|
|||||||
|
Katyn a place that brings anger and disbelief to many
Polish people, and the event that took place during World War Two. One
particular citizen was named
Jozef Garlinski
and the events that surrounded it have haunted him and his family down
through time. Jozef Garlinski was born at Kiev in the Ukraine on October 14. 1913 and after the Russian Revolution moved with his family to Poland. He went to school at Kalsz, then did military service at the cavalry school at Grudziadz before starting to study Law at Warsaw. There he met Eileen Short, the daughter of a Liverpool Irish sea captain They communicated mainly in French and German, and were married on September 3 1939, two days after the Germans had started to pour over the border. As the service came to an end, an air raid siren sounded; the couple had already agreed that, if separated, they would both head for Ireland after the war. His father attended the ceremony, but was never seen again by his son, as he was one of those executed by the Russians at Katyn.
|
Later the same day, young Jozef was dispatched with his reserve regiment to the front, where he was wounded in the foot during an unsuccessful attack on German positions, and captured in a ditch. After six weeks in a prison hospital he was discharged as unfit, and returned to Warsaw. Both he and Eileen joined the underground movement, later known as the Home Army With a cover job as a dealer in second hand goods, Garlinski was given some minor jobs before being appointed head of the security department at headquarters, where he made contact with prisoners in Gestapo hands. He also ran a ring of loyal women warders in the Pawiak prison; penetrated the German police ranks; and helped to trap a double-agent who was shot dead in the street, loaded with gold and diamonds
In
1943 Garlinski was picked up in the street, in mistake for |
||||||
|
|
||||||