Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz | |
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| Born | (1911-12-14)14 December 1911 |
| Died | 4 January 1943(1943-01-04) (aged 31) |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Burial place | Third Cemetery of Athens plot 1148[1] 37°58′48″N23°40′1″E / 37.98000°N 23.66694°E /37.98000; 23.66694 |
| Occupation | Athlete |
| Awards | Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari (1945) George Cross (1962)[2] Golden Cross of Valor (1976)[3] |
| Military career | |
| Other name | Nikolaos Tsenoglou |
| Allegiance |
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| Branch |
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| Service years | 1939–1943 |
| Rank | SOE Field Agent |
| Unit | Special Operations Executive |
| Conflicts | |
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz (Greek:Γεώργιος Ιβάνωφ-Σαϊνόβιτς,Georgios Ivanof-Sainovits; 14 December 1911 – 4 January 1943) was a Polish athlete who was active as asecret agent in Greece and was collaborating with theGreek Resistance duringWorld War II before his execution by the Germans.
Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz was born in Warsaw on 14 December 1911, as the son of theRussian army colonel Count Vladimir Ivanov, and a Polish mother Leonarda Szajnowicz. His parents divorced soon after. His mother married a Greek merchant, Ioannis Lambrianidis, and together they emigrated toThessaloniki in northern Greece in 1926.[4][5]
He became an athlete in theG.S. Iraklis Thessaloniki sport club, and a distinguished swimmer: in 1934, he became Greek champion in100 m freestyle.[4] After becoming a Polish citizen in 1935,[6] he became part ofAZS Warsaw'swater polo team and of the Polish national water polo team, and was declared Poland's top water polo player in 1938.[4] Iwanow also graduated from the [Catholic University of Leuven, Faculty of Sciences, Agronomical Institute] inagricultural engineering, followed by post-graduate courses at the Institut National d'Agronomie de la France d'Outre-Mer, in Paris, before returning to Greece.[4]
With the outbreak ofWorld War II and theGerman invasion of Poland, he helped to organize the evacuation of Polish refugees coming to Thessaloniki, and in 1940 was enlisted into Polish intelligence.[5] Fleeing theGerman invasion of Greece in April 1941, he left the country for theMiddle East, to join theexiled Polish forces there. There he was chosen by the Polish intelligence and theSOE[7][8] for an undercover mission in Greece.[4][5] On 13 October 1941, the British submarineHMS Thunderbolt (N25) brought him to the coast ofAttica nearNea Makri. His subsequent activity in the Greek underground was prodigious: apart from establishing an extensive intelligence network for theAllies reporting on the military and political situation in Greece, on the Greek war industry, now used by the Germans, and on ship and railway schedules, he engaged in numerous sabotage missions.[4][5] He was responsible for the sabotage of the German aircraft motor repair facilities in the Maltsiniotis plant, which is credited with affecting over 400 engines and causing the crash of several German aircraft due to engine malfunctions, as well as the destruction of two German U-boats,U-133 andU-372,[5] sabotaging the latter and forcing it to surface and be sunk by the RAF offHaifa.
The first time he was caught by theGestapo on the 20th December 1941, after being betrayed by one of his close friend, Konstantinos Pantos, he managed to escape after three days. The Germans then put a reward on him of 500,000drachmas. He was finally captured after another betrayal by a former Greek policeman, Pandelis Lambrinopoulos, on 8th September 1942, and sentenced by a German tribunal on 2 December to a triple death sentence. The proposal of a spy exchange for a German general captured by the British was rejected by the British authorities. He was executed at theKaisariani shooting range on 4 January 1943. In the seconds before execution he attempted to escape. He was just a few meters from a bush when he was shot, wounded and put back in front of the execution squad.[5][6]
On 5 December 1944, Field MarshalHarold Alexander, Allied Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, sent a diploma of thanks to his mother, while on 30 March 1945, thePolish government in exile honoured Iwanow with theVirtuti Militari cross. On 5 March 1962 he was decorated by the British government for his service with the Polish forceswith theWar Medal and on 25 May 1976, he was awarded the highest Greek medal for gallantry, theCross of Valour in Gold.[4] In 1972, his life was made into a movie in thePolish People's Republic, asAgent Nr. 1.
In Greece, his memory is further honoured by a statue in Thessaloniki, as well as an annual swimming competition held since 1953, the "Ivanofeia". His former sports club, Iraklis, has named theIvanofeio Indoor Hall in his honour.
In April 2021, Poland issued a postal stamp honoring Iwanow, which was initiated by the Polish-Greek Parliamentary Group.[9]
In 1971, the Polish film "Agent No. 1", directed byZbigniew Kuźmiński, was premiered, in whichKarol Strasburger played the role of Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz.
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