Karol Chmiel

Karol Chmiel

Karol Chmiel was born on April 17, 1911 in the village of Zagorzyce, present southeast Poland to a peasant family of Antoni and Katarzyna nee Charchut. He graduated from high school in Dębica, then joined the prestigious Jagiellonian University in Kraków, where he studied law. After graduation, in 1935, Chmiel settled in Wojslaw, a village near Mielec, his wife Irena Suchodolska was a school principal, and he worked for the Town Hall in Mielec.

World War Two

At the beginning of Polish September Campaign, Chmiel tried to escape east, to the area of Lwów, where his wife's family owned an estate. Unable to do so, they returned to the village of Zagorzyce, with a 3-year old son Jerzy. On January 6, 1940, Chmiel's wife died, after delivering their second son Zbigniew. After this, the boys were looked after by Irena's mother and her sisters.

As early as January 1940, Chmiel became a member of Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej, with nom de guerre "Los". Since January 1941 he was commandant of a platoon in Zagorzyce, which was part of Dębica's District of ZWZ (later: Home Army). Nominated to colonel, in 1943 he decided to move to Bataliony Chłopskie (BCh), becoming in early 1944 commandant of BCh's Dębica District. He participated in Operation Tempest activities in the area of Dębica, being member of local headquarters of the anti-German resistance.

Some time in 1944, Chmiel drove a captured German car, but he forgot to display a Polish flag on it, and was peppered with bullets by the Home Army soldiers. Shot 13 times, he was severely wounded, but managed to survive. Nevertheless, he became partly disabled.

After the war

After 1945, Chmiel settled in Kraków, where he opened a grocery store and bought a house in Swoszowice, a village in the suburbs. He was an active member of Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (PSL), and secretly a member of the anti-Communist organization Wolnosc i Niezawislosc (WiN). In 1947 he became member of WiN's headquarters and political advisor of Łukasz Ciepliński as well as a liaison between Cieplinski and PSL's Stanislaw Mikolajczyk.

Asked by Ciepliski, Chmiel, together with Stefan Rostworowski created a "Memorial to the United Nations". This document presented crimes committed by Soviet and Polish secret services on members of the disbanded Home Army and anti-Communist activists. Reportedly, WiN was planning to move him to the West, but these plans were nipped in the bud.

Arrest and incarceration

Karol  Chmiel was arrested by the Urząd Bezpieczeństwa agents on December 12, 1947. Together with other members of WiN, he was moved to the infamous Mokotów Prison in Warsaw. For three years he was tortured, and his family did not know about his whereabouts, as contact with outside world was strictly prohibited.

Trial

The trial began on October 5, 1950 and it lasted for 5 days. Chmiel's family was allowed to enter the courtroom, so he had a chance to see his sons and hand them letters. One of these letters is now displayed in a museum in Jasna Góra. On October 14, 1950, by the order of the Warsaw Area Court, Chmiel was sentenced to two deaths. President Bolesław Bierut did not pardon him, and together with Chmiel, other members of WiN were sentenced (see: 1951 Mokotów Prison execution).

Execution

All sentenced persons spent their final night in separate cells. On March 1, 1951, all their private belongings were taken away, hands were tied, mouths taped. Then they were taken to an old boil room and shot in the back of the head, while walking down the stairs. Chmiel was murdered at 8:15 pm, his body was buried in unknown location.

On September 17, 1992, Karol Chmiel was cleared of all charges by the Warsaw Military Court.

ource

* [http://www.zagorzycegm.republika.pl/patron.html GIMNAZJUM W ZAGORZYCACH GÓRNYCH] pl icon


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Chmiel — is a Polish surname and toponym (meaning hops), it may refer to: People Catherine Karina Chmiel, Polish artist Damian Chmiel, Polish footballer Juraj Chmiel, Czech Slovak politician Karol Chmiel, Polish resistance fighter Places Chmiel,… …   Wikipedia

  • 1951 Mokotów Prison execution — On March 1, 1951, Soviet sponsored secret service of Communist Poland Urząd Bezpieczeństwa (UB) carried out an execution of seven members of the 4th Headquarters of anti Communist organization Wolność i Niezawisłość (WiN) in the Mokotów Prison in …   Wikipedia

  • List of World War II topics (K) — # K 25 # K ration # K class submarine (Soviet) # K is for Killing # K. P. K. Menon # K?ichi Kido # K?ichi Shiozawa # K?ki Hirota # K?s? Abe # K?saku Aruga # K?tar? Nakamura # KA BAR # Ka tzetnik # Kaarlo Mäkinen # Kaba Diawara # Kabaty # Kabayama …   Wikipedia

  • Cursed soldiers — The cursed soldiers (Polish: Żołnierze wyklęci) is a name applied to a variety of Polish resistance movements formed in the later stages of World War II and afterwards. Created by some members of the Polish Secret State, these clandestine… …   Wikipedia

  • Łukasz Ciepliński — (October 26, 1913 ndash; March 1, 1951) was a Polish soldier who fought in the Polish anti Nazi and anti communist resistance movements. He used the noms de guerre Pług , Ostrowski , Ludwik , Grzmot , and Bogdan . Ciepliński was executed at… …   Wikipedia

  • Ministry of Public Security (Poland) — The Ministry of Public Security of Poland (Polish: Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego or MBP) was a Polish communist secret police, intelligence and counter espionage service operating from 1945 to 1954 under Jakub Berman of the Politburo.… …   Wikipedia

  • Liste der Biografien/Chk–Chz — Biografien: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • List of Polish generals — The following is a list of Polish generals, that is the people who held the rank of general, as well as those who acted as de facto generals by commanding a division or brigade. Note that until the Partitions of Poland of late 18th century the… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Polish architects — A list of notable architects from Poland ordered by architectural period: =Gothic= *Heinrich Brunsberg 14th 15th century *Pieszko 14th century *Wiland 13th century =Renaissance and Mannerism= *Bartłomiej Berecci (c.1480 1537) *Krzysztof Bonadura… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”