The video was recorded by the Pilecki Institute as part of the “Witnesses to the Age” project.
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Our today’s interviewee:
Wiktor Walasiak (born 1929), aliases “Lopek”, “Generał”, fought in the Warsaw Uprising in the Żoliborz district and served as a liaison who operated in the sewers. On 1 August 1944, he reached the meeting point. The fighting against the German units and the Kalmyks who supported them began at 4.40 p.m. After the first day of the fighting, commander Mieczysław Niedzielski “Żywiciel” decided to withdraw into the Kampinos Forest. A female liaison came to his unit with an order from General Tadeusz Komorowski “Bór” - his soldiers were to return to Żoliborz. On 17 August 1944, Wiktor Walasiak was injured after getting hit with a shrapnel in his left arm. At the same moment, the commander of his platoon was killed right next to him. Even though the man was a great leader and very well-mannered person, his death didn’t affect Walasiak much - after several days of fighting it became an everyday occurrence. Żoliborz had no contact with the command of the Warsaw Uprising located at the Palladium Theater (the only method of communication was through London via radio), so the engineers from Żoliborz came up with the idea to communicate through the sewers. The youngers insurgents were the best suited to move underground - that’s why Wiktor Walasiak became a liaison operating in the sewers.
Copyright by Instytut Solidarności i Męstwa im. Witolda Pileckiego.
14 мар 2023
