Certificates from 1945 confirming that Maria Chojna taught at clandestine classes

MICHAŁ DZIKIEWICZ, Maria's aforementioned uncle was a military doctor with the rank of major. He was a graduate of the Collegium Medicum-at Jagiellonian University in Cracow, and earlier of the Chyrów Jesuit College, where his older brother was a Jesuit tutor at that time. During the German invasion he was transferred with his regiment to Eastern Poland. After the fall of Lwów [Lviv] in September 1939, he was one of the last few to receive a passport to escape to Romania as part of a frantic evacuation of Polish government and troops fleeing both the Germans and the Soviets. Meanwhile, Michał's wife along with their three children, set out from Cracow to Lwów using transport provided by the military. On the way, Michał's wife and small son, who travelled in an officer's car, survived continuous bombings of civilians. Unfortunately, Alina and Leszka, the two teenage daughters, travelling separately by bus, were presumed killed. Days later, in a panicked crowd on the streets of Lwów—some fleeing west from the Germans, others fleeing east from the Soviets and Ukrainians—Michał noticed a woman with suitcases weaving through the crowd, stopping people to ask for information. She had a small boy tied to her waist with a bathroom robe belt so he wouldn’t get lost. As Michał approached to offer help, he realized they were his wife and son! With no passports for them, Michał decided he would not travel to Romania but instead return with his wife and son to Cracow. When they arrived home, they were shocked to find both daughters alive and well—after all they had not been killed during the bombardments and had managed to return to Cracow ahead of their parents!

During the German occupation, like much of the Polish intelligentsia, the girls pursued clandestine classes (komplety) at both secondary and university levels. Living in their family's apartment in Cracow's Old Town, they would often pass the Higher Theological Seminary of the Archdiocese of Cracow near the Royal Castle. On their way back from secret chemistry classes they would join young clerics in volleyball games—one of whom was Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II. After the war, Leszka earned a PhD in chemistry, while Alina completed a PhD in civil engineering. However, they never returned to their pre-war lifestyle, which had included activities like playing tennis- a pastime that had surged in popularity among young Polish women in the late 1930s, thanks in part to the success of Jadwiga Jędrzejowska, who reached three Grand Slam singles finals (Wimbledon, US Open, and French Open), though she was notoriously a heavy smoker. Tennis, viewed as a bourgeois indulgence, was banned during both the German occupation and the Stalinist era, and the sisters never took it up again—though skiing remained permitted and became their primary form of winter recreation.

During the German occupation, Michał Dzikiewicz was a member of the Home Army (AK) in Cracow, as stated in his necrology. He passed away in 1946 without leaving any notes or memoirs of his wartime activities.

Maj Michał Dzikiewicz with his wife, daughter and son, 1937

Maria's uncle Michal Dzikiewicz during the Polish-Bolshevik War, 1920

Maj. Michał Dzikiewicz, 1938

Although not much is known about Michał Dzikiewicz's activities during WWII, the war stories of the families of his future granddaughters-in-law—Anna Karczewska and Lisa Pavlidous—are better documented and worth highlighting.

Anna’s father, MIECZYSŁAW KARCZEWSKI, had just earned his baccalaureate diploma in May 1939 and enrolled in preparatory pilot courses to join the renowned Dęblin flight school when war broke out. Still barely out of school, he fought in the September 1939 defence of Poland and later escaped from a POW camp in Gdynia, on the Baltic coast, after the country’s defeat. He went on to join a clandestine anti-Nazi intelligence and operations group known as the Lizard Union Military Organization (Organizacja Wojskowa Związku Jaszczurczego – ZJ), operating under the codename “Ciołek” and using three fictitious identities: Mieczysław Ciołek, Tadeusz Kasperski, and Alfred Hasse. Initially, he transported clandestine operational materials by train between Warsaw and Łódź in central Poland. After a series of Gestapo raids and arrests, Mieczysław was relocated to the Baltic coast, to a section known as “Mare,” where he established a new espionage cell focused on gathering naval intelligence—particularly concerning German U-boats. During this time, he also pursued a clandestine university education. He was arrested by the Gestapo on June 4, 1942, and imprisoned in the city of Inowrocław, but managed to escape. Soon after, he was assigned to a covert unit tasked with eliminating high-ranking German targets. Eventually, he was captured again by the Gestapo and, in October 1943, deported to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, where he was registered as prisoner no. 40138

Mauthausen—along with its infamous subcamp, Gausen and other subcamps—was one of the harshest concentration camp complexes in the Nazi regime. Originally established as a labour camp, Mauthausen-Gusen later became a site of systematic extermination, primarily targeting the Polish intelligentsia as part of the Intelligenzaktion and the victims of the Warsaw Uprising. Hundreds of thousands of Poles were imprisoned there, with the majority perishing due to the brutal conditions. While the Polish population was the largest group, prisoners from other nationalities, including the French, Spanish, Belgian, Russian, Yugoslavian, Jewish, Dutch, and Jehovah's Witnesses, were also held, although in much smaller numbers. The camp was notorious for its brutal treatment of marginalized groups, including homosexuals. Prisoners were subjected to physical torture, horrific medical experiments, and forced labour, particularly in stone quarries and underground arms factories, where the production quotas were far more punishing than those at Auschwitz concentration camp. At Gusen, for instance, as recalled by prisoner Stanisław Zaleski, starving and exhausted inmates were forced to climb over ninety steep steps while carrying buckets of stones in each hand. Those who stumbled or slowed down were mercilessly thrown off the staircase, a cruel practice that earned them the grim label of “parachutists.” The average survival time at Gusen was three months.

Karczewski later recalled that only his deep faith in God had kept him alive. He also observed that French prisoners—frequently expressing their disbelief with “Messieurs, ce n’est pas possible”—tended to provoke more violent beatings from the guards, while Polish and Jewish inmates, having learned to endure in silence, were better able to avoid such frequent punishment.

Mieczysław Karczewski 1939

Liberated Polish prisoners, Mauthausen-Gusen, 1945

Liberated by American forces in May 1945 Mieczysław resumed his education. He earned a master’s degree in economics from UNRRA University in Munich (1945–1948), where he received credit for the clandestine courses he had attended in occupied Poland. In 1948, Mieczysław Karczewski returned to Poland via a clandestine courier route known as “Conrad’s route,” organized by the Polish anti-Nazi/anti-Communist NSZ military formation.

UNRRA University was established to serve displaced persons (DPs), including many Polish refugees. Operating primarily in the American occupation zone of Germany, the university provided higher education in various fields, including economics, political science, humanities, and law. It was part of a broader effort to restore intellectual life among refugees and exiles uprooted by the war and the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe. Instruction was primarily in Polish, and many professors had themselves fled Poland. In 1948, UNRRA University evolved into the Polish Free University in Exile, with branches continuing in London and Paris.

