Karol Szwedowski

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Karol Szwedowski (1889 - 1941) was a diplomat master builder, contracted to work at Westerplatte. He was one of the civilian defenders of this installation in 1939.

On December 13, 1927, at the age of 38, he received the diploma of master builder and was accepted to the Craftsmen's Guild of the city of Pultusk. On April 4, 1934 he arrived in Gdańsk from Legionowo. He was hired as a contract worker by the Military Transit Depot of Westerplatte. He worked there seasonally until 1939.

During the defense of Westerplatte on September 1-7, 1939, he assisted the wounded and fighting soldiers. Many mentions of his help to the fighters can be found in the book Westerplatte published by Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej (the Publishing House of the Ministry of National Defense) in Warsaw in 1978. As well as in the renowned feature film "Westerplatte" directed by Stanisław Rozewicz and produced in 1967. In this movie the role of Karol Szwedowski was played by Władysław Kowalski.

After being arrested he was sent to the camp Stutthof. At first it was thought that he perished in this camp, but there is evidence to the contrary in the form of a death certificate issued on the basis of the record books for the day of August 30, 1941 in the General Governorship in Legionowo (document number 105 of the year 1941). The death certificate states that Karol Szwedowski, son of Jacenty (father) and Jozefa (mother), died in Legionowo at Bukowiec on August 30, 1941, at the age of 52.

His son Ryszard Szwedowski was an officer in the Polish Army. He was murdered by the Germans in Palmira.

[edit] The battle of Westerplatte

Westerplatte is a peninsula in Poland, at one of the Vistula delta estuaries, in the Gdańsk harbour channel. From 1926 - 1939 a Polish Military Transit Depot was located there, on a territory of the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk).

It is famous as the place of battle of Westerplatte, one of the first - and longest - battles of the Invasion of Poland in 1939.

At the end of August 1939 the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein came to Danzig (Gdańsk) under the pretext of a courtesy visit and anchored in the channel near Westerplatte. On 1 September 1939, at 0445 local time, as Germany began its invasion of Poland, Schleswig-Holstein started to shell the Polish garrison with its main guns. This was followed by an attack by German naval infantry who were hoping for an easy victory, but were repelled with Polish small arms and machine gun fire. Another two assaults that day were repelled as well, with the Germans suffering unexpected losses. However, the only Polish 75 mm gun was destroyed after firing 28 shells at German positions across the channel.

Over the coming days, the Germans repeatedly bombarded Westerplatte with naval and heavy field artillery along with dive-bombing raids by Junkers Ju 87 Stukas. Repeated attacks by German marines, SS Heimwehr Danzig (Danzig homeland protection) and combat engineers were repelled by the Poles for seven days. Finally, the Westerplatte garrison, who were now exhausted - with many defenders severely wounded - as well as being short on food, water, ammunition and medical supplies, surrendered on 7 September.

Approximately 2,600 German soldiers were engaged in action against the 205-strong Polish garrison.