Szczepan Ścibior (13 December 1903 in

Uniejów Uniejów is a spa town in Poddębice County, Łódź Voivodeship in central Poland, with 2,957 inhabitants (2020). It is the seat of the local government of Gmina Uniejów. The town lies in northwestern corner of Poddębice County, near the bord ...

, Poland – 7 August 1952 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, Poland) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

soldier, pilot, and patriot. It has not been established what he was doing early years of his life. Most probably, he fought in the Polish September Campaign and later escaped to Great Britain. In 1940, Ścibior became a member of the

No. 305 Polish Bomber Squadron No. 305 Polish Bomber Squadron "Ziemia Wielkopolska" ("Land of Greater Poland") ( pl, 305 Dywizjon Bombowy "Ziemi Wielkopolskiej im. Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego") was a Polish World War II bomber unit. It fought alongside the Royal Air Forc ...

( pl, 305 Dywizjon Bombowy "Ziemi Wielkopolskiej im. Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego") He was pilot of a

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

. In 1941, his bomber crashed during a mission near

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

in Belgium. He managed to make his way to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, where after hiding for nine days, he was caught by the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

and sent to a POW camp. Liberated by the British in 1945, Ścibior at first went to Great Britain, but in March 1946 decided to return to his native country. There, he took command of 7th Air Bomb Regiment in

Łęczyca Łęczyca (; in full the Royal Town of Łęczyca, pl, Królewskie Miasto Łęczyca; german: Lentschitza; he, לונטשיץ) is a town of 13,786 inhabitants () in central Poland. Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the county seat of the ...

and in August 1947 he became commander of the famous

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...

Academy in

Dęblin Dęblin is a town at the confluence of Vistula and Wieprz rivers, in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. Dęblin is the part of the agglomeration with adjacent towns of Ryki and Puławy, which altogether has over 100 000 inhabitants. The population of ...

. He was arrested on 9 August 1951 and wrongly accused of being a British spy. Ścibior was tortured for many months, then sentenced to death. He was charged for his service in the

Polish Air Forces The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...

(Polskie Siły Powietrzne) fighting alongside the Allies. His execution took place on 7 August 1952 in the infamous Communist Mokotów Prison in

. In 1956 – following political changes in Poland – Ścibior was officially "rehabilitated" posthumously. His symbolic tomb is located at Warsaw's Powązki Cemetery.

Sources

* http://home.clara.net/clinchy/neeb5.htm (English), * http://www.polishairforce.pl/news2004.html (Polish) * http://www.eduskrypt.pl/55_rocznica_wydania_wyrokow_smierci_na_lotnikow-info-5954.html (Polish) * https://web.archive.org/web/20090805130743/http://www.cmentarzekomunalne.com.pl/cmentarze/wojskzasl.html (tomb) * https://web.archive.org/web/20080804123729/http://www.polskaludowa.com/wydarzenia/Fieldorf3.htm 1903 births 1952 deaths Burials at Powązki Cemetery Polish People's Republic rehabilitations Executed people from Łódź Voivodeship People executed by the Polish People's Republic Executed military personnel People from Poddębice County Polish World War II bomber pilots Shot-down aviators Polish prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Polish torture victims {{Poland-mil-stub