WWII biography of Mieczysław Karczewski

Mieczysław Karczewski's brother, Bogdan Karczewski, codename 'Dan', was a member of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) under the German occupation. During the Warsaw Uprising, he fought as a rifleman (strzelec) in the VII Grouping (Battalion) 'Ruczaj', 3rd Company, Platoon 135. He was killed on 3 August inside the former Cavalry Department building of the pre-war Ministry of Military Affairs at 26 Marszałkowska Street, in central Warsaw.

Anna’s maternal grandfather, MAKSYMILIAN STERN, was a prominent Jewish businessman in the city of Borysław who owned several oil wells, and was active in the local city magistrate before WWII. Borysław in Eastern Poland (currently in Ukraine) was the centre of the then Polish oil and ozokerite extraction industries and one of the most important industrial zones in Poland; by 1925, Borysław produced 80% of Polish oil. Maksymilian Stern was classified by the Germans as Jewish and killed in the ghetto by a Gestapo man who shot him in the head when he came to ransom his relatives from the ghetto. He did manage, however, to dispatch his wife to Romania along a clandestine route organized by the Polish resistance. Meanwhile, his two daughters, including IRENA STERN, Anna’s mother, were escorted to Cracow by a German relative and sheltered by Polish friends: Henryka and Stanisław Wiktorowie, who saved them, risking their lives (commemorated with a Yad Vashem tree). Later the same family also sheltered his wife. The teenagers were also hidden by Catholic nuns in Cracow. As they were blue-eyed blondes, they were able to perform with a local ballet troupe, unsuspected by the Germans, and survived the war. One day, while walking the streets of Cracow, Irena stumbled upon a cross on a chain. Moved by this experience, and in light of having had her life saved by Catholic nuns, she converted to Catholicism.

Anna’s mother, Irena, before WWII

Maksymilian Stern with Irena before WWII

As the war drew to a close, Mrs. Stern—having returned to Cracow from Romania on false papers and reunited with her daughters, Irena and Krystyna—was among the many Poles seized at random and deported to Germany to serve as forced labourers. Fortunately, an Italian impresario noticed the beautiful Stern sisters and recruited them for his entertainment troupe, planning to flee with them to Italy to escape the Germans. However, during the journey, the girls and their mother managed to slip away and sought asylum at a Displaced Persons (DP) camp in Regensburg, near Munich, under Allied supervision. It was during this time that Irena Stern met Mieczysław Karczewski in Munich, with whom she returned to Poland, where they eventually married. Her mother and sister, Krystyna, on the other hand, departed for America by ship. During the voyage, Krystyna met Józef Martin, whom she later married in the United States.

JÓZEF MARTIN, was a young Jewish man who, during the German occupation of Poland, was hidden in Warsaw under the false identity of Jan Miedziński, thanks to the help of Polish friends. He participated in the Warsaw Uprising, fighting bravely under the code name "Martin." On August 1, 1944, he served in the 41st Company of the Military Service for the Protection of the Uprising (WSOP)—a military police unit within the Home Army, responsible for maintaining order, securing strategic sites, and ensuring civilian safety behind the front lines. (See: Józef Martin, Insurgent Biographies – Museum of the Warsaw Uprising).

On August 4, 1944, soldiers of the 41st Company were incorporated into the 9th Company of the "Kiliński" Battalion, specifically into Group IX, commanded by Cavalry Captain Henryk Roycewicz, codename "Leliwa." Group IX operated in the combat zone of northern central Warsaw (Śródmieście Północ). They played a key role in the assault on the PASTa building, which began on August 5 and culminated in its capture on August 20. On August 25, they also seized the "Cafe Club," taking twelve German soldiers prisoner and capturing enemy weapons. The unit continued defending critical streets in northern central Warsaw, including Bagno, Królewska, Marszałkowska, Graniczna, and Grzybowska.

The fight for PASTa building

PASTa building rebuilt

"Kiliński" Battalion

The PASTa building, originally constructed around 1910, was once the tallest building in the Russian Empire. After World War I, it became the headquarters of the Polish Telephone Operator Company. During the German occupation of Poland, it was repurposed as the regional headquarters for the German General Government's telephone center. During the Warsaw Uprising, on August 20, 1944, the building was captured by Polish insurgents from the AK (Home Army) "Kiliński" Battalion after 20 days of bloody fighting. Despite the fierce battle, the building suffered severe damage. After the war, it was rebuilt in a simplified architectural form, reflecting the changes in Warsaw's post-war reconstruction. In the photos from the left: PASTa building during the Warsaw Uprising, PASTa building currently, the “Kiliński” Battalion in Warsaw Uprising.

During the Uprising, Józef Martin was promoted to the rank of senior rifleman with diploma—a distinction awarded due to his baccalaureate education (hich was relatively rare and respected in prewar Poland). He was seriously wounded during the fighting. After the fall of the Uprising, along with other insurgents he was captured and deported to a prisoner-of-war camp, where he was registered under the number 305319 (the name of the specific camp remains unknown).

Irena Stern as a performer during the German occupation in Cracow, 1943

Krystyna Stern with Józef Martin, New York, early 1960s

Although not Polish, Lisa Pavlidous’ family fate during WWII is worth mentioning as well: Her maternal grandfather’s brother, THEMISTOKLIS SOFOULIS, was a prominent centrist and liberal Greek politician who served three times as prime minister of Greece, was the leader of the Liberal Party, House Speaker of the Greek Parliament, and previously held various ministerial and other key government positions. He also fought for Samos independence from the Turks in 1912, as previously did his father. By April 1939, he had sent a letter to King George II warning him of the consequences of Metaxas fascist’s government policies. During the Axis occupation of Greece, he maintained contacts with the Allies in the Middle East. He refused to depart with the king. He refused an offer to collaborate with EAM. He also refused to cooperate with the collaborationist pro-Nazi Greek government of 1941-44. On 19 May 1944, the Germans arrested him along with other anti-fascist politicians and imprisoned him in the Haidari concentration camp outside of Athens, where he remained until liberation in October of 1944. In 1945-49, he served twice as Greece’s Prime Minister and unsuccessfully tried to prevent the outbreak of the Greek Civil War and tried to end the conflict. He died at the age of 88 whilst serving as Prime Minister in 1949.

