:''This article has been partially translated from the Polish Wikipedia article.'' Zdzisław Peszkowski () ( – ), of the Jastrzębiec coat of arms was a Polish

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and one of a small group of

Polish army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

officers who managed to survive the 1940 mass execution of 22,000 Polish citizens by

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

, the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

. Peszkowski was a leading advocate and chaplain for the Federation of Katyn Families, which works with survivors of the Katyn massacre and their families.

Early life

Zdzisław Peszkowski was born in 1918 in

Sanok Sanok (in full the Royal Free City of Sanok — pl, Królewskie Wolne Miasto Sanok, rue, Санок, ''Sanok'', ua, Cянік, ''Sianik'', la, Sanocum, yi, סאניק, ''Sonik'') is a town in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship of south-eastern ...

( uk, Сянiк; ''Syanik''; yi, Sonik), in Galicia before the dissolution of Austro-Hungarian Empire. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the town was incorporated into the Second Polish Republic. After completing high school in 1938 he was drafted into the

Polish Cavalry The Polish cavalry ( pl, jazda, kawaleria, konnica) can trace its origins back to the days of medieval cavalry knights. Poland is mostly a country of flatlands and fields and mounted forces operate well in this environment. The knights and heav ...

Military

Peszkowski was a Sergeant, leading a platoon of the 20th Uhlan Regiment of King Jan III Sobieski ( pl, 20 Pułk Ułanów), during the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. After the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subs ...

, almost the whole regiment was captured by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

. Prisoners were interned initially in Pomorzany. There, the painter

Wlastimil Hofman Wlastimil Hofman (27 April 1881 – 6 March 1970) was a Polish painter, one of the more popular painters of the interwar and postwar years. Life Hofman was born Vlastimil Hofmann in Prague to Ferdinand Hofmann, a Czech, and Teofila Muzyk Terlec ...

portrayed the prisoners in small portraits. These portraits, including one of Zdzisław Peszkowski, were to be sent to the prisoners' families. In October 1939, Peszkowski was transported from Poland into the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

to a POW camp, established in the

Optina Monastery The Optina Pustyn (russian: Óптина пýстынь, literally ''Opta's hermitage'') is an Eastern Orthodox monastery for men near Kozelsk in Russia. In the 19th century, the Optina was the most important spiritual centre of the Russian Ortho ...

in Kozelsk (russian: Козе́льск) for Polish prisoners taken captive by the Red Army. In May 1940, he was transported from Kozelsk to a camp called Pavlishchev Bor, and then to

Gryazovets Gryazovets (russian: Гря́зовец) is a town and the administrative center of Gryazovetsky District in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the Rzhavka River, south of Vologda, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: History ...

(russian: Гря́зовец; pl, Griazowca). In 1941, following

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

and the Sikorski-Maisky agreement he was released during the

Amnesty for Polish citizens in the Soviet Union Amnesty for Polish citizens in USSR is the one-time amnesty in the USSR for those deprived of their freedom following the Soviet invasion of Poland in World War II.Mikolajczyk, S. (1948) ''The Pattern of Soviet Domination'' Sampson Low, Marston & C ...

and joined the

Polish Armed Forces in the East The Polish Armed Forces in the East ( pl, Polskie Siły Zbrojne na Wschodzie), also called Polish Army in the USSR, were the Polish Armed Forces, Polish military forces established in the Soviet Union during World War II. Two armies were formed ...

being formed in Buzuluk (russian: Бузулу́к). He was promoted to

Rotmistrz __NOTOC__ (German and Scandinavian for "riding master" or "cavalry master") is or was a military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia, and some other countries. A ''Rittmeister'' is typic ...

and lead a company in the 1st Krechowce Uhlan Regiment ( pl, 1 Pułk Ułanów Krechowieckich). In the spring of 1942 the organizing formation was moved to the area of

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...

( uz, Toshkent, Тошкент), Uzbekistan. In the second part of 1942, the formation was transferred through the

Persian Corridor The Persian Corridor was a supply route through Iran into Soviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and American Lend-Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union during World War II. Of the 17.5 million long tons of U.S. Lend-Lease aid pro ...

to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Middle East Command as a

military occupation Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...

force after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.

Priesthood

Peszkowski left the army following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and was ordained a

priest. He became a leading advocate for the remembrance of the Katyn massacre and the murder of

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...

elsewhere in the country during the war. He also became a chaplain for Polish families of the Katyn massacres. He preached forgiveness for the perpetrators of Katyn. He called for forgiveness for those who killed Polish army officers during a speech at Warsaw's Unknown Soldiers' Grave in 1995. June 4, 2007 was the last Katyn remembrance ceremony where Peszkowski took part. He laid a

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

for a memorial at the cemetery for Polish army officers in Katyn. He told those gathered that he hoped the tragedies that happened to Poland during World War II would serve as a warning against hatred to the rest of the world. Zdzisław Peszkowski died in Warsaw, Poland, at the age of 89. He remained a chaplain for the Katyn families until his death.

Citations

#Some of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Polish-language Wikipedia article (retrieved April 12, 2010).

External links

Thenews.pl: Katyn Families’ chaplain dies in PolandPolish Radio: Fr. Peszkowski, legendary Katyn genocide survivor dies at 89

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peszkowski, Zdzislaw 1918 births 2007 deaths Polish military personnel of World War II Polish Army officers Polish Roman Catholics Federation of Katyn Families 20th-century Polish Roman Catholic priests People associated with Chyrów