolish Army who died during theWarsaw Uprising.[17]
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