Pananos Sofoulis, circa 1885, father of Themistoklis and Nikolaos Sofoulis; fought for the autonomy of Samos; fled Smyrna great fire and Turkish extermination in 1922. On the right: Themistoklis Sofoulis

Themistoklis Sofoulis. Around 1885 he received a degree in philosophy from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (est.1837) and a PhD degree in archaeology from Würzburg University (est. 1402/1582). In 1902, together with Panagiotis Kavadias he directed the Archaelological Society of Athens to begin first archaeological excavations of an impressive value from the Neolic period to Byzantine times. As per Herodotus in the 5th century BC, the ancient city of Samos was the foremost of all Greek and foreign cities.

The fate of Lisa’s father- GEORGE PAVLIDES , is also worth mentioning. After finishing his commercial studies in France, instead of joining his father’s very successful business in Iraq or moving to their residence in central Athens, he chose to enlist for the Royal Hellenic Navy alongside the British for five years between 1940-45. He first fought the Italians in the Otranto Strait between the Ionian and Adriatic Sea. Following Luftwaffe air raids George Pavlides with the entire RHN was transferred to Alexandria, Egypt from where the navy fought alongside the Allies in the Middle East.

After the war, George Pavlides joined Sir Godfrey Ralli at Ralli & Pavlides Ltd, a trading and shipping company operating in Iraq. The Ralli Brothers, who had built one of the most successful Greek expatriate merchant enterprises during the Victorian era and were later honored with a baronetcy by George V, brought their legacy to the partnership. However, it was Lisa’s grandfather, Nikolaos Pavlides, who had first established commercial operations in Iraq following the Greek exodus from Smyrna in 1922—a venture later expanded through collaboration with the Ralli Brothers, traditionally more active in India. In the photo, George Pavlidis with Sir Godfrey Ralli, 3rd baronet, in Bagdad or Basra circa 1950.

Lisa’s great-grandfather, Georgios Sotiriou, is worth noting as well. He graduated from the University of Athens with a degree in Classics in the 1860’s, and after marrying into a wealthy merchant family (from Samos Island), pursued postgraduate Classics studies at the Munich University in the late 1860’s, eventually becoming headmaster of the famous Evangelical School of Smyrna (1892-1910). The school was established in 1733, attracted major figures of the Modern Greek Enlightenment, and was one of the leading schools of the Greek world in the 18th and 19th centuries. It housed an archaeological museum, significant natural science collection, boasted a library with estimated 50,000 volumes and 180 manuscripts, and educated several well known Greeks, including Aristotle Onassis. His family, like the Sotiriou and Pavlides families, lost all of their possessions, and became refugees following the great fire of Smyrna and the Turkish military invasion of 1922. The Greek and Armenian affluent quarters of Smyrna, including the Evangelical School, ceased to exist. In the photos: Left: G. Sotiriou with family, 1920. Right: G. Sotiriou as head master of the Evangelical School with teachers, Smyrna, 1910.

George Pavlides’ sister, MARI PAVLIDES, is also noteworthy. Born in 1908 in Smyrna and educated on the island of Samos, she became the first woman in Greece to earn a degree from the National Technical University of Athens (Athens Polytechnic), the country's premier institution for engineering and architecture. There, she broke new ground as the first woman in Greece to earn a degree in architecture. At an architectural conference in Athens—where Mari was the only woman attendee—she met the dashing ALEXANDER BARMINE, then serving as chargé d'affaires at the Soviet Embassy. Barmine was well-connected within the Soviet elite, counting among his acquaintances many top generals, diplomats, and officials—most of whom would soon fall victim to Stalin’s Great Purge of the late 1930s.

Sensing imminent danger, Barmine planned his escape from Athens. The opportunity came when Mari attended an architectural conference in Paris in 1937. Barmine joined her there in December, and they were married soon after. During their time in France, Mari was instrumental in helping him rebuild his life. It was during this time that he wrote his acclaimed anti-Soviet memoir, One Who Survived, which he dedicated to Mari. The book paved the way for his new career in the West. After Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939 and the threat of war spreading to France grew, the couple decided to emigrate to the United States. They were assisted by Mari’s first cousin, ARISTOTLE SOUVAL, a prominent Greek-American lawyer who extended an invitation and facilitated their political asylum. On December 28, 1939, Barmine was granted asylum in the United States—becoming the first high-ranking Soviet official to receive such status. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Office of Strategic Services. In 1948, he joined the Voice of America, where he led the Russian section for sixteen years, later becoming a senior advisor on Soviet affairs at the U.S. Information Agency.

After divorcing Mari, Barmine married his third wife, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, granddaughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, in 1948. On September 24 of that year, Der Spiegel reported: “Alexander Barmine, a fifty-year-old former Soviet general who escaped the Russian 'purge' of 1937 and has since become a U.S. citizen, married 20-year-old Edith Roosevelt, a member of the Theodore Roosevelt branch of the family. Her relatives are not pleased with the marriage. The other branch, the Franklin Roosevelt line, is amused by the minor social scandal. According to American press reports, the two families despise each other as much as the Montagues and Capulets in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.” Mari later married her cousin, Aristotle Souval, though they had no children. As noted in his New York Times obituary, Souval was an international maritime lawyer whose clients included major Greek shipping magnates. From 1956 to 1959, he served as chairman of the Atlantic Bank of New York, which specialized in maritime finance. He had long been a director and vice president of its predecessor, the Hellenic Bank Trust Company. He was a graduate of New York University and its law school, and maintained an office at 1 Wall Street. In the scan: “Barmine coming to U.S.’ – headline of a short article in New York Times, 28 December, 1939.

