Szczepan Ścibior (13 December 1903 in Uniejów, Poland – 7 August 1952 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland) was a Polish soldier, pilot, and patriot. It has not been established what he was doing early years of his life. Most probably, he fought in the Polish September Campaign and later escaped to Great Britain. In 1940, Ścibior became a member of the No. 305 Polish Bomber Squadron () He was pilot of a

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...

. In 1941, his bomber crashed during a mission near

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

in Belgium. He managed to make his way to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, where after hiding for nine days, he was caught by the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

and sent to a POW camp. Liberated by the British in 1945, Ścibior at first went to Great Britain, but in March 1946 decided to return to his native country. There, he took command of 7th Air Bomb Regiment in

Łęczyca Łęczyca (; in full the Royal Town of Łęczyca, ; ; ) is a town of inhabitants in central Poland. Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the county seat of the Łęczyca County. Łęczyca is a capital of the historical Łęczyca Land. Or ...

and in August 1947 he became commander of the famous

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

Academy in

Dęblin Dęblin is a town at the Confluence (geography), confluence of Vistula and Wieprz rivers, in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. Dęblin is the part of the agglomeration with adjacent towns of Ryki and Puławy, which together have over 100,000 inhabitan ...

. He was arrested on 9 August 1951 and wrongly accused of being a British spy. Ścibior was tortured for many months, then sentenced to death. He was charged for his service in the Polish Air Forces (Polskie Siły Powietrzne) fighting alongside the Allies. His execution took place on 7 August 1952 in the infamous Communist Mokotów Prison in

. In 1956 – following political changes in Poland – Ścibior was officially "rehabilitated" posthumously. His symbolic tomb is located at Warsaw's Powązki Cemetery.

Sources

A Postcard from Madrid
* * * * 1903 births 1952 deaths Burials at Powązki Cemetery Polish People's Republic rehabilitations Executed people from Łódź Voivodeship People executed by the Polish People's Republic Executed military personnel People from Poddębice County Polish World War II bomber pilots Shot-down aviators Polish prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Polish torture victims {{Poland-mil-stub