Czesław Gęborski (; 5 June 1924,

Dąbrowa Górnicza Dąbrowa Górnicza is a city in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie, southern Poland, near Katowice and Sosnowiec. It is located in eastern part of the Silesian Voivodeship, on the Czarna Przemsza and Biała Przemsza rivers (tributaries of the Vistula, see ...

– 14 June 2006) was a captain of the

security forces Security forces are statutory organizations with internal security mandates. In the legal context of several nations, the term has variously denoted police and military units working in concert, or the role of military and paramilitary forces (s ...

of the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

. He is best known for his role as commander of the

Łambinowice Łambinowice (german: Lamsdorf) is a village in Nysa County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Łambinowice. It lies approximately north-east of Nysa and south-west of ...

transfer and internment camp created in the former German

Stalag VIII-B Stalag VIII-B was a German Army prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, later renumbered Stalag-344, located near the village of Lamsdorf (now Łambinowice) in Silesia. The camp initially occupied barracks built to house British and French pri ...

. In October 1945 he was dismissed from the post and charged with setting fire to one of the barracks in the camp and ordering gunfire on the inmates trying to put out the flames, an incident in which 48 prisoners died.

Life

Until the outbreak of

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 opposin ...

, Gęborski was a factory worker in

. Arrested by the Nazis, he was imprisoned in the labour camp in Kochłowice, a district of

Ruda Śląska Ruda Śląska (formerly ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is a district in the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a metropolis with a population of two million. It is in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica River (t ...

. In 1943 he was able to escape and join the

Armia Ludowa People's Army (Polish: ''Armia Ludowa'' , abbriv.: AL) was a communist Soviet-backed partisan force set up by the communist Polish Workers' Party ('PR) during World War II. It was created on the order of the Polish State National Council on 1 Ja ...

communist resistance organization. Arrested again in 1944 he was bound for

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) 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 con ...

, but his transport was liberated by

Polish partisans Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

before it reached the camp. Near the end of the war he joined the

Milicja Obywatelska Milicja Obywatelska (), in English known as the Citizens' Militia and commonly abbreviated to MO, was the national police organization of the Polish People's Republic. It was established on 7 October 1944 by the Polish Committee of National Libera ...

and the infamous Ministry of Public Security, where he was quickly promoted to the rank of

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

. Until March 1945 he served in

Świętochłowice Świętochłowice (; german: Schwientochlowitz; szl, Świyntochłowice) is a town in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is also the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union metropolis, with a population of 2 million, a ...

(

Zgoda labour camp Zgoda () was a labour camp (sometimes also described as a concentration camp), set up in February 1945 in Zgoda district of Świętochłowice, Silesia. It was controlled by the communist secret police until its closure in November of the same ye ...

) and then in

Niemodlin Niemodlin (; german: Falkenberg O.S., Falkenberg Oberschlesien; szl, Ńymodlin) is a town in Opole County, Opole Voivodeship, Poland, with 6,315 inhabitants (2019). History The community was first mentioned as ''Nemodlin'' in a 1224 deed and r ...

. Finally in July 1945 he became commander of the transfer and internment camp in

, a concentration camp designed for Germans and Poles deemed ''dangerous'' by the new communist regime of Poland. Hubertus Knabe Tag der Befreiung? Das Kriegsende in Ostdeutschland, S. 194/195, Propyläen Berlin, 2005, He served in that post until October, when he was removed because of numerous abuses.The direct cause of his dismissal was a fire set in one of the wooden huts. The commander did not order the guards to put out the fire but instead ordered all those who did to be shot. Some 48 people were killed in the fire and the shooting. However, by 1947 the investigation against him was dropped without any charges being presented and Gęborski was promoted to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. In 1956, during the

Khrushchev Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw ( rus, хрущёвская о́ттепель, r=khrushchovskaya ottepel, p=xrʊˈɕːɵfskəjə ˈotʲ:ɪpʲɪlʲ or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period ...

following the end of

Stalinism Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...

in Poland, the investigation was resumed and Gęborski was arrested, but the court declared him not guilty. Gęborski then continued his career in the ranks of the

Służba Bezpieczeństwa The Ministry of Public Security ( pl, Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego), commonly known as UB or later SB, was the secret police, intelligence and counter-espionage agency operating in the Polish People's Republic. From 1945 to 1954 it w ...

. In the 1960s he demanded compensation for the 22 months spent in prison prior to his trial, but the court declared that the arrest had been necessary. Finally, after the end of communist rule in Poland, in the late 1990s, the trial for the 1945 incident in Łambinowice was resumed by the local court in

Opole Opole (; german: Oppeln ; szl, Ôpole) ; * Silesian: ** Silesian PLS alphabet: ''Ôpole'' ** Steuer's Silesian alphabet: ''Uopole'' * Silesian German: ''Uppeln'' * Czech: ''Opolí'' * Latin: ''Oppelia'', ''Oppolia'', ''Opulia'' is a city loc ...

. However, it had to be postponed - and finally terminated in 2005 - due to the poor health of both Gęborski and the witnesses. Gęborski died June 14, 2006.Confirmation of death
Opole.so.gov.pl

Notes

References

*
''Polish man accused of 'war crimes' against the Germans''
Justin Sparks, Telegraph.co.uk 19/06/2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Geborski, Czeslaw 1924 births 2006 deaths People from Dąbrowa Górnicza Armia Ludowa members Ethnic cleansing of Germans Ministry of Public Security (Poland) officials Polish war crimes People indicted for war crimes

Life

See also

Notes

References