Captain Józef Rzepka (

noms de guerre A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

"Krzysztof", "Rekin", "Stefan", "Znicz") was born in 1913 in the village of

Bratkowice Bratkowice is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Świlcza, within Rzeszów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Świlcza and north-west of the regional capital Rzeszów ...

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

Galicia (now in

Rzeszów County __NOTOC__ Rzeszów County ( pl, powiat rzeszowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, south-eastern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local gove ...

Subcarpathian Voivodeship Subcarpathian Voivodeship or Subcarpathia Province (in pl, Województwo podkarpackie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in the southeastern corner of Poland. Its administrative capital and largest city is Rzeszów. Along with the Marshall, it is ...

). He graduated from the 1st High School in

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ; la, Resovia; yi, ריישא ''Raisha'')) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów has been the capital of the Subcarpathian Vo ...

, then went to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

to study law at

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

. During the

Polish September Campaign 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 after ...

, he fought as a colonel in the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stret ...

, then became a member of Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej (later:

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...

), in the area of Rzeszów. In the summer of 1944, Rzepka was commandant of the Home Army field forces around Rzeszów, which took part in

Operation Tempest file:Akcja_burza_1944.png, 210px, right Operation Tempest ( pl, akcja „Burza”, sometimes referred to in English as "Operation Storm") was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II against occupying German forces by the Polish Home ...

. When the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

captured Rzeszów, he decided to continue fighting against the communists. On the night of 7-8 October 1944 Rzepka participated in a failed attempt to free members of the Home Army, who were incarcerated by the Soviet secret police, the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

, in the Rzeszów castle prison. In the mid-1940s, Rzepka joined the anti-Communist organization

Wolność i Niezawisłość Freedom and Independence Association ( pl, Zrzeszenie Wolność i Niezawisłość, or WiN) was a Polish underground anticommunist organisation founded on September 2, 1945 and active until 1952. Political goals and realities The main purpose of it ...

(WiN), as a member of its Information Department. During the fall of 1945, he moved to

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...

and settled in

Zabrze Zabrze (; German: 1915–1945: ''Hindenburg O.S.'', full form: ''Hindenburg in Oberschlesien'', Silesian: ''Zŏbrze'', yi, זאַבזשע, Zabzhe) is an industrial city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. The west district of the Sil ...

. While there, he became a member of the 4th Headquarters of WiN, led by

Łukasz Ciepliński Łukasz Ciepliński [] (26 November 1913 – 1 March 1951) was a Polish soldier who fought in the Polish Polish resistance movement in World War II, anti-Nazi and Cursed soldiers, anti-communist resistance movements. He used various aliases: ''P ...

. Arrested in 1948, along with a group of other members of WiN, he was transported to the infamous

Mokotów Prison Mokotów Prison ( pl, Więzienie mokotowskie, also known as ''Rakowiecka Prison'') is a prison in Warsaw's borough of Mokotów, Poland, located at 37 Rakowiecka Street. It was built by the Russians in the final years of the foreign Partitions of P ...

in Warsaw. Brutally tortured, he was sentenced to death in 1950. His appeal for clemency sent to the then president of Poland Bolesław Bierut was rejected. Captain Rzepka was executed on 1 March 1951, at 8:45 pm, in the

1951 Mokotów Prison execution Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United K ...

with 6 other men. His body was never returned to his family and his remains were buried in an unknown location. In 1992, the Warsaw Military Court voided the 1950 sentence and posthumously cleared Rzepka of all charges. He was married to Zofia Sieniawska and had one daughter with her, Anna, who does not have any children.

Sources

* https://web.archive.org/web/20110724160700/http://www.rzeszow.uw.gov.pl/main.php?muid=3&mid=127&akID=5022&cid=809070c69fd2cd36

Notes and references

Polish secret police torture methods

WiN , Freedom and Independence - A Historical Brief
by Dr. Janusz Marek Kurtyka, Ph.D., Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, IPN, Poland. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rzepka, Jozef 1913 births 1951 deaths People from Rzeszów County People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria People executed by the Polish People's Republic Nonpersons in the Eastern Bloc Cursed soldiers Polish Army officers Executed Polish people Executed military personnel People executed by Poland by firearm Executed people from Podkarpackie Voivodeship

See also

Sources

Notes and references