Shifting focus back to those directly connected to Wacław Chojna, Lt. JAN ŁOJKO, the godfather of Krystyna, Wacław’s daughter, served alongside Chojna in the 4th PAL Division in Inowrocław as a platoon commander. After the September 1939 fall of Poland, per information from his military report dated 18 January 1943, he was "arrested by the Ukrainian militia outside the village of Lipowica near Perehyńska on 2 December 1939, while marching to the Hungarian border in order to travel to France." The Ukrainian militia worked on behalf of the Soviets, who imprisoned Jan Łojko along with thousands of other Polish officers and soldiers who were attempting to cross over to Hungary or Romania in order to get to France. As per the military report, Jan Łojko was sent to a total of eight Soviet prisons and two gulags in Siberia [where temperatures reached -40C]. In December 1940, he was sentenced to five years in prison for attempting to cross the border. His military report (below) confirms that Poles were excessively mistreated in successive prisons and were gradually robbed of all of their belongings and food, while living conditions and medical assistance were dreadful. In the report, he describes his stay in the IwdzielLagier [Iwdelłag] gulag as follows: "...northeast of Sverdlovsk [near Yekaterinburg] and about 70 km from the village of Iwdziel [Iwdel], founded by Poles, exiled to Siberia in 1863 [by the Russian tsar]. Living in dirty barracks, full of lice and bedbugs... Average working time: 12-14 hours a day, logging trees. The work quota is eight to ten cubic meters of hand-sawing and cutting trees per person. The food was divided into three categories: I. those who performed above the quota; II. those who complied with the quota; and III. those who could not meet the quota. A physically weak prisoner who was classified into category III could not, under any circumstances re-enter category II later on, because he was physically beyond the point of no return [due to poor nutrition]. During the 28-day train transport [to the next gulag], food was robbed from the Poles by other prisoners while the Soviet guards turned a blind eye to what was happening. The Poles, wearing better clothes, were stripped of their garments and robbed of valuable items. In cases of resistance, they were abused and beaten unconscious, with the guards failing to intervene. Report from the second labour camp in the Far East near the Shelikh Bay, north of Kamchatka: "Piostraja Dresva labour camp [Piestraja Drieswa]. The area is very mountainous and rocky... dwellings in tents riddled with holes that are only partially protected from the wind. No hygiene, terrible lice infestation... Average working day: 12-15 hours, and sometimes 24 hours/day (in case of failure to meet the quota within designated time). Standard work: dig up 8 cubic meters of soil with a pickaxe (in very stony ground) and throw it over to a distance of approx. 6 m and spread it out. The attitude of the NKVD (Okrana) authorities and guards towards prisoners was very hostile; the life of each prisoner was in the hands of the NKVD guard. A prisoner who had lost his physical strength had no right to live.'

Jan Łojko was released on 18 October 1941. Joining the Polish army in Buzuk in Kazakhstan on 2 December 1941, he was assigned to the 3rd Carpathian Light Artillery Regiment (3 PAL). Łojko became an acting commander of the 1st division (30 January–3 April 1945) and commander of the 5th battery. 3 PAL was established on 21 January 1942, in Lugovaja in the USSR, as the “10th Light Artillery Regiment," which was later renamed to “3rd Carpathian Light Artillery Regiment." Upon reaching Iran, 3 PAL was incorporated into the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division, commanded by Brig. Gen. S. Kopański, then by Gen. B. Duch. Within 3 PAL, Jan Łojko first trained in Iraq and then in the mountains of Lebanon and Syria. From Egypt, he was transported to Italy. The combat operations in which he participated were: the defence of the Sangro River, the battle of Monte Cassino [battle for Rome], the battle for Ancona, the battle for the Gothic Line, fighting in the Emilian Apennines, defence of the Senio River, and the battle for Bologna. Jan Łojko remained in the UK after the war and died in Scotland.

Below is Jan Łojko’s military report prepared for the Polish army (II Polish Corps) dated 18 January 1943.

Wacław’s younger brother, KAZIMIERZ CHOJNA (upper row to the left), who remained in Eastern Poland under the Soviet occupation, joined the 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division in 1943. He fought through the entire period of combat, including the Battle of Lenino in Belarus, the Battle of the Pomaranian Wall in northern Poland, the Battle of the port city of Kołobrzeg, the Battle of Berlin (fought by 180,000 Polish soldiers from the 1st and 2nd Polish Armies). Wacław and Kazimierz’s parents, Helena and Cezary Chojna, survived the Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland. Along with approximately 1.5 million other Polish citizens, they were forcibly deported, leaving behind their homes, and relocated to the western territories of Poland by 1946. These regions, which were once part of Eastern Poland, had been annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. This mass expulsion remains one of the largest displacements of an ethnic group from their ancestral lands in Europe. After their relocation, HELENA JAKUBOWICZ and CEZARY CHOJNA settled on the outskirts of Warsaw. Over the following decade, an additional 250,000 Poles were expelled from the formerly Eastern territories, permanently reshaping the demographic landscape of the region. In the photo: Helena Jakubowicz and Cezary Chojna with sons Wacław and Kazimierz.

GEN. BRONISŁAW DUCH was the commander of the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division of the Polish II Corps in Italy, to which Wacław Chojna had been assigned on 11 July 1945. As previously indicated, he was also the commander of Waclaw’s aforementioned cousin, Jerzy Bryda, and Jan Łojko, both of whom survived Siberia and fought in all of the battles involving the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division. Coincidentally, Gen. Duch’s brother became the father-in-law of Wacław Chojna’s niece. Gen. Duch’s war record is worth mentioning. Bronisław Duch first fought at the end of WWI against the Germans in 1918, then commanded the 1st Company of the Polish Independent Murmansk Unit against the Red Army along the British in Murmansk (north of Arctic Circle) in 1918/19; in 1920 he fought against the Bolsheviks in Poland. During the German invasion of Poland in September of 1939, he acted as the de facto commander of the 39th Infantry Division (part of the “Lublin” Army). After the fall of Poland in 1939, Duch managed to evade capture and travelled via the Balkans to France, first becoming commander of the Polish_1st_Grenadiers_Division in France (1940), during which 5,200 of his soldiers died fighting for France. He then became commander of the 1st Rifle Brigade of the I Polish Corps in Scotland (1942–43), which defended Scotland’s east coast. Subsequently, Gen. Duch became the commander of the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division of the II Polish Corps (1943–46) formed in Qastina, Palestine. The division participated in the North African Campaign and the Italian Campaigns (1941–1945) as part of the British Eighth Army. The division fought in some of the most difficult battles during the Italian campaigns of 1943-1944 and distinguished itself in numerous actions, most notably the Battle of Monte Casino, Gothic Line, the Battle of Ancona, and earlier in Tobruk, Alem Hamza, and Bardia in North Africa. General Duch remained in the UK after the war. He was awarded the Virtuti Militari 3rd, 4th, and 5th class, the Order of Polonia Restituta 2nd, 4th, and 5th class, the Cross of Independence, the Cross of Valour eight times, and the Gold Cross of Merit with Swords.

