The Polish Diaspora, 1939-55

RESISTANCE	In early October, I was taken as a POW but managed to escape. I was helped by a Jewish shopkeeper who hid me and gave me some civilian clothing. I had some of my army pay left and, with that, I bought myself a bicycle and, even though I was injured, cycled to my home in Kielce. I immediately joined the Polish Underground. At the beginning of 1940, because I spoke some English, my commanding officer said I should be trained as a courier in the west. I found myself crossing Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and northern Italy, and then reached the Polish Army in France. Jerzy Zubrzycki b. 1920, Kraków 1940-41, Slovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Italy, France 1941-55, Britain 1955-present, Australia
We were all involved in the Home Army, injured during the Uprising, sent to POW camps and, then, moved to North America. We could have escaped after the Uprising by pretending to be civilians; we decided not to do that as we were involved with the AK. We had to lay down our arms and walk to O¿arów where we were taken by train to Germany. As I lay down my arms, I saw out of the corner of my eyes that the Germans saluted. It was a very emotional and sad event. Lech Halko b. 1925, Warszawa 1944-45, Germany 1945-46, Italy 1946-53, England 1953-present, Canada	Lech Halko, Italy, 1945
In 1939, I had just graduated from the Officer’s Training School and was assigned to the 22nd Platoon which went to war. Unfortunately the War was a great disappointment to me. We had been told that we would reach Berlin within a very short period of time, instead of which we found ourselves having to retreat rapidly. Instead of using my equipment to defend Poland, we were told by the Polish Command to destroy everything as we were surrounded and we didn’t want it to fall into the hands of the enemy. After this miserable campaign I returned home where I stayed until April 1940, waiting for an occasion to escape to the west and join the Polish Army. Kazimierz Szyd³o b. 1922, Krosno 1940-46, Hungary, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, Italy 1946-present, England	Three weeks before the Uprising, my brother made me swear that I would not tell anyone what he was about to tell me, that he was part of the Underground. He got me to get down on my knees and swear to the Virgin Mary that I would not tell anyone. He wanted me to join him in the Underground. He told me that three paramedics had been killed by the Germans and now they were short of paramedics. The hospital was on ul. Pañska. He taught me what to do with injuries. After fighting for two months, we had to surrender to the Germans. I came out of the Uprising and had to go on foot to O¿arów, and waited two days for a train. We slept on a concrete floor in an enormous hall. From Warszawa, we were taken to Germany. We were first at camp in Lansdorf then, after three weeks, were taken to Muhlberg, then, to Saxony to work in a munitions factory. At the end, we were taken to the women’s POW camp in Oberlangen. Hanka Piotrowska Or³owska b. 1929, Warszawa 1944-45, Germany 1945-46, Italy 1946-present, England
Recruitment Poster for the Polish Army in France	I had joined the Underground Movement two years prior to the Warsaw Uprising and was a dispatch courier. The couriers distributed various leaflets and information and pasted them to walls wherever they could. In this way, we kept the civilian population informed and made it clear to the Germans that there was a functioning Underground organization. This was, like other tasks, dangerous work as you sometimes had to travel by tram with a bag full of literature. Fortunately, the Germans always had the first coach to themselves and the rest of us were obliged to stand wherever we could find space. Sometimes there were traps to catch us but, usually, when we were forewarned, we got off the tram and fled. Danuta Banaszek Szlachetko b. 1929, Warszawa 1944-46, Germany 1946-47, Italy 1947-present, England