Karol Szwedowski (1878–1941) was a Polish master builder who worked at

Westerplatte Westerplatte (, , ) is a peninsula in Gdańsk, Poland, located on the Baltic Sea coast mouth of the Dead Vistula (one of the Vistula delta estuaries), in the Gdańsk harbour channel. From 1926 to 1939, it was the location of a Polish Military ...

and defended it when Poland was invaded by Germany in 1939.

Early life and career

Karol Szwedowski was born October 4, 1878, in Chrząstowo (now part of

Koniecpol Koniecpol is a town in Częstochowa County, Silesian Voivodeship, in southern Poland, with 5,910 inhabitants (2019). It is situated on the Pilica River, in the historic Sieradz Land. History It was granted town rights by King Władysław II ...

), the son of Jozefa and Jacenty Szwedowski. On December 13, 1927, at the age of 38, he received his master builder diploma and was accepted to the Craftsmen's Guild of the city of

Pułtusk Pułtusk () is a town in Poland, by the river Narew. Located north of Warsaw in the Masovian Voivodeship, it has a population of 19,224 as of 2023. Known for its historic architecture and Europe's longest paved marketplace ( in length), it is a po ...

. On April 4, 1934, he arrived in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

from

Legionowo Legionowo is a city in Masovian Voivodeship in east-central Poland, seat of the Legionowo County. Location Legionowo is located to the north-east of the center of Warsaw and only to the south of Zegrze Reservoir ( or ), near the Warsaw-Gda ...

. He was hired as a seasonal contract worker by the Military Transit Depot of Westerplatte, where he worked until 1939.

Battle of Westerplatte

During the

Battle of Westerplatte The Battle of Westerplatte was the first battle of the German invasion of Poland, marking the start of World War II in Europe. It occurred on the Westerplatte peninsula in the harbour of the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland). A small f ...

on September 1–7, 1939, Szwedowski was called on as a civilian defender and assisted wounded soldiers. After the battle, Szwedowski was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in

Stutthof concentration camp Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German-an ...

, and later at

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

Death

He died after his release in at home in

on August 30, 1941, shortly after the deaths of his two sons, Ryszard in the

Palmiry massacre The Palmiry massacre was a series of mass executions carried out by Nazi Germany, Nazi German forces, during World War II, near the village of Palmiry in the Kampinos Forest northwest of Warsaw. Massacres Between December 1939 and July 1941 mor ...

in 1940 and Karol in

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

in 1941.

Media

Szwedowski is mentioned in the book ''Westerplatte'' published by Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej (the Publishing House of the Ministry of National Defense) in Warsaw in 1978. He was portrayed by

Bolesław Płotnicki Bolesław Płotnicki (17 June 1913 – 7 September 1988) was a Polish actor. He appeared in more than 80 films and television shows between 1953 and 1983. Selected filmography * ''Shadow A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light ...

in the 1967 feature film ''Westerplatte'' directed by Stanisław Rozewicz, and in the 2013 Polish film

Tajemnica Westerplatte ''1939 Battle of Westerplatte'', originally titled in Poland as ''Tajemnica Westerplatte'' ("The Secret of Westerplatte"), is a 2013 Polish-Lithuanian war film written and directed by Paweł Chochlew. It portrays the Battle of Westerplatte between ...

("The Secret of Westerplatte"), he was played by Romuald Kłos.

Notes

References

1889 births 1941 deaths Polish civilians killed in World War II Polish people who died in the Holocaust {{Poland-bio-stub