12. POLAND AFTER WORLD WAR II

The aftermath of WWII for Poland was tragic and disturbing. This is well encapsulated by a historian, Adam Zamoyski, in his book "The Polish Way": "The Poles are the nation who really lost the Second World War. They fought continuously from the first day to the bitter end and beyond. They put more effort into the struggle than any other society; they lost over half a million fighting men and women and six million civilians; they were left with one million war orphans and over half a million invalids. According to the Bureau of War Reparations, the country had lost 38 percent of its national assets, compared to the 1.5 percent and 0.8 percent lost by France and Britain, respectively. They lost vast tracts of their country and their two great cultural centers of Wilno and Lwów [currently in Lithuania and Ukraine, respectively]. They also saw a greater part of their heritage destroyed. Although they were faithful members of the victorious alliance, they were treated as a vanquished enemy: they were robbed of much of their territory and of their freedom... Men and women who had risked their lives for six years plotting and fighting against the German order in unspeakable conditions were dragged into jail by their Soviet masters, tortured, and [falsely] accused of collaborating with the Nazis. In the West, their efforts and sacrifices were belittled and ignored... They were not only consigned to Hell; they were supposed to enjoy it." To add insult to injury and, after significant pressure from Stalin, Polish forces were even denied an invitation to participate in the Victory Parade in London held on 8 June 1946, in front of King George VI—aside from 25 pilots of the Polish fighter squadrons in the Royal Air Force who fought in the Battle of Britain. Those pilots refused to participate in the parade in protest at the omission of the other Polish military corps who fought in North Africa, the Middle East, Western Europe (i.e., Norway, France, England, Holland, Italy, Germany), and the Pacific (Burma).

The post-WWII loss included the once-beautiful Baroque city of Lwów (Lviv), where for centuries Poles formed the decisive majority, comprising nearly 65-70% of the population, while Jews made up over 20%, and Ukrainians around 10%. A cultural hub, it was home to four Polish universities, including the University of Lwów, founded in 1661 by King John II Casimir Vasa of Poland. The loss also encompassed the entire Wołyń Province, renowned for its impressive Polish castles, palaces, and mansions, as well as its fertile black soil, which earned the region the title of the "breadbasket of Poland." The area was a critical industrial zone, housing Boryslaw, a major oil production center with one of Europe’s largest oil fields at the time, along with a thriving petrochemical industry, mining operations, and machine engineering—all essential to Poland’s industrial development. These vital resources were lost following Soviet annexation, and the once-prosperous regions suffered from neglect and mismanagement under Soviet control and the largely rural, undereducated Ukrainian population. For Wacław Chojna and his relatives, who had deep ties to both Lwów and the Wołyń Province, the loss of these lands and forceful expulsion was not only a national tragedy but a personal one, deeply felt by his family.

The loss of another Polish city—Wilno (Vilnius)—was equally significant, where Poles formed the overwhelming majority, followed by a sizable Jewish community, and a marginal Lithuanian population. The city was renowned for its rich blend of Gothic, Baroque, and Classical architecture, much of which was created by Poles. Notable among these were monumental buildings such as the Palace of the Radziwiłł family and Vilnius University, founded in 1579 by King Stefan Batory, which served as a vibrant intellectual hub for Poles. It was also the institution from which Wacław Chojna’s great-grandfather, Andrzej Jakubowicz, graduated in mathematics and physics in 1817. For centuries, Poles were the majority in the city, despite large-scale deportations by the tsars during the partition of Poland. The city continued to serve as a center for Polish writers, artists, and intellectuals, attracting notable figures such as Nobel Prize laureate Czesław Miłosz, Marshal Józef Piłsudski, and Adam Mickiewicz, Poland's greatest 19th-century poet.

In addition, Poland lost several historic cities now located in Belarus, including Grodno, Brześć (Brest), Pińsk, and Nowogródek. Grodno was a major cultural and administrative center, home to the Old Royal Castle of King Stephen Báthory and the New Castle of King Augustus III, as well as prominent Baroque churches and Jesuit institutions. Brześć, a strategic transport hub, featured Polish civic buildings and the historic Brześć Fortress. Pińsk served as a religious and educational center, with a Baroque cathedral and a Jesuit college central to regional life. Nowogródek, the seat of a voivodeship, preserved ruins of a medieval royal castle and functioned as a local center of Polish education and administration. These cities represented a serious loss to Poland’s historical and cultural landscape and, like other territories annexed by the USSR, were subjected to decades of neglect and suppression of their Polish heritage.

Although Poland indisputably qualified for post-war reconstruction aid under the US Marshall Plan in 1948, Moscow pressured the Polish Communist puppet government comprised mostly of ethnic minorities to refuse the financial aid offer. Subsequently, Poland received zero funds from the Marshall Plan, while France received USD 2,296 million, Great Britain USD 3,297 million, and West Germany USD 1,448 million.

Arrests became an element of intensified struggle against the so-called "class enemy," who were sought among pre-war social and political activists, members of the Polish underground state, soldiers returning to Poland from the West, and the clergy. Indictments were based on fictitious facts, and testimonies forced by brutal torture. "Enemies" of the Communist regime were sentenced in public show trials, often forced to confess in public. Many were never presented with any official charges or arrest warrants. Secret militias of the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) and the UB secret service terrorized villages by carrying out treacherous murders. About 250,000 people were arrested, and about 50,000 were murdered (see "In the footsteps of crimes”, Institute of National Remembrance). The state apparatus of terror was swiftly expanded: in 1946, the budget of the Ministry of Public Security (MBP), which included the UB secret service units, was allocated eight times more funds than the budget of the Ministry of Public Health Service, and it exceeded the combined budgets for health, education, and labour. In 1948, MBP received ten times more funds than was allocated to the reconstruction of the country (see Krzysztof Szwagrzyk: The Security Apparatus in Poland). Repression—particularly against the Catholic Church, but also targeting other Christian denominations—was commonplace and included arrests and imprisonment. The general elections held on 19 January 1947, were falsified at practically every level of the election committees, while opposition was ruthlessly eliminated. Most individuals within the terror apparatus—particularly in key positions—were predominantly from ethnic minority backgrounds. In the immediate postwar period, the majority of Poles aligned themselves with the Home Army, held strong anti-Soviet and anti-Communist sentiments, and felt a deep kinship with the Catholic Church.

During interrogations, the UB employed Gestapo-style torture techniques, including the tearing out of fingernails, blows to the kidneys, and the crushing of genitals—the latter reportedly favored by the sadistic interrogator Julia Preiss-Brystigier (wife of Chaim Nathan Brystiger).

"If someone has even a little imagination and wants to picture hell, it is enough to mention Pavilion 10 at Mokotów Prison on Rakowiecka Street. A great howl of tortured people could be heard from every floor—women’s screams, men’s screams. Such monstrous howls and cries cannot be forgotten by a man for the rest of his life," recalled "Radosław"—Jan Mazurkiewicz, commander of the "Radosław" Group in the Warsaw Uprising—during a court deposition in 1957, at a time when Home Army soldiers were being partially rehabilitated.

