Kazimierz Popiel (24 December 1894 – 8 January 1957) was a Polish

mining engineer Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

and

drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...

man operating in the oil industry,

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 ...

of the

military reserve force A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve f ...

of the Polish Army, participant of the World War I and the

1939 defensive war 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 ...

, prisoner of the

Nazi camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

Biography

He was the son of Ferdynand Popiel and Wiktoria née Popiel. He took part in World War I as a soldier in the ranks of Austro-Hungarian Army. In the battle of Piave he commanded an assault company. After Poland regained independence in the fall of 1918, he joined the Polish Army. In the first half of the 1920s, he was stationed in

Przemyśl Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...

, where he was an

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

of general Franciszek Latinik, commander of the District No. X Corps. Later, he was promoted to a

of the

of the Polish Army. He was a

and

man active in the oil industry. He married Anna née Latinik (1902–1969), the daughter of general Franciszek Latinik. Their children

Irena The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organization mandated to facilitate cooperation, advance knowledge, and promote the adoption and sustainable use of renewable energy. It is the first international organis ...

and

Andrzej Andrzej is the Polish form of the given name Andrew. Notable individuals with the given name Andrzej * Andrzej Bartkowiak (born 1950), Polish film director and cinematographer * Andrzej Bobola, S.J. (1591–1657), Polish saint, missionary and ma ...

were born in 1925 and 1936 respectively. In the 1930s, Kazimierz and Anna Popiel lived first in Boryslav and then in Lviv. In the face of the German army invasion of Poland, Kazimierz Popiel took part in the

, and was captured and imprisoned as a war prisoner. He was in an oflag in Hungary, from where he was taken to

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

. His wife moved in 1940 with children to her parents' house in Kraków to avoid deportation to the Soviet Union. In 1947, Kazimierz Popiel arrived in Kraków, passing through

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

, and he met with his family. In the following years, he was the chief mechanic of the Warsaw Geological Coal Mining Enterprise (''Warszawskie Przedsiębiorstwo Geologiczne Górnictwa Węglowego''). He died on January 8, 1957, and was buried on January 11 the same year at the Bródno Cemetery in Warsaw.

Decorations

* Cross of Valour * Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland Source.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popiel, Kazimierz Polish miners Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Polish Army officers Polish military personnel of World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Dachau concentration camp survivors Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Poland) 1894 births 1957 deaths Burials at Bródno Cemetery Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland