August Emil Fieldorf

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August Emil Fieldorf
Symbolic grave in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw

August Emil Fieldorf (born March 20, 1895 in Kraków , † February 24, 1953 in Warsaw ) was deputy commander of the Polish Home Army during the Second World War .

On August 6, 1914 Fieldorf volunteered for the newly formed 1st Brigade of the Legions under Józef Piłsudski. With them he left for the Russian front, where he served as a deputy of an infantry platoon. In 1916 he was promoted to sergeant and in 1917 appointed to the officers' school. He also fought in the Polish-Soviet War .

Fieldorf began his military career after the First World War . After Germany's attack on Poland in 1939 and the defeat of the Polish army , he fled to France , where he joined the 1st Polish Corps . From 1940 to 1942 Fieldorf stayed in Poland again , where he was an active member of the Polish Home Army, which worked underground . His code name at the time was Nile . On his orders, SS General Franz Kutschera was killed by the Gray Ranks on February 2, 1944 . On March 7, 1945, the NKVD arrested him in Milanówek , from where he was deported to the Soviet Union . After his return to Poland he was charged in a show trial with having ordered the shooting of Soviet partisans. On April 16, 1952, Fieldorf was finally sentenced to death . Poland's communist president Bolesław Bierut refused a petition for clemency from the family.

In 2006, President Lech Kaczyński Fieldorf posthumously awarded the Order of the White Eagle of the Republic of Poland. In May 2009 the film Generał Nil (Eng. General Nil ) was released in Poland , which is about Fieldorf's life.

literature

  • Jerzy Lerski: Historical Dictionary of Poland 966-1945. Greenwood Press, Westport (USA) 1996, ISBN 0-313-26007-9 , p. 140.
  • Gerhard Gnauck: On dignity in times of torture. In: Die Welt from May 12, 2009 ( online )
  • Bernhard Chiari: The Polish Home Army. Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56715-2 , p. 722.

Web links

Commons : August Emil Fieldorf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Fieldorf, Emil August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nile (alias)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish officer, commander of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa)
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Krakow , Galicia , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH February 24, 1953
Place of death Warsaw