Memories from the same prison by his wife, codename "Irma", a liaison officer during the Uprising, are recounted in Bartosz Nożycki's book "Home Army Group Radoslaw": "They were pulling out hair from my scalp, knocking my head against the wall, kicking me on different parts of my body; at night they would throw me naked into a small concrete cell heavily smeared with human excrement, which was deliberately not cleaned up...they trampled upon my feet, which completely deformed them—causing bloody hemorrhaging and periosteal damage... my feet were swollen from constant kicking... I couldn't put on my shoes... after such a beating, I was forced to do hundreds of sit-ups. And when I couldn't squat properly, A. Humer [Umer] kicked me... in the soft parts under the knees, so that I would fall backwards on my head, often crashing on the floor. Another torture method was hanging me by the tailbone, which caused excruciating pain leading to long fainting spells. During beatings on my face, they broke my sternum and a number of teeth, and my head was covered with bloody bumps. This lasted for three weeks. Subsequently, these interrogations... were repeated systematically over a period of six months... For the next eight months, the investigation was conducted by J. Golberg-Różański for 16 hours a day... I was forced to stand for 8-9 hours a day without being allowed to sit down on a chair [e.g, often with hands up]. I was forced to sit for hours on a special stool, which had a skewer with a diameter of only a few centimetres [led to anal bleeding]. My eyesight was destroyed by letting a strong beam of light go straight into my eyes from a short distance... with a shutter system".

One of the many victims at Rakowiecka prison was the aforementioned heroic Jesuit priest from the Warsaw Uprising—Father Tomasz Rostworowski—who was sentenced to 12 years for alleged activity against the communist regime. He first spent 11 months in the prison's basement, where he was subjected to coercive interrogations 128 times. He was then transferred to Wronki prison, which housed around 5,000 political prisoners—mostly from the Polish anti-communist underground—and was notorious for its brutal treatment of inmates. While imprisoned, Father Tomasz secretly carried out religious ministry: hearing confessions, leading retreats, and praying with fellow inmates. For this, he was punished by being thrown into the karcer—a dark, freezing solitary confinement cell used to break prisoners—where he was physically assaulted. Like most other political prisoners, he was released in 1956 under a general amnesty.

13. WACŁAW CHOJNA’S RETURN TO POLAND

The Soviet Union and Poland’s Communist regime—composed largely of ethnic minorities hostile to the pre-war Polish state—sought to justify their occupation and the annexation of nearly one-third of Poland's pre-war territory. To this end, they systematically undermined Poland’s contributions to World War II. The admiration Polish soldiers had earned during the war gradually faded, replaced by indifference and even hostility. A poignant 1946 account by Olga Dettloff from a London post office illustrates this shift: “A Polish officer attempted to buy a stamp, only for the clerk to slam it down so forcefully that it flew off the counter and onto the floor. The Polish officer picked up the stamp and left the payment on the floor, exactly where the stamp had landed, before silently walking away.”

Life for Polish officers and soldiers in exile was fraught with challenges, marked by difficult choices and an uncertain future. All faced the dilemma of either returning to a homeland where their properties had been confiscated by the Communist regime or building a new life abroad—with limited knowledge of English, no support from the authorities, and jobs far beneath their previous educational, social, and economic standing. Those who had left their homes in Eastern Poland—territory annexed by the Soviet Union—were particularly vulnerable, finding themselves with nowhere to turn.

Wacław Chojna also faced the difficult decision of whether to remain in the United Kingdom or return to Poland. After several unsuccessful attempts to bring his family to the UK, the decision was ultimately made for him. While listening to a Polish newscast in Scotland, he learned of the death of his father-in-law, Andrzej Dzikiewicz—well known in the city of Inowrocław as a painter, sculptor, and teacher at the prestigious Kasprowicz Secondary School for Boys. This news prompted his return. On 8 May 1947, Chojna was repatriated from Glasgow to the port city of Gdynia, along with a group of other Polish soldiers. From there, he made his way back to Inowrocław.

Upon his return, despite his wife’s pleas, Chojna proudly wore his Allied military uniform around Inowrocław while seeking employment, making him conspicuously stand out and causing others to fear offering him work in a city gripped by terror. Shortly thereafter, he was detained by the UB (Communist secret police) and interrogated at several locations, including the notorious Rakowiecka Street prison in Warsaw, where he was interrogated, inter alia, by J. Goldberg-Różański. Wacław Chojna was identified as the officer in charge of the Kedyw archives, which the Communists sought to decipher in order to identify and arrest its members. Chojna claimed that during the Uprising, he handed the archives to a female courier who was later killed. He then feigned memory loss—legitimized by a confirmed head injury sustained when a building wall collapsed on him during the Warsaw Uprising, causing a concussion—and insisted he was responsible only for the logistics of the archives, not for their content or coding. Despite harsh interrogations, he never revealed any names.

For years afterward, he endured relentless harassment by UB agents, often disappearing for weeks at a time and leaving his family in constant fear of whether he would return.Throughout these years of terror, in and out of interrogations, Wacław Chojna could not find regular employment, so he took odd manual jobs and then worked as a bookkeeper. Despite his strong aptitude for mathematics, his application to the Faculty of Mathematics at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń was rejected purely for political reasons. He was always hoping for regime change, secretly listening to the illegal Radio Free Europe and Voice of America. During protests against the Communist regime in Poznan (Posen) in June of 1956, he swiftly helped start the engine of one of the two tanks captured by demonstrating factory workers on the streets of Poznan, where he happened to be by coincidence. In the 1960s, with the support of Jan Mazurkiewicz "Radosław," Chojna became a member of ZBoWiD (the Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy). It was the only veterans’ organization in Communist Poland, which, after the period of Stalinist terror, began admitting former Home Army members and helping them find employment despite ongoing political discrimination. "Radosław" (Col. Jan Mazurkiewicz) became its vice-chairman in Warsaw. Eventually, Chojna was elected a head of ZBoWiD’s local branch in the city of Inowrocław. Due to continuous harassment by the UB secret service, Chojna was never able to pursue his pre-war passion for sports. Even after the Stalinist repressions gradually subsided, his only reprieve was playing bridge with a handful of pre-war acquaintances.

Wacław Chojna as a chairman of a craft cooperative in late 1960's.

Jadwiga Stępniewska, codename „Hesia” Waclaw’s liaison officer in Kedyw and Warsaw Uprising

Wacław Chojna’s wife, Maria, who had spent the occupation in Cracow, returned with her daughters to Inowrocław in 1945. As part of post-war Communist retaliation against non-Communists, the family was evicted from their pre-war home at Bratnia Street, which was taken over by a UB officer and his family—along with all the furnishings. Maria and her daughters moved into her parents' apartment at Solankowa 2/4 Street. After numerous interventions, the UB officer eventually returned Maria's piano from their old home, claiming it was the only item to survive an alleged fire. In addition, another UB officer and his family were forcibly assigned as co-tenants in her parents’ apartment. This officer verbally abused and threatened Maria's entire family, even forcing her to clean the soiled toilet after him, claiming that her hands did not look like “the hands of the working class” (ręce klasy pracującej).

