Tadeusz Popek (November 2, 1915 – September 17, 1942) was a Polish partisan and underground activist during World War II. During the German occupation of

Podhale Podhale (literally "below the mountain pastures") is Poland's southernmost region, sometimes referred to as the "Polish Highlands". The Podhale is located in the foothills of the Tatra range of the Carpathian mountains. It is the most famous ...

, Popek (''

nom-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 individu ...

'' Wacław Tatar, or Hak) became the co-founder of the Polish resistance organization called the

Tatra Confederation The Tatra Confederation ( pl, Konfederacja Tatrzańska), or Confederation of the Tatra Mountains, was a Polish resistance organization operating in the southernmost Podhale region during the Nazi German occupation of Poland. The Tatra Confederatio ...

( pl, Konfederacja Tatrzańska), a.k.a. Confederation of the

Tatra Mountains The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - '' plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the hi ...

, operating in the

Nowy Targ Nowy Targ (Officially: ''Royal Free city of Nowy Targ'', Yiddish: ''Naymark'', Goral Dialect: ''Miasto'') is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the Gorce Mounta ...

area. He was in charge of clandestine publications including ''Der Freie Deutsche'' meant for the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

. Popek died in

Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been ...

, executed by a firing squad in the courtyard of the infamous ''Palace'' Hotel.

Biography

Popek was born in Chodenice in

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...

. In 1938 he graduated from the

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

department of the Jagiellonian University (UJ) in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. Soon after the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupation of Poland Occupation commonly refers to: * Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, t ...

, he was active in sabotaging the railroad tracks near

Bochnia Bochnia (german: Salzberg) is a town on the river Raba in southern Poland. The town lies approximately halfway between Tarnów (east) and the regional capital Kraków (west). Bochnia is most noted for its salt mine, the oldest functioning i ...

, and then moved with his mother Aniela to

Łopuszna Łopuszna is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowy Targ, within Nowy Targ County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately east of Nowy Targ and south of the regional capital Kraków. The village, ...

for their safety. From there, they went to Nowy Targ, where Popek obtained a position as a clerk at the office of Nazi ''

Kriminalpolizei ''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...

'' near the town centre, and began collecting classified information for the Polish underground. In May 1941, Popek met

Augustyn Suski Augustyn Suski (November 8, 1907 – May 26, 1942), was a Polish Goral poet, pedagogue in the interwar period, and underground activist during World War II. Under the German occupation, Suski (''nom-de-guerre'' Stefan Borusa) became a founder of t ...

, another graduate of UJ working for the resistance. Together, they created the clandestine

, with

Jadwiga Apostoł Jadwiga Apostoł-Staniszewska (22 December 1913 – 2 February 1990) was a Polish teacher in the Second Polish Republic, interwar period, an underground activist during World War II, and a writer in People's Republic of Poland, postwar ...

(''

'' Barbara Spytkowska) as their administrative secretary. The purpose of the Tatra Confederation was to oppose the implementation of the ''

Goralenvolk ''Goralenvolk'' was a geopolitical term invented by the German Nazis in World War II in reference to the Goral highlander population of Podhale region in the south of Poland near the Slovak border. The Germans postulated a separate nation ...

'' action by Germany, aimed at the germanization of the Polish highlanders. However, his underground work ended in late January 1942 as a result of the infiltration of their group by the Gestapo agent and former acquaintance, Hainz Wegner-Romanowski. Popek was arrested and interrogated, tortured and taken to an execution centre at the ''Palace'' Hotel in

(dubbed the "Death's Head Resort" by the locals). Two days later, along with his co-conspirator Jan Dzielski, he spotted an unlocked window at the second-floor prisoner washstand. On February 2, 1942, the two jumped out into the back-alley and ran in opposite directions. Popek and Dzielski are the only two prisoners known to have escaped from the ''Palace''. The

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

set a 10,000 zloty reward for Popek's arrest. Popek was turned in by a traitor while hiding deep in the

Gorce Mountains The Gorce Mountains ( pl, Gorce ) are part of the Western Beskids mountain range spreading across southernmost Poland. They are situated in Małopolska Province, at the western tip of the long Carpathian range extending east beyond the Dunajec ...

, and re-captured on August 22, 1942. He was brought back to the ''Palace'' Hotel. Many Germans stopped to get a glimpse of this "dangerous" fugitive. He was taken around various locations as living proof of the effectiveness of Nazi intelligence. Chained by his hands and legs to a wall in the cellar, Popek was tortured for a month. He did not disclose anything, and was executed in the courtyard of the ''Palace'' Hotel by a firing squad on September 17, 1942. His mother, Aniela Popek, was sent to Auschwitz, where she was murdered in April 1943. The body of Tadeusz Popek was exhumed by the Polish communist authorities in 1946 as evidence during the court case of ''

'' leaders, and re-buried in Zakopane, at the Nowotarska Street cemetery.

Biography

Notes and references

Further reading