Born: January 5th, 1912, Warsaw, Poland
Died: September 5th, 1995, London, UK
Family: father – Zygmunt Szadkowski; mother – Maria nee Kozłowska
Wife: Wanda nee Malinowska (died 1999)
Military Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Military Medals: Polish – Cross of Valor (twice), Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Silver Cross of Merit with Swords, Army Medal; British: Africa Star, Italy Star, War Medal 1939-1945
Fates before joining Anders Army: A graduate of the Gymnasium A. Mickiewicz in Nowogródek and the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius (Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences). In 1936, he married Wanda née Malinowska. He joined the Polish diplomatic service and worked before the war at the Polish Consulate in Daugavpils. After the outbreak of the war, he and his wife managed to get through Sweden and Great Britain to France, where Zygmunt Szadkowski joined the Polish Army. Directed to Romania, he created a route for the transfer of Polish soldiers from that country to the Middle East. After the fall of France, he joined the Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, participated in the fights in defense of Tobruk and at Gazala. He co-founded Polish scouting in Polish divisions and in Palestine, in 1944 he was appointed commander of the Polish Scouting Association in the East.
Military history: A soldier of the Polish 2nd Corps, he went the entire combat route in Italy.
Post-War: After the war, he stayed in Italy and Palestine, and finally settled in Great Britain in London. Here he worked as a worker, and then devoted himself to scout work (President of the Polish Scouting Association abroad in 1960-67, harcmistrz) and veteran work (President of the Association of Polish Combatants in Great Britain – Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantów w Wielkiej Brytanii in 1957-1960 and 1971-1983). He was one of the founders of the Polish Social and Cultural Center (POSK) in London. The chairman of the National Council (from June 1978 until its dissolution in December 1991) was the second person after the President of the Republic of Poland in the Exile among authorities in London. Author of articles in the Polish diaspora press and broadcasts in Radio Free Europe. In 1990, he headed the delegation that prepared the transfer of presidential insignia from London to Warsaw. He died in London in 1995, and his funeral in London, Warsaw and Pruszków was a great manifestation for his life path. In 2012, Zygmunt Szadkowski and his wife rested in the Pantheon of Great Poles in the Temple of Divine Providence in Warsaw.
Author: Aneta Hoffmann, Warsaw, Poland
