Kazimierz Kamieński was born in Markowo-Wólka, a village in the commune of Nowe Piekuty in the district of Wysokie Mazowieckie, on 8 January 1919. The future Captain Kamieński, alias Huzar, finished elementary school in Hodyszewo, and then the lower secondary school of commerce in Wysokie Mazowieckie. He completed his military service at the Reserve Cadet School of Cavalry in Grudziądz.

Kamieński fought in the defensive war of 1939 in the 9th Regiment of Mounted Riflemen. He was taken prisoner by the Germans during the battle of Kock, from where he managed to flee.

Kamieński returned to his hometown, which was then occupied by the Soviets. He was involved in eliminating a number of NKVD (Soviet secret police) operatives and informers. In early 1942, he joined the Home Army, became a platoon commander and from 1944 he was made an adjutant of Wiktor Leszko, alias Witold, the commander of the Home Army’s Sub-district of Wysokie Mazowieckie.

After the Red Army advanced onto Polish territory, Kamieński went into hiding. In December 1944, he escaped the Citizens’ Militia (MO) when they tried to arrest him. In January 1945, he resumed contact with Wiktor Leszko and took command of a self-defence unit of the Citizens’ Home Army Sub-district of Wysokie Mazowieckie. Afterwards, he joined the Freedom and Independence (WiN) Association.

Unlike the soldiers under his command, Kamieński did not reveal himself during the communist amnesty of 1947. Conversely, he organised a well-armed and fully uniformed partisan unit.

From the summer of 1948, Captain Kazimierz Kamieński was deputy to Capitan Władysław Łukasiuk, alias Młot, the Commander of the 6th Wilno Brigade of Freedom and Independence. After the commander’s death, he took the command in June 1949.

The unit conducted military operations in the area of Ostrów Mazowiecka, Wysokie Mazowieckie and Łapy, Bielsk Podlaski, Siemiatycze, Biała Podlaska, Łosice and Sokołów Podlaski.

A total of 120 people passed through the unit; however, its membership was never higher than 50 at any one time. Its patrols carried out expropriation operations and executions of Polish secret police, members of the Citizens’ Militia and Soviet secret police NKVD, fought in several skirmishes and battles, but also fought banditry.

In 1952, Captain Kamieński established contact with the 5th Command of Freedom and Independence, unaware that it was part of the Polish secret police (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, UB) entrapment (code-named “Cezary”). After he followed the order of his “superiors” to arrive in Warsaw, he was arrested on 23 October 1952.

What happened next was easy to predict. Kamieński was brutally interrogated and on 26 March 1953 – sentenced summarily to six consecutive death sentences by the Regional Military Court in Warsaw during the away session in Łapy. He was executed in the Białystok prison at 1.30 p.m. on 11 October 1953.

The remains of “Huzar” have never been found. His symbolic grave is located at a cemetery in Poświętne. On 13 March 1997, his sentence was annulled by a court in Białystok. wyrok.

Tadeusz Płużański

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