CONFESSIONS OF A POLISH EXECUTIONER

In the dark days of Nazi occupation one resistance member was tasked with assassinating Germans, and even his own countrymen who had become collaborators

- MAREK SOBIERALSKI

Wartime resistance movements that are dedicated to fighting or undermining invaders are quickly created during W times of conflict. People are compelled to act in ways they would never have imagined during times of peace and this was certainly the case during World War II, when these movements occurred in every occupied country. One of particular note was the Polish Resistance, and one of its soldiers, Stefan Dambski, was involved in carrying out sentences handed down by the Underground Courts from when he was aged just 16. Those who were accused included Polish collaborators, Germans, Ukrainians and, later, representatives of the puppet communist government.

Dambski's memoirs Egzekutor (Executioner) were written towards the end of his life and later published in Poland. They continue to cause controversy: on the one hand he's seen as an example of extreme sacrifice for his country, and on the other as a self-professed unemotional killer. Reading Dambski's recollections and reflections, we are compelled to question the price of wartime heroism and the limits of patriotism. We see that ultimately war damages or destroys anyone it touches on either side, and it is clear that over the years this anti-war message has only increased in significance.

The Poles go underground

The Polish Underground State was built in complete secrecy during the joint occupation by Germany and the USSR. Nowhere in occupied Europe was there an equally complex and effective organisation. Its most important task, alongside the organisation of underground activity, was to keep the Polish state functioning wherever possible. This included the maintenance of pre-war national institutions as well as making preparations to take back power once the war was eventually hopefully won.