Jan Mazurkiewicz

Jan Mazurkiewicz, pseudonym: "Zagłoba", "Socha", "Sęp", "Radosław" (27 August 1896 – 4 May 1988) was a Polish military leader and politician, colonel of Home Army and brigadier general of the Polish People's Army. Founder of the Secret Military Organization (later merged with the Home Army), commander of Kedyw and the Radosław Group during Warsaw Uprising. After the war, he was a political prisoner of the Stalinist period (until 1956). From 1964 he was vice-president of Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy.

Early life and World War I Jan Mazurkiewicz was born in a craftsman's family in Lviv. He spent his childhood in Zolochiv, where from 1902 he attended primary school and from 1906 to the gymnasium. He was active in Scouting, a member of the "Sokół" (Falcon) Polish Gymnastic Society. In 1911 he moved with his family to Lviv, where he continued his education. He was a member of the Organisation of Independent Youth Zarzewie, and later belonged to the Riflemen's Association.

Honors and awards

Military ranks

Personal life Mazurkiewicz's first wife was Jadwiga, with whom he had three children, Stanislaw and Zofia, and an older son who died in infancy. His wife and daughter were imprisoned by the Russians in the east of the country during the war, but his son escaped to England where he fought with the Polish Army based in Scotland before returning to Poland some years later.

His second wife was Maria Zienkiewicz, alias "Irma" (1903–1985), captain of the Home Army.