Description
Object description
Polish civilian in Poland, 9/1939-12/1939; escaped from Poland to GB via Hungary, 12/1939-6/1940; officer trained with Special Operations Executive in GB, 3/1941-2/1943; served with Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) in Poland, 2/1943-1/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of period as civilian in Wisla, Austria-Hungary and Poland, 1914-1939: family origins; parent's employment; Austrian Army's plundering of farm during First World War; assimilation of local Jewish population; question of anti-Semitism; background to religious strife and eventual Lutheran character of town of Cieszyn; education; military service with 26th Polish Infantry Div, 1935 including training and presence of foreign contract officers in unit; reactions among Poles to German and Soviet threats; employment as builder in Upper Silesia and Warsaw, 1936-1939. Recollections of period as civilian in Poland, 9/1939-12/1939: reaction to start of Second World War, 9/1939; difficulty of journey from Wisla to Warsaw; story of Jablonkow Incident, 25/8/1939-26/8/1939; closing workplace, 9/1939; march east from Warsaw to River Bug in abortive attempt to join armed forces; closure of Warsaw; attempt to flee westwards by bicycle; destruction of bridges and crossing bridge by bicycle confiscation of 'potential weapons' by German Army; sight of humiliation of eminent Jewish citizens in town of Warka.
REEL 2 Continues: warning of German actions against civilians in cities; decision to return to Wisla; crossing border towards Wisla and being questioned by German guard; obligation to display Nazi symbols in houses and shop windows in Pszczyna; story of Jewish friend feeding other friends from Schutzstaffel (SS) restaurant in Kraków, 1943; reaction to registration of nationalities, 10/1939; conditions of occupation in Wisla. Aspects of escape from Poland to GB via Hungary, 12/1939-6/1940: plan to escape into Slovakia; leaving Wisla to avoid Gestapo; 12/1939; escape into Slovakia; aid received from Slovakian Jews; help received crossing into Hungary; period of imprisonment in Hungary, 12/1939; treatment recieved in Hungary and attempt to return him to Slovakia; contacting Polish consulate at Budapest, Hungary, 1/1940; arrangements to get Poles from Hungary to France.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of training period with Special Operations Executive in GB, 3/1941-2/1943: recruitment to Special Operations Executive, 3/1941; parachute accident during training and subsequent hospitalisation, 1942; missing opportunity to go to Poland in 10/1942; delay caused by shortage of aircraft due to Operation Torch, 11/1942; abortive attempt to be parachuted into Poland, 1/1943. Recollections of operations as officer with Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) in Poland, 2/1943-1/1945: parachute drop into Poland, 17/2/1943; composition of team and death of member in parachute drop; crossing freezing river by night; use of energy pills; finding reception committee; making way to Warsaw; sight of woman on train smuggling food into Warsaw; police checks for smuggled food; fate of money brought from GB for Polish Home Army; inadequacies of cover story.
REEL 4 Continues: attempts to rectify problems with papers in Warsaw; securing travel permit from Gestapo office in Warsaw; papers check during train journey eastwards from Warsaw; first successes of Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa); joining partisan unit in the forests around Nowogródek, 9/1943; character of unit; Russification of Nowogródek area; nature of ransportation of Polish population to Soviet Union; history of Nowogródek region after Soviet takeover, 9/1939; concealment of Soviet Army stragglers by civilians in Nowogródek area; background to formation of Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) units in Nowogródek area; German attempt to clear Nowogródek area of partisans, summer 1943.
REEL 5 Continues: arrival of more Polish parachutists, 9/1943; invitation from Soviet Partisans to Polish officers to attend military conference in forest, 12/1943; commanding officer's anxiety at attending conference; hiding in trees and observing Soviet Partisan headquarters; Soviet Partisan disarming of Polish delegation at conference; escape from Soviet Partisans; post-war discovery of Soviet order to destroy Polish Partisan units; struggle of remnants of unit to survive against Soviet Partisans, early 1944; plan to take over Wilno before arrival of Soviet Army, 6/1944; arrival of new recruits and size of unit; transfer of unit to Warsaw area, 7/1944.
REEL 6 Continues: problems of taking large group of partisans to Warsaw area, 7/1944; ration supply problems; avoiding lice infestation; living off German managed farms, 7/1944; use of barter instead of money; arrival in Kampinos Forest near Warsaw, 7/1944; arrival in unit of two Polish prisoner of war escapees; fighting Germans in Kampinos Forest; inflicting heavy casualties on SS Russian National Liberation Army at Truskaw, 2/9/1944; receiving air supply drops during Warsaw Uprising; German move against Kampinos Forest after Warsaw Uprising; escape to Opoczno region, autumn 1944; meeting with Colonel Pawel Rutowski; orders to divide unit into smaller units; passage of Hungarian Jewish work unit through Kampinos Forest, 8/1944.
REEL 7 Continues: sight of Hungarian Jewish group; aiding Hungarian Jew from group; dwindling of unit towards 1/1945; return of unit members to civilian life.