Józef Noji (8 September 1909 – 15 February 1943) was a Polish long-distance runner who competed at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

Biography

Noji was one of the best long-distance runners of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

At the 1936 Olympics, he finished fifth in the 5000 meter and 14th in the 10000 m events. He also placed fifth over 5000 m at the 1938 European Championships. Noji was a multiple champion of Poland in the 5000, 10000 and

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

. In 1936 he won the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

title in the 6 miles event at the 1936 AAA Championships. He was twice elected to the List of 10 Best Athletes of Poland; in 1936 he was second, in 1937 – tenth. Noji did not fight in the

Polish September Campaign The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet ...

, but as early as late 1939 or early 1940, he joined the resistance movement. He was arrested by the

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

on 18 September 1940. After one year of imprisonment at Warsaw's notorious

Pawiak Pawiak () was a prison built in 1835 in Warsaw, Congress Poland. During the January 1863 Uprising, it served as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced by Imperial Russia to deportation to Siberia. During the World War II German occupation ...

prison, he was transported to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, 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 consisted of Auschw ...

. Noji was murdered on 15 February 1943, allegedly for trying to

smuggle Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

a letter. According to witnesses, he was killed by one of the SS guards (either Palitsch, Schopp or Stiwitz). Noji was posthumously awarded the Cross of Valor.

Named in Noji's honour

Streets

* Aleja Józefa Nojiego in Warsaw, located on the southern bank of the Piaseczno Canal, near the Legia Stadium * Józef Noji Street in Oświęcim, located in the Chemików Housing Estate

Schools

* Secondary School Complex in Czarnków * Primary School in Pęcków * Primary School No. 2 in Drezdenko

Other

* A commemorative plaque placed in 1986 on the church in Pęckowo * An obelisk in Drawski Młyn * A race organized for over thirty years under the name of the Józef Noji Mass Run taking place on the route from Drawski Młyn to Wieleń (through Pęckowo, Drawsko, Krzyż Wielkopolski, Huta Szklana) * 2 stadiums: the Municipal Stadium in Drezdenko and the municipal stadium in Wieleń that can accommodate 2,500 spectators * Noji's biography was included in Franciszek Graś's book ''J. Noji, Sportsman-Patriot''

Biography

Named in Noji's honour

Streets

Schools

Other

References

Further reading