Week 45: War and Peace #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

My husband's paternal line is Polish and his grandfather, Wladyslaw Stepek, fought in two World Wars. When WW1 started, Poland was under the occupation of three different empires: German, Russian and Austrian. Wladyslaw's family lived in the Austrian occupied area. In the summer of 1914, twenty-one years old, he had studied chemistry, so when conscripted into the army, he was placed in the medical corps. The following April he was captured by the Russian Army and taken to a prisoner of war camp in Ukraine. He spent two years there before being released - the full story of that is given in my week 11 post "Lucky" https://rootsshootsandstories.blogspot.com/2023/03/week-11-lucky-52ancestorsin52weeks.html

Wladyslaw's POW camp release form

On his return home he was hospitalised and, when he recovered, he agitated against Austrian rule for the return of Polish independence. This resulted in him being imprisoned again, but for a shorter time. When he was released the war was almost over and the Austrian Empire was crumbling. Wladyslaw persuaded a hundred local men to join with him in disarming the nearby Austrian Army barracks. After WW1 ended, minor wars continued in Poland to establish Poland's borders. In Wladyslaw's region, that meant a campaign against Ukraine.

Wladyslaw in Polish Army uniform around 1919/1920

There followed twenty years of peace, during which time Wladyslaw married and had three children. The family was given land as a reward for Wladyslaw's endeavours during the war. He could now turn to more peaceful pursuits of raising a family and developing a farm.

This all came to a tragic end in 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west and two weeks later, Soviet Russia invaded from the East. This was the start of his second world war.

Wladyslaw was quickly identified as a potential resistance leader by the Soviet Red Army and had to flee into hiding, leaving his wife and children behind. He returned to his place of birth, Haczow, and joined the resistance movement in the region. However, his long-term ill health was such that he was restricted to providing advice and strategy for the resistance campaigns. In late 1942, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer, unaware too that his wife had died two months earlier and not knowing the fate of his children. His condition worsened and he died on the 23rd of June 1943.

His name can be seen engraved on the war memorial in his hometown of Haczow along with others who fought and died for Poland's freedom.

One side of the war memorial in Haczow

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