Latest / The Story of Poland: A Nation That Refused to Disappear — Fexingo History / The Unseen War: Poland's Cursed Soldiers 1944–1963
Transcript
- Lucas: You know, we've talked a lot about the big moments of Polish resistance — the uprisings, the wars, the constitutions. But there's a whole chapter that for decades was simply erased from official history. It happened after World War II, when Poland was supposed to be 'liberated'. Luna: You mean after the Red Army pushed out the Germans? I always thought that was the end of the fighting. Lucas: That's exactly what the communist authorities wanted people to believe. But in reality, a brutal civil war broke out across Poland, fought in forests and villages, between the new Soviet-backed regime and the remnants of the Polish Underground State. These fighters are known today as the 'Cursed Soldiers' — żołnierze wyklęci. The term itself says a lot: they were cursed, condemned, erased from memory. Luna: Cursed by whom? Lucas: By the communist regime and its secret police, the Urząd Bezpieczeństwa — the UB. They branded these men and women as bandits, fascists, and enemies of the people. But from the perspective of many Poles, especially those who had fought in the Home Army during the occupation, they were the last holdouts for a truly independent Poland. Luna: So these were soldiers who just refused to stop fighting? Lucas: Exactly. The Home Army was officially disbanded in January 1945, but many of its members didn't trust the new government — and they had good reason. The NKVD and UB were already arresting, torturing, and executing former resistance fighters. So thousands went underground, often returning to the forests they had fought in against the Germans. They formed new organizations like Wolność i Niezawisłość, or WiN — Freedom and Independence — and the Narodowe Siły Zbrojne, the NSZ. Luna: And they fought the communists? Lucas: They fought, yes, but it was an asymmetric war. The Cursed Soldiers carried out ambushes, sabotaged communist infrastructure, liberated prisoners, and assassinated UB officers and communist officials. In return, the regime deployed regular army units, the UB, and even Soviet forces to hunt them down. It was dirty, brutal, and largely invisible to the outside world. Luna: Who were some of the key figures? Lucas: One of the most famous was Major Zygmunt Szendzielarz, known by his nom de guerre 'Łupaszka'. He had commanded a Home Army cavalry unit during the war — the 5th Wilno Brigade — and after 1945 he continued his fight in the Białystok region and the Masurian lakes. His unit was known for its discipline and daring operations. But the UB hunted him relentlessly. He was arrested in 1948, tortured, and executed in Mokotów Prison in Warsaw in 1951. Luna: Mokotów Prison — that name comes up a lot in Polish history. It's like a symbol of communist repression. Lucas: It really is. Located in the Mokotów district of Warsaw, it was where the UB held and interrogated thousands of political prisoners, including many Cursed Soldiers. Executions were carried out in the prison yard, often in secret. The last Cursed Soldier, Józef Franczak, codename 'Lalek', was actually killed in a firefight with the UB in 1963 — nearly two decades after the war ended. That gives you a sense of how long this resistance lasted. Luna: 1963? That's incredible. I had no idea the resistance went on that long. Lucas: Most people don't. And that's partly because the regime deliberately suppressed the memory. The Cursed Soldiers were not allowed to be mentioned in schools, books, or media. Their graves were unmarked. Families were persecuted for even acknowledging them. It was a complete information blackout. Only after the fall of communism in 1989 did historians begin to piece together the full story. Luna: How many of them were there, roughly? Lucas: Estimates vary widely. Some historians say around 10,000 active fighters at the peak in 1945–46, with perhaps 100,000 people in the broader support network — hiding fighters, supplying food, passing messages. But the casualties were enormous. The UB and Soviet forces killed an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Cursed Soldiers in combat. Thousands more were captured, tortured, and executed or sent to Soviet gulags. Luna: And no one outside Poland knew about this at the time? Lucas: Very little. The Western Allies had already recognized the Soviet-backed government in Warsaw, and the Cold War was just starting. The Polish resistance was a footnote — inconvenient for the new world order. There were a few reports that filtered out, like the Augustów Roundup in July 1945, when Soviet and Polish security forces swept through the Augustów Forest and arrested over 7,000 people. About 600 of them simply vanished, presumed executed. But even that barely made international news. Luna: So the communists really did succeed in erasing them for a long time. Lucas: For nearly fifty years, yes. The official line was that these were 'reactionary bandits' and 'fascist collaborators' — a complete distortion. It took the fall of the Iron Curtain and a new generation of historians, many themselves children or grandchildren of Cursed Soldiers, to bring the truth to light. Today, March 1st is the National Day of Remembrance of the Cursed Soldiers in Poland, established in 2011. Luna: That date — why March 1st? Lucas: It marks the execution of seven prominent members of the underground leadership at Mokotów Prison on March 1, 1951. Among them was Łupaszka, along with other commanders like Hieronim Dekutowski 'Zapora' and Stanisław Sojczyński 'Warszyc'. They were shot in the same prison yard where so many others had died. By making that day a national observance, Poland finally honored its forgotten heroes. Luna: It's a painful story, but one that deserves to be told. Lucas: Absolutely. And you know, it's stories like these — hidden, suppressed, but kept alive by memory — that this show is all about. We dig into the corners of history that don't always make the textbooks. And that takes time, research, and care. Luna: Yeah, I can imagine. The kind of work that relies on people who really care about keeping these stories alive. Lucas: Exactly. And I'll be honest — making these episodes possible, keeping them ad-free and independent, it genuinely comes down to listeners who find value in them. A couple of dollars a month at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo — it's a small thing that makes a huge difference. If you've gotten something out of these conversations, that's the simplest way to support them. Luna: It really does add up. Even a little helps keep the research going and the episodes coming. Lucas: For sure. Anyway — let's get back to the story, because there's one more layer I want to talk about. The Cursed Soldiers weren't just men. There were women too — łączniczki, messengers, medics, and even fighters. Do you know the story of Danuta Siedzikówna? Luna: I've heard the name, but I don't know the details. Lucas: She was only 17 when she joined the Home Army in 1943, serving as a nurse and messenger under the codename 'Inka'. After the war, she continued working for the underground. She was arrested in 1946 by the UB, tortured for months, and then sentenced to death. She was executed by firing squad in Gdańsk on August 28, 1946. Her last words were: 'I have lived too little, but I have done enough.' She was just 18 years old. Luna: 18 years old. That's heartbreaking. And she's one of the Cursed Soldiers now? Lucas: Yes, she's become a symbol of the young people who gave their lives for an independent Poland. For decades, her grave was unknown. But in 2007, her remains were identified, and she was given a proper burial with full military honors. Thousands of Poles lined the streets. That's the kind of reckoning that's still happening today. Luna: So there's a whole generation of Poles rediscovering these stories. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not just about the past — it's about how a nation defines its values. The Cursed Soldiers stood for an idea of Poland that was free from foreign domination, whether Nazi or Soviet. Their fight was brutally suppressed, but their legacy is now being reclaimed. Every year on March 1st, Poles light candles at their graves, and new monuments go up in towns across the country. It's a way of saying: you were not forgotten. Luna: That's a powerful image — the memory finally being restored. Lucas: It is. And I think it also raises a difficult question: what would we do in their place? When the war ends but the occupation just changes uniform, do you lay down your arms or do you keep fighting? There's no easy answer, but the Cursed Soldiers made their choice. And that's worth remembering.