Antoni Heda
Encyclopedia
Antoni Heda was a Polish
military commander and a notable veteran of the Polish resistance movement in World War II
and later independence movement against Soviet occupation following the war. Among the best known of his partisan actions was the raid on Communist prison in Kielce
in August 1945, in which roughly 300 political prisoners were freed. His codename was "Szary" (Grey).
, where he finished a Technical School and started a job in Starachowice
Arms Works. Drafted into the Polish Army in 1937, he was dispatched to the Reserve Officer School (Szkoła Podchorążych Rezerwy). Shortly before the outbreak of World War II he was demobilized and started working for the State Arms Works at Starachowice
.
Mobilized prior to the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War
of 1939, Heda fought in the ranks of the Polish 12th Infantry Division
in the area of his home town of Iłża and then in the area of Lublin
. After his division was disbanded he was trying to find his way to Hungary
, but was arrested by the Soviet NKVD
and imprisoned in the Brześć Fortress. After the outbreak of a Nazi-Soviet war
when the prison was taken over by the Germans, he managed to escape from the prison camp.
(ZWZ), the first mass-scale resistance organization formed in Poland. Named the commander of the Dolina area (in the Holy Cross Mountains), he became a notable resistance leader after his raid on the Gestapo
prison in Starachowice
. Out of 80 political prisoners liberated from there, 60 decided to join the resistance and thus Heda formed a permanent partisan unit stationed in the forests of the area. He then joined the partisan unit of Jan Piwnik
Ponury, one of the most successful partisan commanders of World War II. He took part in a variety of actions against the Germans in occupied Poland. Among the best known are:
During Operation Tempest
Heda's unit was attached to the 2nd battalion of the Polish 3rd Legions' Infantry Regiment under Capt. Stanisław Poręba Świątek and took part in battles of Radoszyce
, Trawniki
and Szewce.
, one of splinter organizations formed after the Home Army had been disbanded. Later on he joined NIE
and then yet another resistance organization Freedom and Independence (WiN). As a leader of a separate unit, Heda led yet another assault on a prison, this time on a MBP and Smersh
prison in Kielce
overnight of August 4, 1945. As a result, the partisans managed to liberate several hundred political prisoners, mostly former members of the Home Army.
Heda was using a false identity (Antoni Wiśniewski) but the UB security forces managed to discover Heda's identity and arrested his family. Soon afterwards two of his brothers and his brother-in-law were tortured to death. Heda planned to organize a similar assault on the infamous Rakowiecka prison in Warsaw
, but he was arrested by the forces of the Internal Security Corps in 1948 in Gdynia
near the Gdynia Chylonia railway station. Imprisoned at Rakowiecka and later in Rawicz
and Wronki
, Heda was sentenced to death on 7 consecutive charges, but his sentence was later changed to life imprisonment.
After the end of Stalinist
period in 1956 he was pardoned and set free. He continued to collaborate with various groups opposed to the Communist regime in Poland and was also an active member of unofficial veterans associations. In 1980 he joined the Solidarity and the following year he was chosen as the chairman of the Independent Veteran Association of the Solidarity, the first veteran association not controlled by the Communist authorities. However, soon afterwards he had been interned after the 1981 imposition of martial Law in Poland
.
After Poland managed to get back its independence from the Eastern Bloc
, in 1990 Heda returned to service as a leader of one of veteran associations uniting veterans of all fronts of the World War II
. He also became the honorary commander of the Riflemen Union
, a paramilitary youth organization. On May 3, 2006 he was promoted to the rank of generał brygady (he received the nomination in 2004 and accepted it in 2006). For his service he also received the highest of Polish military awards, Virtuti Militari
(4th and 5th class), as well as the Cross of Valour (Krzyż Walecznych) and other decorations.
He described his life in two books: Wspomnienia Szarego (Szary's Memoires) and Szary przeciw zdrajcom Polski (Szary against traitors of Poland).
General Antoni Heda died in Warsaw on 15 February 22008. His funeral took place on February 21, 2008, starting with a Funeral Mass at the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army celebrated by Fr. Bishop Maj-Gen. Tadeusz Płoskiego. President Lech Kaczynski
posthumously awarded him the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, "for outstanding contribution to the independence of the Polish Republic". Heda was buried beside his wife in the family grave in the parish cemetery.
, 13–14 October 2001
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
military commander and a notable veteran of the Polish resistance movement in World War II
Polish resistance movement in World War II
The Polish resistance movement in World War II, with the Home Army at its forefront, was the largest underground resistance in all of Nazi-occupied Europe, covering both German and Soviet zones of occupation. The Polish defence against the Nazi occupation was an important part of the European...
and later independence movement against Soviet occupation following the war. Among the best known of his partisan actions was the raid on Communist prison in Kielce
Kielce
Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...
in August 1945, in which roughly 300 political prisoners were freed. His codename was "Szary" (Grey).
