| Author |
Marek Przeniosło (Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce) ORCID:0000-0002-7387-8530 Michał Arabski ( Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce) ORCID:0000-0002-9712-9286 |
|---|---|
| Title | Major Roman Kurkiewicz - a member of the "diversionary-espionage" group in Polish military aviation in the years 1948-1952. |
| DOI |
10.25951/3300 |
| Keywords | stalinist repressions in the Polish Army, history of Polish aviation. |
| Pages | 235–255 |
| Full text | |
| Volume | 21 |
Roman Kurkiewicz (1905–1972) ukończył Politechnikę Lwowską. W 1934 r. został zawodowym wojskowym. Jako oficer techniczny pracował w 1. pułku lotnictwa. We wrześniu 1939 r. po ewakuacji Kurkiewicz udał się do Francji, a w 1940 r. do Wielkiej Brytanii. Tutaj jako inżynier-kapitan (od 1943 r. major) został włączony do Polskich Sił Powietrznych. Wrócił do Polski w 1947 r. W 1949 r. wojskowe służby specjalne rozpoczęły jego obserwację, w 1952 r. został zwolniony z pracy i aresztowany. Dochodzenie objęło dużą grupę oficerów, podczas przesłuchań stosowano tortury. Podczas procesów wydano 37 wyroków śmierci, 20 z nich wykonano. Kurkiewicz również otrzymał wyrok śmierci, czasowo odroczono jego egzekucję, co uratowało mu życie. W 1954 r. wyrok został zamieniony na dożywocie, a w 1956 r., podobnie jak wszystkich oskarżonych o „spisek w armii”, Kurkiewicza uniewinniono
Roman Kurkiewicz (1905–1972) obtained his secondary education in Lviv, then he graduated from Lviv Polytechnic. In 1934 he became a professional military man. As a technical officer he worked in the 1st regiment of aviation in Okęcie, in 1935 he was appointed as the technical supervision officer at the engine plant of Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze in Okęcie. In September 1939, after the evacuation, Kurkiewicz went to Romania, then France, and in 1940 to Great Britain, here as an engineer – captain (from 1943 major), he was incorporated into the Polish Air Force. He returned to Poland in 1947, in 1948 he was employed in the Polish Army in the Industrial Section of the Material Planning Department at the Air Force Command. In 1949, military special services began surveillance of Kurkiewicz, in 1952 he was dismissed from work and arrested. The investigation included a large group of officers, during interrogations illegal methods were used, including torture. Everyone was accused of being part of a “subversive-espionage” group. During the trials, 37 death sentences were passed, 20 of them were executed. Kurkiewicz also received the sentence of death, temporarily postponed his execution, which saved his life. In 1954, the sentence was turned into a lifelong prison, in 1956, just like all those accused of “conspiracy in the army” were acquitted. After 1956, due to the deterioration of was on a pension. Roman Kurkiewicz from the mid-1930s was married, his wife was Halina Drążkiewicz (1918–2001).