Narrative

I Fought for Poland, not my own Life

When? or Where? Nobody knew, but it was for sure that the Germans were coming.  Thirteen-year-old Jerzy Mordasiewicz also knew about the enemy but did not feel any fear as he did not have the slightest clue as to what to expect. In the end, the Poles’ suspicions were right. September of 1939 was the time, and when the Nazis invaded, they came too fast. In fact, for teenager Jerzy who lived in the rural town of Wlodawa, everything happened so rapidly that he did not even register the mass exports of Jews, public executions, and closing of schools. Only one event, shook the boy so deeply that he came to realize what is actually happening. Returning from a secret middle school class, two of his peers were walking some 100 meters before him, when a pair of Nazi soldiers confronted them because they refused to take their hats off in respect. The two boys were taken to the Gestapo (Nazi police) headquarters and shot in the head. From that point, Jerzy who was only thirteen, knew where he would be headed with his life. He fought for his country and sought revenge - people would not be killed for no reason if he help it, and soon he decided to put his patriotic words into action.

Jerzy moved to Warsaw to seek higher education and to fight for Poland at the age of fifteen. He entered the “agricultural career” school, in which a secret Polish high school was held. Witnessing all the killing around him, he joined the ranks of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa or AK ). After all, this need to fight the Nazi regime was his initial goal in moving to Warsaw. In teams of six, training in military tactics and weaponry were held for AK members. All this preparation was to get ready for the Warsaw Uprising which was a effort to get all German forces out of Warsaw, and to keep it independent as long as possible. However, the girls and women weren't trained for fighting, and instead they became messengers and nurses. Weapon parts were produced and stored in separate locations. The night before of the uprising all of the parts for the weapons would be collected in one spot for assembly. Mr. Mordasiewicz explained that “The preparation was very laborious, but none of us minded because it was for a noble cause, and we all loathed the Nazi soldiers.”

            After long preparations,  he could sense that action was coming, and exactly two days after he completed training and became a part of the Warsaw Resistance the troops were ordered to gather in specific points. Jogging down the street to his assigned location, he saw people dressing in army boots and jackets and men sewing bullets into their coat pockets. Jerzy never felt so ecstatic in his life; the ex-soldier explained “I felt as if I can finally make a difference”. After a long journey on foot, he arrived at the meeting point and arranged into a group of  twenty with other men.  At 17:00 on August 1st they ran to Centrum (city center) and promptly started shooting at German troops who guarded buildings;  the first building, the Warsaw post office, was conquered on the same day . Five days later the commander of the Kilinski battle group (in which Jerzy fought) gave the order to start the main part of the operation: Conquering the Polish Telecom building which Nazis were using for telephone communications all over Poland and the Eastern Front. The building was codenamed PASTa and was fortified with 1 meter thick walls, heavy machine gun turrets on every corner, and a 150 man guard. There was no way into it, since any Pole who came within 5 meters was shot. For 20 days the AK shot at the windows; this did not bring any results so a new plan was undertaken. At night, two girls planted portable bombs and mines in the walls of the PASTa building, then once the bombs were detonated, the resistance used the holes in the wall to pump gasoline onto the ground floor. Simultaneously, the flammable liquid was promptly ignited and the surprised Nazi forces fled to the first floor and roof of the building. With the ground floor clear, the Polish soldiers, Jerzy included, gallantly risked their lives, and bolted through the flames into the building. They immediately started shooting at the unarmed Germans on the first floor. Hearing the crackling shots from the roof, the rest of the Nazis fled to the basement via the elevator shaft. Later, Jerzy’s group of soldiers ran into the basement and took all 115 Nazi soldiers prisoner after looting all the guns and ammunition. Reflecting on this bravery, Mr. Mordasiewicz said, “We stormed the PASTa building completely voluntary! It was considered too dangerous and therefore was left out of the objectives. It was patriotism that motivated us to take that building.” Another astonishing fact about the accomplishments of the Kilinski battalion was the fact that even after they ran out of medical supplies after only two weeks, they fought for another two months. Many historians say, and Jerzy Mordasiewicz agrees, that if there were more supplies the resistance could have held Warsaw for a much longer time. To give a depiction of how atrocious it was to fight without weapons, Jerzy explained, “We would attack at night in groups of 20, with only 3-5 people having guns. I often killed Nazis with rocks and whatever I had in hand.” Luckily, even after the Polish forces capitulated, Jerzy was fortunate to be one of the 500 survivors out of the initial battalion of 2000. Unfortunately, he was captured and was to face punishment for treason against the Third Reich. 

            In accordance to the Nazi German law, any action against the Reich was punished with death or life imprisonment. Jerzy Mordasiewicz was arrested after the Warsaw Uprising and sentenced for life in the Pawiak jail in Pruszków. After spending a relatively short three months there, he was fed up and started planning an escape. He could not devise a sensible plan, so one day when a car was driving into the jail, he darted out the open gates, and with extreme luck dodged all the bullets that the guards fired at him. Mr.Mordasiewicz spent the rest of World War Two in hiding, and revealed himself as a resistance activist only after communism ended in Poland. To this day he remains proud to be part of the elite group of Warsaw Uprising survivors and participators. People like Jerzy Mordasiewicz keep Poland’s history alive, acting as living proof  to open reflection on the patriotism, gallantry and dedication involved in the fight for an independent Warsaw. After hearing this fascinating war story, our group agrees that, in event of a war it would be an honor to fight for Poland - just like Jerzy Mordasiewicz.