Zdzisław Karos (died February 23, 1982) was a senior

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

Citizens' Militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or serve ...

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

who served as a guard to the

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes a ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and is known as the only certain fatal victim of the generally non-violent ''

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

''. On February 23, 1982, Karos was on the way to his workplace. While in a street car he was attacked by two juveniles, Robert Chechłacz (aged 17) and Tomasz Łupanow (aged 18), who were trying to disarm him. In the fight that followed, Karos was fatally shot by Chechłacz, likely accidentally. Both young men who attacked Karos were members of the secret anti-government paramilitary organisation ''Upspring Home Army - Second Company'' (named after the Polish

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

anti-Nazi resistance unit) , led by the Roman Catholic priest

Sylwester Zych Sylwester Zych (May 19, 1950 – July 11, 1989) was a Polish Catholic priest. Biography He was born in Ostrówek, and lived in Lipinki. Later he attended school in Duczki and Zielonka. Zych took part in various resistance activities, among them, se ...

and was protesting against

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

. Robert Chechłacz, was sentenced to 25 years in prison and was pardoned and freed in 1989. Sylwester Zych was convicted of helping the attackers and sentenced to 6 years in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

. He subsequently served the entire term and died in 1989 under unexplained suspicious circumstances. Zdzisław Karos was survived by two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karos, Zdzislaw Year of birth missing 1982 deaths Deaths by firearm in Poland Polish police officers People murdered in Poland Murder committed by minors Union violence