Born: January 14, 1906, Warsaw, Poland
Died: May 27, 1998, Opacz Borek (Piaseczno province, Mazovian voivodship, Poland)
Buried: Bródno Cemetery in Warsaw – section 11A-3-3
Family: father – Józef, mother – Dominika nee Stańczyk
Wife: Zofia nee Owsianko
Medals: Polish – four times Cross of Valor
Fates before joining Anders Army: actually the Emersajłów. A descendant of Polish Tatars. In the years 1915-1924 he studied at the Wojciech Górski Gymnasium in Warsaw, where in 1924 he obtained his high school diploma. From autumn 1924 to 1926, he studied at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Warsaw. Then he interrupted his studies for family reasons and entered the Infantry Reserve Officer Cadet School.
On August 15, 1929, he was appointed a second lieutenant. He was incorporated into the 32nd Infantry Regiment in Modlin. He served in this unit until 1938. Then he was transferred to the Infantry Reserve Officer Cadet School as a lecturer in chemical weapons.
In the September campaign of 1939, he fought as the commander of the 4th rifle company of the 114th Infantry Regiment. He was wounded during the Battle of Wyszków. Then he fought in the defense of Volhynia (“Kowel” Group).
On November 16, 1939, he was arrested by the Soviets during an attempt to cross the Polish-Hungarian border. On December 24, 1939 – autumn 1940, he was in a prison in Nikolaev on the Black Sea, then sent to the city of Imdiel, and from there at the Sowa River, where he worked as a Soviet prisoner in the forest.
Military history in Polish 2 Corps: After the Polish authorities signed the Sikorski-Mayski Pact with the USSR, in November 1941 he joined the Polish Army in the USSR. Initially, he was the commander of the unitary course of the Infantry Reserve Officer Cadet School, and then he became an instructor and lecturer at the Army Training Center. From October 1943, he stayed for a year with Polish troops in Italy.
Further military service in Polish Army: After training in Italy, with a specialization in subversion, he was sworn in on February 29, 1944 and transferred to the 3rd Division of the Supreme Commander’s Staff, where he worked as a subversive tactics instructor.
He was dropped over the Poland on the night of October 16-17, 1944. On the day of his discharge, he was promoted to the rank of major and was assigned to the Łódź District of the Home Army. In November, he became the chief of staff for this district, and at the same time he was the deputy of the district commander – Michał Stempkowski.
In March 1945, he was arrested by the NKVD, and in May 1945, he was transferred to the Provincial Office of Polish communist security service in Łódź.
Post-War: On August 24, 1945, he was sentenced by the Military District Court in Łódź to 10 years in prison. In September 1945, transferred to the prison in Wronki, from where he was released on October 30, 1945 as a result of amnesty and his wife’s efforts.
He lived in Warsaw. He was persecuted by the security service, summoned to interrogations at the seat of the security servic in Praga, under surveillance. Discriminated by the security service, he was not able to get a job until 1954.
In 1954, he was employed in the office in Opacz as a clerk and secretary. He worked there until 1959. Later he was employed in the Paper and Printing Cooperative in Warsaw as a technologist. In August 1975 he retired.
He was active socially. In the years 1978-1982 he was the chairman of the Historical Group of the Cichociemni in Poland. He participated in the work of the soldiers of the Łódź District of the Home Army. He was one of the founders of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers in 1989. In 1993 he was appointed a lieutenant colonel. He died in 1998 and was buried at the Bródno Cemetery in Warsaw.
Wife Zofia née Owsianko (born 1903) pseud. “Irena” was a teacher, liaison officer of the Home Army; arrested by the NKVD in March 1945, imprisoned in the NKVD camp in Rembertów, then CWK Rawicz, from where she was released in October 1945.
author: Aneta Hoffmann, Warsaw, Poland
