Teodor Kufel

Teodor Kufel, pseudonym Teoch, Ryszard Jankowski (6 March 1920 – 17 October 2016) was a Polish military and political activist. During World War II he was active in the anti-Nazi movement. After the war, he served as a general in the Polish People's Army. From 1964 to 1979 he was commander of the Internal Military Service.

Biography He came from a working class family of German descent. He was active in the youth organization of the People's Party. From 1936 to 1938 he was a member of the Young Communist League of Poland. In 1937 he was arrested for his political activities by the Sanation authorities. In 1942, this organization became part of the Polish Workers' Party. Teodor Kufel became part of the District Staff of the People's Guard as an intelligence and operations officer. On 25 December 1943, he was one of the first to be awarded of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald. In April 1944 he became a liaison officer in the Main Staff of the People's Army. After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, he fought as an officer in the Battalion of the People's Army "Men of the Fourth". He was a company commander in the Warsaw Old Town and Żoliborz. In September, he actively resisted the German troops in the Kampinos Forest. From October 1944 he was the commander of the Warsaw District Left Suburban People's Army.

From February 1945 he was an officer in the Citizens' Militia. From 1954 he was an officer of the Ministry of Public Security. From 1954 to 1955 he was a student of the KGB school in Moscow. From 1996 to 2000 he was the chairman of the Main Audit Commission of the National Council of People's Army Soldiers. He also served as the vice president of the Veterans' Assistance and Promotion Foundation.

Teodor Kufel's military views and political positions underwent significant evolution in the 1990s. He accepted Poland's membership in NATO. In 1996 he became one of the organizers and the most important activists of the Polish Army Generals Club, an influential organization of retired military commanders associated with the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces.

He supported Bronisław Komorowski, who is applying for re-election, before the 2015 Polish presidential election. In March 2016, his apartment was searched and the documents found were handed over to the Institute of National Remembrance.

Teodor Kufel was buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

Awards and decorations Polish

Soviet:

60px Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"

Other countries:

60px 30th Anniversary of the Bulgarian People's Army. (Bulgaria, 1974)