Alfons Flisykowski (22 September 1902, Goręczyno – 5 October 1939, Danzig- Saspe) was a Polish worker of the Polish Post Office in the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

in the years 1923–1939 and a second commander (after

Konrad Guderski Konrad is a German (with variants ''Kunz'' and ''Kunze'') given name and surname that means "bold counselor" and may refer to: People Given name Surname *Alexander Konrad (1890–1940), Russian explorer *Antoine Konrad (born 1975), birth name ...

) of the defence of the Post Office from the invading

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 ...

German forces when

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 opposing ...

started on 1 September 1939.

Background

Flisykowski was captured by the Germans on 2 September 1939 and handed over to 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 ...

. Denied the legitimate status of POW, he was put on trial (which was later found to be illegal), together with the other 37 captured post-office workers. Designated as a "bandit" by a paramilitary court (and therefore not protected by the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conve ...

), he was sentenced to death and executed by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...

in Danzig- Saspe on 5 October 1939. Flisykowski's grave was discovered in 1991. In the same year the families of the killed postmen founded an association called Circle of the Families of the Former Workers of Gdańsk Post Office (''Koło Rodzin Byłych Pracowników Poczty Gdańskiej'') with a goal to repeal the verdict qualifying the postmen as bandits. With the help of Dieter Schenk, a former worker of

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

and the author of a book on the subject, the case was put into a verification trial. As a result of these actions the

Land Court Land court or land claims court is a type of court which is charged with dealings over cases involving land titles and for disputes between landlords and tenants relating to agricultural tenancies. The exact field of jurisdiction varies by country ...

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

made a decision, on 30 December 1996, that the previous verdict of 1939 sentencing Flisykowski to death was illegal. He was awarded the Cross of Valour posthumously on 1 September 1990.

Background

Further reading