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Zygmunt Szendzielarz „Łupaszka”

Zygmunt Szendzielarz was born in Stryj in 1910. His
family moved afterwards to Vilnius. He studied in
the Infantry Cadet School in Ostrów Mazowiecka, and
then in Cavalry Cadet School in Grudziądz. Having
graduated from there, he was assigned to the 4th Niemen
Uhlan Regiment.
In September 1939, his regiment formed part of the
Northern Grouping of the Reserve Army “Prusy”, and
then of general Anders’ Operational Group. Lt. Zygmunt
Szendzielarz commanded the 2nd squadron. Following
the defeat and a failed attempt to get through to the
forming Polish army in the West, he stayed in Vilnius,
where he organized the local underground under the
auspices of the Union for Armed Struggle (Związek
Walki Zbrojnej).
In 1943, under the nickname “Łupaszka”, Szendzielarz
became commander of a Polish guerilla unit in the
Vilnius District, which morphed into the Home Army 5th
Vilnius Brigade, the most numerous and the strongest in
the region. In 1943–1944, the brigade fought in several
dozen battles and skirmishes with German troops,
with Lithuanian formations collaborating with the
Third Reich and with the Soviet partisans terrorizing
the Polish populace. In January 1944, the commander of the Vilnius District, Colonel Aleksander Krzyżanowski,
nickname “Wolf”, awarded “Łupaszka” with the Cross of
Valour.
Szendzielarz did not trust the Soviets and did not participate
in the Vilnius uprising (Operation Gate of Dawn). Thanks
to this decision, he evaded disarmament and internment,
which befell most soldiers and officers of the Vilnius branch
of the Home Army. He remained in the underground,
rebuilt the Home Army 5th Vilnius Brigade, and then he
established the Home Army 6th Vilnius Brigade. He moved
the fight with the Red Army and the NKVD as well as
with their Polish collaborators from the communist secret
police, state police and military counterinsurgency corps
to Podlachia, the Białystok region, Warmia, Masuria and
Pomerania. The Soviets put a bounty on him.
“Łupaszka” also conducted propaganda work. A fragment
of probably his most famous leaflet, dated March 1946,
reads: “We are not a band, as traitors and the impious sons
of our homeland call us. We come from Polish cities and
villages. We want Poland to be ruled by Poles committed
to its cause and elected by the entire Nation […]”.
Finally, Szendzielarz abandoned the armed struggle and
tried to return to civilian life. In June 1948, the secret police f igured
out and
broke the
structures of the
Home Army Vilnius
District. “Łupaszka” was arrested on 30 June in Osielec
near Zakopane.
In the subsequent show trial organized by communists,
he was sentenced to death penalty on eighteen
counts. On 8 February 1951, he was murdered in the
secret police torture chamber at Rakowiecka Street
in Warsaw. After 1989, courts exonerated him from
all charges. In 2007, the President of the Republic
of Poland, Lech Kaczyński awarded “Łupaszka” post
mortem with the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia
Restituta for outstanding service to the independence
of the Republic of Poland. Zygmunt Szendzielarz’s
remains were found by the experts of the Institute
of National Remembrance on a site of clandestine
burials performed by the communist secret police –
the so-called Łączka (Meadow) in the Powązki Military
Cemetery in Warsaw. In August 2013, the Institute of
National Remembrance confirmed his identity.
Tadeusz Płużański