Early life and activities at the beginning of the Second World War
Antoni Heda was born in 1916 in the village of Małomierzyce near Iłża to a local peasant family. After graduating from a local primary school he moved to RadomRadom
Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...
, where he finished a Technical School and started a job in Starachowice
Starachowice
Starachowice is a town in south-central Poland with 55,126 inhabitants . Starachowice is situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship ; it was formerly in the Kielce Voivodeship . It is the capital of Starachowice County...
Arms Works. Drafted into the Polish Army in 1937, he was dispatched to the Reserve Officer School (Szkoła Podchorążych Rezerwy). Shortly before the outbreak of World War II he was demobilized and started working for the State Arms Works at Starachowice
Starachowice
Starachowice is a town in south-central Poland with 55,126 inhabitants . Starachowice is situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship ; it was formerly in the Kielce Voivodeship . It is the capital of Starachowice County...
.
Mobilized prior to the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
of 1939, Heda fought in the ranks of the Polish 12th Infantry Division
Polish 12th Infantry Division
Polish 12th Kresy Infantry Division , was a tactical unit of the Polish Army in the interbellum period, which was stationed in Tarnopol...
in the area of his home town of Iłża and then in the area of Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
. After his division was disbanded he was trying to find his way to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, but was arrested by the Soviet NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and imprisoned in the Brześć Fortress. After the outbreak of a Nazi-Soviet war
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
when the prison was taken over by the Germans, he managed to escape from the prison camp.
Underground activities during the Second World War
Heda returned to his home area and joined the ranks of the Society of Armed StruggleZwiazek Walki Zbrojnej
Związek Walki Zbrojnej was an underground army formed in Poland following its invasion in September 1939 by Germany and the Soviet Union that opened World War II.The precursor to the ZWZ was the Service...
(ZWZ), the first mass-scale resistance organization formed in Poland. Named the commander of the Dolina area (in the Holy Cross Mountains), he became a notable resistance leader after his raid on the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
prison in Starachowice
Starachowice
Starachowice is a town in south-central Poland with 55,126 inhabitants . Starachowice is situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship ; it was formerly in the Kielce Voivodeship . It is the capital of Starachowice County...
. Out of 80 political prisoners liberated from there, 60 decided to join the resistance and thus Heda formed a permanent partisan unit stationed in the forests of the area. He then joined the partisan unit of Jan Piwnik
Jan Piwnik
Jan Piwnik was a Polish World War II soldier, a cichociemny and a notable leader of the Home Army in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. He used the noms de guerre Ponury and Donat.-Biography:...
Ponury, one of the most successful partisan commanders of World War II. He took part in a variety of actions against the Germans in occupied Poland. Among the best known are:
- Raid on the German prison in Iłża on August 6, 1943
- Disarming of a 45 men strong unit of the WehrmachtWehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
stationed in Pakosław near Iłża on September 15 of that year - Action against the village of Gozdawa near SiennoSiennoSienno may refer to the following places:*Sienno, Słupca County in Greater Poland Voivodeship *Sienno, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship *Sienno, Masovian Voivodeship...
, which had been cleansedEthnic cleansingEthnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
of their Polish inhabitants and then settled with Germans; the action took place on September 23 - March 1944 assault on the Starachowice Arms Works, in which the partisans dressed in German uniforms secured the entire factory, seized its treasury and secured several hundred pieces of arms
- Battle of JeleniecJeleniecJeleniec may refer to the following places:*Jeleniec, Greater Poland Voivodeship *Jeleniec, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship *Jeleniec, Lublin Voivodeship...
of April 1, 1944, in which the partisans managed to defeat a considerable German force that was trying to ambush them - Raid on KońskieKonskieKońskie is a town in central Poland with 20,328 inhabitants , situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship , previously in Kielce Voivodeship . Most of the town labour force was employed in the local foundry in the late 80s and early 90s...
on June 5 and June 6 of 1944, in which the partisans secured the entire city and set free the prisoners of a local prison.
During Operation Tempest
Operation Tempest
Operation Tempest was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II by the Polish Home Army , the dominant force in the Polish resistance....
Heda's unit was attached to the 2nd battalion of the Polish 3rd Legions' Infantry Regiment under Capt. Stanisław Poręba Świątek and took part in battles of Radoszyce
Radoszyce
Radoszyce village in East Małopolska, the southeastern part of Poland in Bieszczady mountains. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodship , previously in Krosno Voivodeship and Sanok district, Komańcza subdistrict, located near the towns of Medzilaborce and Palota .It is situated below the main...
