Franciszek Dąbrowski

Franciszek Dąbrowski

Franciszek Dąbrowski (born April 17, 1904 in Budapest , † April 24, 1962 in Krakow ) was deputy commander on the Westerplatte at the outbreak of World War II and responsible for the long resistance of the occupation.

Life

Franciszek was the son of the Polish nobleman Romuald Dąbrowski (1874-1939) and a Hungarian baroness. His father was a lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army and on his mother's side a descendant of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski , who is mentioned by name in the chorus and title of the Polish national anthem ("Marsz marsz, Dąbrowski") .

The career of an officer was a tradition among male family members . It was therefore natural that Franciszek, who got his first name after the Emperor Franz Joseph , would become a professional officer in the Polish Army like his father Romuald . Romuald Dąbrowski was accepted as a colonel in the Polish Legion in the armed forces of independent Poland and later promoted to general. Franciszek Dąbrowski served until 1937 in various regiments in Bielsko , Biedrusko and Kalisz , where he was promoted to captain .

Use on the Westerplatte

→ Main article : Battle for the Westerplatte

In December 1937 Dąbrowski was transferred to the Danzig Westerplatte . According to the personnel files of the Polish officers' cadre, he was selected as “the very best of the best” and appointed deputy commander of the Polish ammunition transit depot on Westerplatte. Captain Dąbrowski took on the main responsibility for the guard company, for the protection of the entire site and for the readiness of the entire Westerplatte team. He had fortifications carried out on the Westerplatte at night, under cover of darkness, or during the day, under all sorts of camouflage. They were trenches, entrenchments and obstacles made of barbed wire and felled trees. This happened against the conditions of the League of Nations , since the Westerplatte Poland was only leased by the Free City of Danzig . Therefore, the fortification work on the Westerplatte had to go unnoticed by the Gdansk State Police, as did the illegal reinforcement of the garrison to over 200 soldiers and officers, which was carried out by sea transport from Gdynia past the Gdansk Police using various tricks . Through these measures, the Westerplatte team achieved an excellent combat readiness in the event of an attack. At the same time, illegal militarization, initiated by the NSDAP, took place in the Free City of Danzig .

At dawn on September 1, 1939, the laborious preparations of the Polish Westerplatte crew, led by Captain Dąbrowski, proved their worth. The attacking Danzig Heimwehr and national police and the German troops (assault company of the Navy) were decimated in the fire of the Polish defenders. Not even the bombardment by the Schleswig-Holstein liner or the bombing of over 60 Stukas the following day broke the morale of the Poles. The commander of the transit depot, Major Henryk Sucharski , was relieved of his position by Captain Dąbrowski and the officers on the evening of the same day because of defeatism and an attempt to surrender. The white flag was removed from the roof of the barracks and the Polish defenders of the Westerplatte, led by Captain Dąbrowski, held their positions until the surrender on September 7th.

Dąbrowski spent his German captivity in various camps in East Prussia , Austria and in the officers' camp in Woldenberg / East Brandenburg, today Dobiegniew near Krzyż.

post war period

After the end of the war, Dąbrowski reported to the new Polish People's Army and was promoted to Major in the Naval Forces . He also acted for the Polish People's Democracy and joined the Polish United Workers' Party . He organized and built up the Polish coastal defense in Ustka ( Stolpmünde ). In 1949 he was transferred to Gdynia and appointed head of the office of the navy chief. However, a year later he was discharged from the army with immediate effect. Major Dąbrowski's increasing tuberculosis disease served as a pretext . In reality he fell victim to the Stalinist purges. Pre-war officers were banned from the army as undesirable and in some cases brought before the military tribunal. Some were tortured to death or sentenced and executed. Major Dąbrowski got off relatively lightly, but lived in poverty for six years. He moved to Krakow and married his brother's widowed wife. In the political thaw of 1956, he received compensation and a larger apartment from the state. He organized several comradeship meetings for the Westerplatte defenders, wrote memoirs and volunteered in schools and combatant clubs .

Thanks to his multilingual parents, Dąbrowski, who had attended school in Vienna , spoke Polish , Hungarian and German without an accent. While in captivity, he learned English and Russian . After his discharge from the army, Dąbrowski occasionally worked as a translator for Krakow newspapers. He also earned his living as a newspaper seller and slipper cobbler.

The progressive lung disease finally led to his death on April 24, 1962. Franciszek Dąbrowski is buried in the Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków.

Among other things, he was honored with the highest Polish military order Virtuti Militari .

reception

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The Nazi-German - and after the war also the Polish-Communist - propaganda highlighted the higher-ranking Major Sucharski as the main defender of the Westerplatte. The Sucharski myth has finally been refuted in recent years by historians and researchers in favor of Captain Dąbrowski.

Web links

• Information on Westerplatte.org (Polish)