Zbigniew Ścibor-Rylski

Zbigniew Dionizy Ścibor-Rylski (10 March 1917 – 3 August 2018) was a Polish brigadier general and aviator who was a participant of the Warsaw Uprising during World War II. As a Polish Air Force officer, he fought alongside the resistance movement starting in 1940 and rose through the ranks of Armia Krajowa.

Ścibor-Rylski retired with the rank of brigadier general in the Polish Land Forces, he was rewarded several Polish awards and decorations, including Virtuti Militari. He was Chairman of the Association of Warsaw Insurgents.

Biography

Childhood and youth

Zbigniew Ścibor-Rylski was born at the height of World War I, in Brovki-Pershi (Polish: Browki), a village southeast of Zhytomyr, and southwest of Kyiv, in present-day Ukraine, but at the time part of the Russian Empire. He belonged to a Polish aristocratic (szlachta) family from the Clan of Ostoja, being the son of Oscar Ścibor-Rylski and Maria Raciborowska. Located in territory controlled at the time between Russia's republican government, Brovki is the central key estate, which included the Spiczyńce (from his Marszycka grandmother) and Wolica Zarubieniecka (from his Raciborowski grandparents). After the battle of Kiev by Polish troops under Edward Smigly-Rydz in 1920, the Ścibor-Rylskis left for Kyiv, then the newly independent Polish Republic by train. They settled in the Lublin region, initially in Studzianki, then in Zwierzyniec (near Zamość), where his father Oscar was offered a post within the county Maurycy Klemens Zamoyski in the Zamość Ordinance.

It was in Zwierzyniec that Ścibor-Rylski spend his remaining childhood years, until 1935. He attended the all-male Jan Zamoyski High School in Zamość, and then, after his fourth year, the Sułkowski family Gymnasium near Leszno, graduating in 1936. Shortly after this, he passed the Aviation Cadet School in the technical group in Warsaw, preceded by a glider aircraft course in Ustianowa. Originally training on "Wrony" and "Salamandry" in Ustianowa, he was, from 1939, testing aircraft in a wind tunnel at the Warsaw Polytechnic, working with bombers (PZL.37 Łoś, PZL.23 Karaś) and PZL P.7 fighters for the Polish Air Force Academy. In 1939, he graduated from the School of Aviation Cadets as Cadet Sergeant Engineer, specializing in aircraft engines and equipment. Given the first option for further air service, he selected the 1st Aviation Regiment, based at Warsaw's Okecie Airport. His graduation and promotion to second lieutenant were prevented by the outbreak of World War II.

Collaboration with communists According to documents gathered by the National Remembrance Institute, Ścibor-Rylski was registered as an informant of the communist secret police Służba Bezpieczeństwa. He does not deny that he was an informant. As he stated, he worked mainly to pull information from SB and he is convinced that he had managed to warn several of his partisans friends from being arrested by SB. He explains that he was advised by his insurgent commander, "Radosław", to become an informant for this.

Private life Zbigniew Ścibor-Rylski had three sisters: Kalina, Ewa, Danuta. He was married to Zofia Kochanska (also known as Marie Springer ace of Polish underground intelligence. Located the battleship Tirpitz (Operation Catechism), escaped from the Gestapo while 8 months pregnant).

Ranks Lieutenant – September 4, 1939 First lieutenant – 1943 Captain – August 28, 1944 Major – October 2, 1944 Colonel in reserve – after the war Brigadier general in reserve – May 7, 2005

Awards and distinctions

Augustus Ferdinand Wollf Medal – the highest award of Warsaw Medical Association, presented to Ścibor-Rylski by Association President Jerzy Jurkiewicz Honorary Citizen of the City of Warsaw