Franciszek Kawa (3 October 1901 – 10 February 1985) was a Polish

cross-country skier Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

. He competed in the men's 50 kilometre event at the

1928 Winter Olympics The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games (french: IIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; german: II. Olympische Winterspiele; it, II Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, II Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. M ...

. Kawa fought in Poland's defense during the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

at the start 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 ...

in September 1939. Afterwards, he was held by the Germans in the Oflag IX-B, Oflag IX-A,

Oflag II-D Oflag II-D Gross Born (Grossborn-Westfalenhof) was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp located at Gross Born, Pomerania (now Borne Sulinowo, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland), near Westfalenhof ( Kłomino). It housed Polish and French o ...

and

Oflag II-C Oflag II-C Woldenburg was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located about from the town of Woldenberg, Brandenburg (now Dobiegniew, western Poland). The camp housed Polish officers and orderlies and had an area of with 25 brick huts fo ...

prisoner-of-war camps A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

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* 1901 births 1985 deaths Polish male cross-country skiers Olympic cross-country skiers for Poland Cross-country skiers at the 1928 Winter Olympics Polish military personnel of World War II Prisoners of Oflag II-C 20th-century Polish sportsmen Sportspeople from Lviv Sportspeople from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Polish Austro-Hungarians Polish emigrants to Norway {{Poland-crosscountry-skiing-bio-stub