Maria returned to teaching history at the prestigious Konopnicka secondary school for girls. Her history classes were regularly inspected by Communist Party school board officials and UB agents, who accused her of not teaching history in a way which followed official Marxist doctrine. This ultimately led to her dismissal from the school. Throughout the Stalinist period, she was harassed by officials of many ranks (some of the relevant correspondence has been preserved).

Despite the difficult situation, she decided to pursue a Master's degree in history at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in the city of Toruń. Even though she worked every day at a secondary school in Inowrocław, for three years she took a train twice a week to attend lectures in the city of Toruń, returning home after 2 a.m. On one occasion she barely got away from drunk Soviet soldiers, thanks to the efficient assistance of a Polish officer. She was bullied by female UB officers, and the defence of her Master's thesis was scheduled for Friday 13th (she passed with flying colours), earning a Master's degree in Philosophy of History.

Maria with daughters in Solanki Park, Inowroclaw in 1945

Maria playing the piano in 1929 - the only item reclaimed from her home in 1945

The Communist regime in post-war Poland made it extremely difficult for the families of pre-war elites and officers, particularly those who refused to collaborate with the new authorities, to pursue higher education. University access was not based on merit but rather on social or political affiliation. While applicants from Communist apparatchik families or working/farming backgrounds were informally given advantages, those considered "class enemies" were often outright excluded or rejected, even if they met academic requirements. Years later, an official affirmative action policy was introduced to support university admissions for students from working-class and farming backgrounds. One stark example of this discrimination was the case of Maria Chojna’s history pupil—a family friend—who successfully passed the entrance examinations for medical studies three years in a row. However, each year she was rejected because her father, a pre-war officer, had been interned and killed by the Soviets during the Katyn massacre. She had the courage to write a letter of appeal directly to the Communist President of Poland, Bolesław Bierut. Surprisingly, he intervened on her behalf, and she was eventually admitted. Many others lacked such determination, and as a result, the pre-war intelligentsia—once the backbone of Polish society—was weakened by the Communist regime. With the decline of the old intelligentsia, society's character began to shift: established norms, values, and patterns of conduct were gradually displaced by those of a new ruling class—one largely drawn from questionable backgrounds and loyal to the regime’s ideology.

In this new reality, resistance often came at a personal cost. Wacław forbade his daughters, Krystyna and Anna, from joining the nearly compulsory ZMP (Communist Youth Organization), even though refusal could disqualify them from taking their baccalaureate exams and limit access to higher education. Having passed her baccalaureate, Krystyna—without her parents’ knowledge—applied to the Maritime School in Gdynia, hoping to join the merchant navy and envisioning a possible escape to America. Her application was met with a blunt refusal, citing her father’s past as a high-ranking Home Army officer. The letter included absurd, propagandistic accusations against the Home Army, effectively barring her from that path. For young people with backgrounds like Krystyna’s, many fields of study—particularly law, politics, history, and economics—were also effectively off limits. Undeterred, Krystyna applied to the leading drama school in Kraków, where less emphasis was placed on applicants’ political backgrounds. There, she eventually earned an MA in acting and went on to become a theatre actress.

Meanwhile, her younger sister Anna—who had been the top student not only in her class but in the entire school—graduated with special distinction. Her exceptional academic record made it impossible for the Communist authorities to block her, allowing her to pursue medical studies at the prestigious Poznań Medical Academy, where she eventually qualified as an eye surgeon.

Years later, Wacław’s daughter, Krystyna, summed up their past with a poignant remark: "Hitler deprived us of a normal childhood, while Stalin deprived us of a normal youth". Despite the many barriers they faced, Wacław and Maria’s other relatives also managed to earn master’s or PhD degrees. However, their educational journeys were also often marked by obstacles imposed by the Stalinist regime.

Krystyna in a play, 1957

Anna, 1956

Wacław remained in contact with "Radosław" for the rest of his life, even though he did not visit Warsaw very often, aside from the occasional August 1 secret commemorations of the Warsaw Uprising held among former insurgents at the Powązki Cemetery. Initially he travelled to Warsaw accompanied by one of his daughters to create the appearance of a tourist visit. He died of a heart attack in the presence of his daughter Anna and "Hesia", his liaison officer from the Uprising, on December 2, 1976 at the Lindley Hospital in Warsaw where he went in for treatment. He was buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery, plot 32C. At his funeral, Jan Mazurkiewicz "Radosław" said: "Wacek, this is not the Poland you fought for."

Maj. Wacław Chojna's grave at the Powązki Military Cemetery

Commemorative distinction of the Home Army (AK) "Radosław" Group

Maj. Wacław Chojna "Horodyński" held numerous decorations: the War Order Virtuti Militari 5th class, Gold Cross of Merit with Swords, Cross of Valour, The War Medal, Army Medal for War 1939-45, Home Army Cross, Warsaw Uprising Cross, and Partisan Cross.

                    

Virtuti Militari Cross and Cross of Valour

Cross of Valour certificate Sept 12, 1945

Home Army Cross (AK) card issued in London

Gold Cross of Merit with Swords

                    

Army Medal for War 1939-45 and British War Medal

                    

Warsaw Uprising Cross and Partisan Cross

Below is a scan of documents from the British Ministry of Defence, Hayes, Middlesex, UK, ref 3/PLF/WA-CH1908/DR2c/W.

Relatively little is known about Wacław Chojna's extensive underground activities due to postwar repression. Even as late as the 1970s, research into or recognition of the Home Army (AK) and the Warsaw Uprising continued to be discouraged by the Communist regime. Living in a remote city also limited his opportunities to share memories with those in Warsaw. Chojna did not even want his family to know about the Record of the Course of Insurgent Activities by the 'Radosław' Group from the Warsaw Uprising. The detailed information it contained could have served as factual evidence for the Polish secret service that Chojna had not, in fact, suffered memory loss after his concussion during the Uprising.
In the 1980s, Lt. Stanisław Wierzyński—Chojna’s comrade during the German occupation, the Warsaw Uprising, and their imprisonment at the Murnau POW camp—planned to write about Chojna and contacted Maria Chojna during a visit to Inowrocław for that purpose. Unfortunately, his death brought the project to an end. Another study, focusing on Chojna’s time in the POZ, particularly his role in organizing and training the artillery squadron in Legionowo, was planned by Wanda Kulma, whose uncle, Józef Kisielnicki, was also a comrade from the time of the German occupation and the Uprising. She, too, passed away before she could embark on her project. Similarly, little is known about Chojna’s liaison officer, “Hesia,” a woman of exceptional courage and many achievements, both in her work with the AK/Kedyw and during the Warsaw Uprising.

