polski | |
Our beloved husband, father & father-in-law Listen to excerpts from an interview with Stanisław about the WWII & Auschwitz (MP3's in Polish only) |
A man of human values. An Auschwitz survivor. Never paid attention to material values. His motto was "one should not own anything, because it is so easy to lose...". As a young teenager, he experienced losing his father to the family house construction, then losing the house to German-Nazis, then the Soviets came to "free" Poland from capitalism and democracy, and to help build the "real" socialism, where everybody deserves an equal piece of a "nonexistent pie". Captured by Nazis because he and his younger brother listened to and spread around news from the allied nations' radio stations and because Germans wanted to take over their house. Nazis sent them to Auschwitz (along with an older sister). They all miraculously survived. While in Auschwitz, he helped to smuggle out films showing the atrocities committed in crematoriums. Being in American zone in Germany after the war, he decided to return to his native land. An American Army uniform was his only outfit for many years. Graduated from the Technical University of Łódź shortly after the war with a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering (mgr. inz.). Was involved in a few large national heavy industry and infrastructure projects in the '50s. He later specialized in designing high-voltage transformers and their production lines and worked for many years for "Melta" and "Elta" (bought in the '90s by ABB). Stayed true to his values in communist times. Never succumbed to SB (the "Polish KGB") and, in spite of numerous "persuasive" efforts, managed not to join the communist party. He believed he was left alone thanks to being an Auschwitz survivor. He was only made to take a post-graduate training in Marxism-Leninism (at WUML). He retired early (at 61) when he was asked to fire 50 co-workers and dissolve the design unit ("pracownia projektowa") he managed. Instead, he "fired" himself. The tragic war experiences made him very religious. He kept his faith to the very end of his journey on the Earth. |