Narrative

Narrative on Stanislaw Brzosko

Once Poland found itself between a hammer and an anvil, it was once again set to perish. Nazi Germany had already invaded western Poland when on September 17 1939 the Red Army crossed the eastern border of Poland. Many gave up hope before a single gun trigger was pulled. But Mr. Stanislaw Brzosko, as a battalion commander of two hundred men at time of the most titanic conflict in human history, endured, further on demonstrating true valor. Throughout the war, Mr. Brzosko valued duty to his country to help Poland preserve.

Born in 1922 in Zagłębie Dąbrobowskie, as a child Mr. Brzosko often visited the mine in which his father worked as an engineer. He enjoyed the machines that his father developed, and so engineering later became his passion. Unfortunately as he was considering engineering studies, World War II broke out. His south-west home city was exposed to Nazi Germany and so he fled with his family east, only for the Red Army to invade eastern Poland less than three weeks later. Mr. Stanislaw Brzosko remembers September 17, 1939, as the “worst day” of the war for him: "In eastern Poland, in some small estate, the owner came at four a clock in the morning and woke up up, adn said they [The Red Army] had crossed the frontier. I think this was one of the most tragic moments for me, because i couldn't image that after 20 years of freedom... this would be the end of the country“. He was lucky enough to be born in the free Poland generation and after a promising twenty years of peace once again Poland was in great threat. He decided to join the army to try to repel the Red Army’s attack, and as the army lacked commanders, he was made the commander of the second battalion. He felt it was his utmost duty to help his country, and leading two hundred men to battle he today considers his greatest ever responsibility, as he was responsible for two hundred lives of men. The conditions during winter were harsh, with cold temperatures and battlefields covered with thick layers of snow.

Stanislaw Brzosko and his battalion could have only merely delayed the defeat, but they were proud of the blood they left on the battlefield. He was fortunate enough to flee west again, as many of his men were deported to the deadly Siberia. He also remembers staying in barracks that were a few meters away from Auschwitz, where he watched thousands of Jews and Poles being imported into the camp. On the first day the Jews were being organized in the camp there was a great deal of confusion, which allowed him to smuggle two men from the camp. What hurt Mr. Brzosko was that he was incapable of helping these people that were suffering so much. They begged for food but if they threw food to the prisoners they would all throw themselves and fight for every crumb of a bread loaf, and thus the German soldiers would shoot everyone in the bundle. Afterwards he moved to Warsaw to join the Warsaw uprising movement. The first days were tough, only few had weapons, but after a few days everyone was in hold of a weapon. Together with his fellow companions from the uprising, he fought to regain liberty in Warsaw, and later on he was twice wounded in a skirmish in September. In 1944, a massive bombing from the Germans left Warsaw a desert. But after a unsuccessful campaign in Russia, the Germans began retreating on all fronts. The uprising began pressing on the Germans as well, with tight battles ongoing throughout the streets of Warsaw. But on the day victory finally came, the Red Army marched into the city only hours after the Germans had left, to claim they had “liberated” Warsaw.

            Shortly after the war ended, Mr. Brzosko graduated Polytechnics School of Warsaw, and afterwards moved to England where he worked as an engineer. His first year of work was unpleasant, but later on he was attracted by many companies due to his knowledge of six languages. He went on to work in France, Madagascar, India, and many other countries. Mr. Brzosko received many medals including the Virtuti Militari, the highest-ranking medal in Poland following an application from an officer that was close friend of his during the resistance of the Red Army, as well as a Polish medalist at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

 When asked about his history lesson for the young, he referred to Winston Churchill’s quote on the Second World War: "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Unfortuanetly, the world seems to be repeating the mistakes of history". He mentioned that history has repeated itself since the Peloponnesian Wars of the Greeks to World War II. Mr. Brzosko's World War II story is one about duty to the country, which led Mr. Brzosko from the freezing battlefields in eastern Poland in 1939 to the skirmishes on the streets of Warsaw in 1945. If nto his love but also grief fro his homeland, and need to serve in order to help, he might not have had such a remarkable World War II story.