Karol Szwedowski (1878-1941) was a Polish master builder who worked at Westerplatte and defended it when Poland was invaded by Germany in 1939.

Early life and career

Karol Szwedowski was born October 4, 1878 in Chrząstowo (now part of

Koniecpol Koniecpol is a town in Częstochowa County, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, with 5,910 inhabitants (2019). In the times of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth it was the seat of the Koniecpolski The House of Koniecpolski (plural: Koniecpolscy) is the ...

), the son of Jozefa and Jacenty Szwedowski. On December 13, 1927, at the age of 38, he received his master builder diploma and was accepted to the Craftsmen's Guild of the city of

Pułtusk Pułtusk (pronounced ) is a town in northeast Poland, by the river Narew. Located north of Warsaw in the Masovian Voivodeship, it had a population of about 19,000 . Known for its historic architecture and Europe's longest paved marketplace ( in ...

. On April 4, 1934, he arrived in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

from Legionowo. He was hired as a seasonal contract worker by the Military Transit Depot of Westerplatte, where he worked until 1939.

Battle of Westerplatte

During the Battle of Westerplatte on September 1–7, 1939, Szwedowski was called on as a civilian defender and assisted wounded soldiers. After the battle, Szwedowski was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in Stutthof concentration camp, and later at Buchenwald.

Death

He died after his release in at home in Legionowo on August 30, 1941, shortly after the deaths of his two sons, Ryszard in the Palmiry massacre in 1940 and Karol in

Auschwitz 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 ...

in 1941.

Media

Szwedowski is mentioned in the book ''Westerplatte'' published by Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej (the Publishing House of the Ministry of National Defense) in Warsaw in 1978. He was portrayed by

Bolesław Płotnicki Bolesław Płotnicki (17 June 1913 – 7 September 1988) was a Polish actor. He appeared in more than 80 films and television shows between 1953 and 1983. Selected filmography * ''Shadow'' (1956) * '' Kwiecień'' (1961) * ''The Impossible G ...

in the 1967 feature film ''Westerplatte'' directed by Stanisław Rozewicz, and in the 2013 Polish film

Tajemnica Westerplatte ''1939 Battle of Westerplatte'', originally titled in Poland as ''Tajemnica Westerplatte'' ("The Secret of Westerplatte"), is a 2013 Polish-Lithuanian war film written and directed by Paweł Chochlew. It portrays the Battle of Westerplatte between ...

("The Secret of Westerplatte"), he was played by Romuald Kłos.

Notes

References

1889 births 1941 deaths Polish people of World War II Polish civilians killed in World War II Polish people who died in the Holocaust {{Poland-bio-stub