, Trawniki
Trawniki
Trawniki is a village in Świdnik County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Trawniki. It lies approximately south-east of Świdnik and south-east of the regional capital Lublin....
and Szewce.
Anti-Soviet resistance
After the Soviet-backed Polish communist takeover of Poland, Heda - as a former prisoner of the NKVD - had to remain in hiding and joined the Ruch Oporu Armii KrajowejRuch Oporu Armii Krajowej
Ruch Oporu Armii Krajowej - Polish anticommunist military resistance organization formed in 1944 by Józef Marcinkowski from Armia Krajowa soldiers....
, one of splinter organizations formed after the Home Army had been disbanded. Later on he joined NIE
NIE (resistance)
NIE, short for Niepodległość , "NIE" means also "NO" in Polish - was a Polish anticommunist resistance organisation formed in 1943 in a case of a Soviet occupation of Poland. Its main goal was the struggle against the Soviet Union after 1944. NIE was one of the most well hidden structures of Armia...
and then yet another resistance organization Freedom and Independence (WiN). As a leader of a separate unit, Heda led yet another assault on a prison, this time on a MBP and Smersh
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
prison in Kielce
Kielce
Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...
overnight of August 4, 1945. As a result, the partisans managed to liberate several hundred political prisoners, mostly former members of the Home Army.
Heda was using a false identity (Antoni Wiśniewski) but the UB security forces managed to discover Heda's identity and arrested his family. Soon afterwards two of his brothers and his brother-in-law were tortured to death. Heda planned to organize a similar assault on the infamous Rakowiecka prison in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, but he was arrested by the forces of the Internal Security Corps in 1948 in Gdynia
Gdynia
Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...
near the Gdynia Chylonia railway station. Imprisoned at Rakowiecka and later in Rawicz
Rawicz
Rawicz is a town in central Poland with 21,398 inhabitants . It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship ; previously it was in Leszno Voivodeship . It is the capital of Rawicz County.-History:...
and Wronki
Wronki
Wronki is a town in the Szamotuły County, western-central Poland, situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Piła Voivodeship . It is located close to the Warta River to the northwest of Poznań, and has a population of approximately 11,000...
, Heda was sentenced to death on 7 consecutive charges, but his sentence was later changed to life imprisonment.
After the end of Stalinist
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
period in 1956 he was pardoned and set free. He continued to collaborate with various groups opposed to the Communist regime in Poland and was also an active member of unofficial veterans associations. In 1980 he joined the Solidarity and the following year he was chosen as the chairman of the Independent Veteran Association of the Solidarity, the first veteran association not controlled by the Communist authorities. However, soon afterwards he had been interned after the 1981 imposition of martial Law in Poland
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
.
After Poland managed to get back its independence from the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
, in 1990 Heda returned to service as a leader of one of veteran associations uniting veterans of all fronts of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He also became the honorary commander of the Riflemen Union
Zwiazek Strzelecki
Związek Strzelecki "Strzelec" was a Polish paramilitary cultural and educational organization created in 1910 in Lwów as a legal front of Związek Walki Czynnej, and revived in Poland in 1991....
, a paramilitary youth organization. On May 3, 2006 he was promoted to the rank of generał brygady (he received the nomination in 2004 and accepted it in 2006). For his service he also received the highest of Polish military awards, Virtuti Militari
Virtuti Militari
The Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war...
(4th and 5th class), as well as the Cross of Valour (Krzyż Walecznych) and other decorations.
He described his life in two books: Wspomnienia Szarego (Szary's Memoires) and Szary przeciw zdrajcom Polski (Szary against traitors of Poland).
General Antoni Heda died in Warsaw on 15 February 22008. His funeral took place on February 21, 2008, starting with a Funeral Mass at the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army celebrated by Fr. Bishop Maj-Gen. Tadeusz Płoskiego. President Lech Kaczynski
Lech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
posthumously awarded him the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, "for outstanding contribution to the independence of the Polish Republic". Heda was buried beside his wife in the family grave in the parish cemetery.
Further reading
- Antoni Heda, Wspomnienia Szarego (Szary's Memoires), Warszawa 1991
- Antoni Heda, Szary przeciw zdrajcom Polski (Szary against traitors of Poland)
External links
LEGENDA MIESZKA WŚRÓD NAS (Legend lives among us) Antoni Heda "Szary" otrzymał stopień generalski (Antoni Heda promoted to general) PAN "SZARY" - ANTONI HEDA KOMENDANT "SZARY" from newspaper Nasz DziennikNasz Dziennik
Nasz Dziennik is a Polish daily newspaper, published in Warsaw since 1998 by Spes Ltd., with the circulation of about 150,000 as of 2007. Alternate sources have listed its 1999 circulation at 250,000; and its 1998 readership at 600,000...
, 13–14 October 2001