Bibliography:

1. 'Z dziejów Walk o Niepodległość', dr. Andrzej Kunert, Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni Przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, IPN
2. 'POZ-Polska Organizacja Zbrojna, Siew-Racławice- POZ-AK', Stanisław Pietras, str.69,92,93,109,110,132,149
3. "Notatka z przebiegu działań powstańczych zgrupowania 'Radosław'", mjr Wacław Chojna, por. Stanisław Wierzyński, Komisja Historyczna b. Sztabu Głównego Warszawa-Londyn 2004, Problematyka i Historia Wojskowości, MARS 16/2004
4. Dokumenty W. Chojny, Ministry of Defence, Bourne Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex UB3 1RF; ref 3/PLF/WA-CH1908/DR2c/W
5. 'Z fałszywym Ausweisem... : o komórce legislacyjnej Kierownictwa Dywersji na terenie Obszaru Warszawskiego Armii Krajowej 1939-1944', Stanisława Lewandowska, Rocznik Mazowiecki 16,75-90, 70
6. "Jan Mazurkiewicz "Radosław" "Sęp" "Zagłoba"", Stanisław Mazurkiewicz
7. Archiwum Konspiracyjne ppłk W. Janaszka. Wnioski odznaczeniowe
8. "Oddziały szturmowe konspiracyjnej Warszawy 1939-44", Tomasz Strzembosz
9. "Tędy przeszła śmierć-zapiski z Powstania Warszawskiego", Bronisław Troński
10. "Saga o Bohaterach, 'Wachlarz' IX 1941 III 1943", Cezary Chlebowski
11. Raport Stanisława Huskowskiego ps. Ali z akcji na Kutscherę
12. "Zgrupowanie AK "Radosław"", Bartosz Nowożycki, Oficyna Wydawnicza Rytm
13. Wspomnienia Stanisława Wierzyńskiego, Archiwum Akt Nowych
14. "Niewola w cieniu Alp. Oflag VII A Murnau", Danuta Kisielewicz CMJW Opole
15. "Mokotów Warszawskie Termopile 1944", Lesław Bartelski
16. „Od likierów do Luksusowej" Przemysław Karwowski
17. Wspomnienia Romualda Kęstowicz, zbiory własne Romy Kęstowicz
18. Fundacja Elżbiety Zawadzkiej, dokumentacja dot. Janiny Stępniewskiej i Mieczysława Karczewskiego, Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego, Bydgoszcz
19. „The Polish Way", Adam Zamoyski, Hippocrene Books, 1987
20. Materiały Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej
21. Bohaterowie 1939, https://www.bohaterowie1939.pl/polegly,chojna,waclaw,5862.html
22. „Powstanie Warszawskie w 100 przedmiotach" Teresa Kowalik & Przemysław Słowiński
23. „Exodus Warszawy. Ludzie i miasto po Powstaniu 1944" Małgorzata Berezowska
24. Haberbusch i Schiele https://www.polenausfreierwahl.de/wirtualny-spacer/lokalizacje/browar-haberbusch-i-schiele/galeria
25. "Wspomnienia i wiersze," Wanda Zenta, Klub Poetów Telmeda, Nowy Jork 2012
26. Insurgent biographies, Museum of Warsaw Uprising
27. Archiwum PMA, Narbutta 21 Str Warsaw
28. Jesuits in the Warsaw Uprising, article by Fr.Krzysztof Dorosz, PhD
29. (Tomasz Rostworowski, Szerzyć Królestwo. Wspomnienia i dzienniki 1939-1972, wybór i oprac. T. Pronobis i St. J. Rostworowski, Warszawa 2004).
30. https://www.bohaterowie1939.pl/polegly,chojna,waclaw,5862.html
31. Brodziński, Janusz."Do inowrocławskiego kasyna chodzili dawniej wszyscy." Gazeta Pomorska, 15 Jan. 2010.

Agnieszka Monika Lawacz-Sampanis, granddaughter of Waclaw Chojna

edited by Maciej Janaszek-Seydlitz

P.S.

The Powązki Military Cemetery holds a certain secret, certainly one of many.
Plot 25A is the resting place of 568 officers, cadets and privates who fell in the 1939 siege of Warsaw. These servicemen were originally buried in different districts of Warsaw and subsequently, between December 1939 and June 1940, exhumed by the Municipal Board to the military cemetery.
On this plot, on grave no. 1-14 (1st row, 14th grave) there is a cross with an inscription "Wacław Chojna, aged 32."

grave 25A 1-14 at the Powązki Military Cemetery

Two different publications shed some light on this grave:
- Ludwik Głowacki "Obrona Warszawy i Modlina 1939", p. 389: "- artillery Lt. Wacław Chojna (Aug 4, 1907 - September 22, 1939), commander of 2nd battery 4 PAL, 4 ID, fell in Bielany, I-44."
- collection of articles edited by Juliusz Jerzy Malczewski "Powązki Cmentarz Komunalny dawny Wojskowy w Warszawie", p. 220: "Chojna Wacław (1907 - September 4, 1939), 2nd Lt. Polish Army. In 1930, graduated from the Artillery Officer Cadet School in Toruń and served in 4 PAL. During the 1939 defensive war, commanded the 2nd battery 4 PAL, 4 ID. Fell in the Warsaw district of Bielany. 25A-1-14."
There are some differences between the two sources. One introduces Chojna as a 2nd lieutenant, the other - as a lieutenant. One says he died on September 4, the other - on September 22. The resting place differs, too, simply missing from one of the citations.
Most interestingly, however, the remains in the grave are not those of artillery officer Wacław Chojna. During the September Campaign of 1939, Lt. Wacław Chojna, commander of the 2nd battery 4th Light Artillery Regiment 4th Infantry Division fought with the "Pomorze" Army and took part in the Battle of Bzura. After the division was defeated, he was taken prisoner by the Germans first on September 17, then on September 21, and later after September 25. The soldier who subsequently died in Bielany was mistaken for Chojna because he had been ordered to take a report with Chojna's documents and get through to Warsaw.
The account of Chojna's later life is presented above.
When he died in 1976 and the family went about having him buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery, they learned that Wacław Chojna was already buried there. Since then, it has become a family tradition to also light a candle on the other grave, the one from 1939.