Sadkowski Zbigniew "Krak"

Zbigniew Sadkowski, son of Teofil and Zofia née Gołębiowska, born January 20, 1910, in Petersburg, in an intellectual family. In 1912, he returned with his family to Warsaw, where his father worked as a mathematics teacher and, from 1915, ran his own gymnasium (Teofil Sadkowski's Real Gymnasium).

Zbigniew Sadkowski completes his secondary education at the gymnasium in 1927, then enrolls in the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań. During his studies, he becomes an activist for the National Youth (Młodzież Wszechpolska) and the Camp of Great Poland (Obóz Wielkiej Polski, OWP), and later the National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe, SN).

In 1935, he left the National Party (SN). He then collaborated with Zdzisław Stahl, an activist of the Union of Young Nationalists (ZMN registered in 1934, later as the National-State Movement until 1939), a cadre organization striving for a synthesis of Polish national ideology with the tradition of the Sanation movement.

In 1935, he moves to Warsaw where he works at the newspaper "Wieczór Warszawski" until September 1939.

In 1938, he became associated with the "Zadruga" circle, where he published articles under the pseudonyms "Zbigniewski" and (according to Wacyk, see below) "Witold Drzewica Mojsiejewicz".

At the end of 1938 or in spring 1939, he establishes contact with the Polish intelligence, undergoes training, but does not receive any specific tasks before the outbreak of war.

According to Wacyk, he left the Zadruga circle in 1938 along with Dr. Sabina Różycka. However, Jan Stachniuk states that he maintained contact with him during the occupation and received information from Sadkowski about opinions on Zadruga circulating in underground circles. It is possible, therefore, that his departure from the circle was superficial, given his association with intelligence, which likely imposed certain restrictions on the social activities of its collaborators.

In September 1939, he was not mobilized. On September 6, he left Warsaw along with other able-bodied men heading east (after the radio appeal by Colonel Umiastowski) to be incorporated into newly formed units. He returned to Warsaw in early October 1939. He briefly worked in the population registration department of the City Government. From Warsaw, where he obtained prints useful for creating false documents. He then worked in the conspiratorial Department of Information and Press of the Delegation of the Government in Exile (using false documents under the name "Barański"). He reported directly to Kiryl Sosnowski ("Konrad"), head of the Information and Propaganda Section in that Department. As part of his duties, he contacted emissaries of the Polish Government in London, including Jerzy Lerski ("Jur") and presumably Jan Karski. He also wrote articles for the "Information Bulletin".

In the first months of 1943 (definitely before mid-April 1943), he wrote the work "Honor and Homeland" (underground publication, Warsaw, June 1943), describing the wartime effort of the Polish society in 1939-1942. The work also contains a chapter on the attitude of the Jewish community towards the war reality. It also includes postulates for future Polish borders, expanded to include East Prussia, Gdańsk, Western Pomerania, and Opole Silesia, and the removal of Germans from them.

The apartment of Sabina Różycka, known to her from the "Zadruga", located at Leszczyńska 8 in Warsaw, was used as a location for the IV Rejon AK Warsaw Śródmieście and the Government Delegation, as well as a place for radio monitoring. According to family tradition, there was also supposedly a radio station there.

In the face of a credible suspicion of the deconspiracy of this location, Sadkowski appeared there on November 13, 1943, to evacuate it, which he did not manage to do before the curfew, so he spent the night in the location. In the morning, the Gestapo came to the house, Sadkowski took up the fight (there was weapons in the apartment), in which he died, shot by Gestapo officers along with Sabina Różycka on November 14, 1943. For unknown reasons, he gave up the possibility of escaping through the exit to the roof, which the son of the landlady successfully used (Z. Czajkowski-Dębczyński 1926-1999.

During World War II, two of his brothers also died: Jerzy (1912-1939 – 2nd lieutenant in the 15th Infantry Regiment, circumstances unknown) and Stanisław (platoon sergeant in the AK, served in the "Zośka" battalion, fell in the Warsaw Uprising on August 22, 1944).

Sources

Grott B. Dilemmas of Polish nationalism Warsaw 2014, (pp. 205-206 on ZMN)

Lerski Jerzy Emissary Jur, ed. 4, Warsaw 1989, (pp. 114- with incorrect information about the circumstances of death)

Sadkowski Zbigniew Honor and Fatherland, compiled and author of the introductory part by Wiktor Jerzy Kobyliński Warsaw 2014

Stachniuk Jan Humanity and Culture, ed. 2, Wrocław 1996 (pp. 5-6)

Wacyk Antoni Jan Stachniuk. 1905-1963. Life and Work, Wrocław 1974 duplicated ts. (original in the collections of BUJ)