Jan Nowak-Jeziorański (Polish pronunciation:[ˈjanˈnɔvakjɛʑɔˈraɲskʲi]; 2 October 1914 – 20 January 2005) was a Polish journalist, writer, politician, social worker and patriot. He served during theSecond World War as one of the most notableresistance fighters of theHome Army. He is best remembered for his work as an emissary shuttling between the commanders of the Home Army and thePolish Government in Exile in London and otherAllied governments which gained him the nickname "Courier from Warsaw", and for his participation in theWarsaw Uprising.[1] After the war he worked as the head of the Polish section ofRadio Free Europe, and later as a security advisor to the US presidentsRonald Reagan andJimmy Carter. In 1996, PresidentBill Clinton awarded him with America's highest civilian award thePresidential Medal of Freedom.[2]
He was bornZdzisław Antoni Jeziorański, (Jeziora Coat of Arms) inBerlin, but used a number ofnoms de guerre during the war, the best known of which wasJan Nowak which he later added to his original surname.[3]
Zdzisław Jeziorański was born on 2 October 1914 in Berlin. He attendedGimnazjum i Liceum im. Stefana Batorego inWarsaw. After finishing his studies in economics in 1936, he worked as a teaching assistant atPoznań University. Mobilized in 1939, he fought in thePolish Army as an artillerynon-commissioned officer. He was takenprisoner of war by theGermans inVolhynia, but managed to escape and returned to Warsaw.[4] Most of his colleagues were taken prisoners of war by theSoviets and later killed in theKatyn massacre.
He quickly joined thePolish resistance. After 1940 he became the main organiser of theAkcja N, a secret organisation preparing German-language newspapers and other propaganda material pretending to be official German publications, to wage psychological warfare against German troops.
He also served as an envoy between the commanders of theHome Army and thePolish Government in Exile and other allied governments. During his first trips to Sweden and Great Britain he informed the Western governments of the fate of Poland under German and Soviet occupation. He was also the first to report theWarsaw Ghetto uprising. During one of such missions, in July 1944, he returned toWarsaw only a few days before theWarsaw uprising broke out.[5]
During the Uprising Nowak-Jeziorański took an active part in the fight against the Germans and also organised the Polish radio that maintained contact with Allied countries through daily broadcasts in Polish and English. Shortly before the capitulation of the Polish capital, he was ordered by Home Army's commander-in-chiefTadeusz Bór-Komorowski to leave the city and find his way to London. He managed to evade being captured and reached Great Britain, bringing with him large quantities of documents and photos. For his bravery and his travels through the German-occupied Europe he was awarded with theVirtuti Militari, the highest Polish military medal.[6]
After the war Nowak-Jeziorański stayed in the West, initially in London and then inMunich andWashington. Between 1948 and 1976 he was one of the most notable personalities of theBBC Polish Section. In 1952 he also became head of the Polish section of the Munich-basedRadio Free Europe. Through his daily radio broadcasts he remained one of the most popular radio personalities, both in communist-held Poland and among the Polish diaspora in the West. After giving up his posts in 1976 he became one of the most prominent members of thePolish American Congress. He was also working as an advisor to the AmericanNational Security Agency and the presidents of the USARonald Reagan andJimmy Carter. Through his contacts with many notable politicians in the USA, he was one of the proponents ofPoland's membership inNATO (achieved in 1999).[7]
In the 1990s he started his cooperation with thePolish Radio and wrote a series of broadcasts titledPolska z oddali (Poland from a Distance). Since 1990 he was on Polish television as writer/presenter of monthly programs. In July 2002 he returned to Warsaw for the final time. He was an active supporter of Poland's entry into theEuropean Union. Most of his books, published abroad as well as those published in Poland after 1989, were best-sellers and gained him even more popularity.
For his writings he was awarded some of the most prestigious Polish literary awards, including theKisiel Award (1999),Ksawery Pruszyński Memorial Prize of the Polish Pen Club (2001) and theSuperwiktor award for television personalities. In 2003 he was also awarded theCzłowiek Pojednania prize by the Polish Council of Christians and Jews for his part in the Polish-Jewish dialogue. Finally, he was made thedoctor honoris causa of many Polish universities, including theWarsaw University,Jagiellonian University and his alma mater, theAdam Mickiewicz University inPoznań.[8]
He died inWarsaw on 20 January 2005.[9] He donated all his archives to theOssolineum Institute.[10]
A selection of Nowak's texts has been confiscated inSaint Petersburg, Russia by theFSB.[11]
Among other books, he wrote:
A dramatic feature film about the wartime experiences of Nowak-Jeziorański and theWarsaw Uprising, entitledKurier [pl] (The Messenger; U.S. title:The Resistance Fighter), was released in Poland in 2019 and in the United States in 2020. Directed by Polish filmmakerWladyslaw Pasikowski, it starsPhilippe Tłokiński [pl] as Nowak-Jeziorański.
