Soldier, pilot, participant of World War I and II
In 1946 the "Polish Richthofen" Wiktor Komorowski settled in Karpacz. What did this 67 year old repatriate do to deserve the nickname of the famous World War I fighter ace? The hero of the biography had a life behind him that the “Red Baron” could envy. Although he shot down fewer planes, unlike the German, he managed to survive.
Years 1879-1914
Wiktor’s grandfather was already an incredible figure who was born around 1775 and seemingly lived for 116 years. As a 37 year old he fought alongside Napoleon [1]. Tadeusz, although he had contact with his grandson for only 2-3 years, he taught him respect, not only for the homeland, but also for the catholic faith, which in the borderlands was closely linked with Polishness. Borderlands were undergoing severe Russification at that time, as they were to be directly absorbed to Russia. It was banned to use names Lithuania and Belarus and changed into “North-Western-Land” and “South-Western-Land” respectively. Poles were supposed to trade with “robes and soap” at most, which, according to Governor-General Michał Murawjow, was supposed to be “a panacea for Polish malcontent”.
Wiktor’s father, Onufry Komorowski, took active part in the January Uprising in 1963. He was sentenced to 5 years of hard labour. When he was relased, it was with a so-called “wolf ticket” (волчий билет). He could only stay in one place for a month, and see his family once a month. Wiktor recalled years later:
I was born in 1879 [2] in Minsk Litewski, baptised in Libava, started my education in Możejki in Lithuania, extended it in a number of other cities and finished in Minsk after the wolf ticket had expired. [3]
Mother Wiktoria, a teacher by profession, coming from the Lelecki family, was probably Onfury’s first wife and it was she who taught Wiktor love for his homeland and his first prayers.
After the defeats of the 19th century uprisings, Poles were left to pray at roadside shrines. In his memoirs, Wiktor describes a simple altar, consisting of an image embellished with branches or flowers. The grandson helped his grandfather in their construction and repair, listening to stories about heroic times, when his grandfather gathered a levy for Napoleon and helped soldiers retreating from Moscow. He was then punished with confiscation of his property in Minsk Land, a three year sentence imprisonment in the prison rotas i.e. hard prison, and was deprived of his noble title and civil rights for a period of 15 years. Deprivation of nobility was a heavy blow, depriving the family from many privileges and rights in the world, in which nobility meant everything. Wiktor’s grandfather died in 1891. We don’t know whether he actually lived to be 116. Longevity in the Komorowski family clearly was hereditary, however. There may be doubts about its length, but father Onufry lived for 104 years, and his son, if not for his fate, could probably have lived for much longer than 70 years.
Wiktor’s spent his childhood in Możejki in Lithuania, famous for its oil refineries, and at that time proud of its four hundred cottages, thirteen shops and five taverns, to which the pharmacy was added. They were mostly run by Jews, who were the largest ethnic group, along with Russians, Latvians, and Lithuanians. Wiktor and his mother lived modestly, in one room. They saw the father once a month, greeting him at the train station. When Onufry was once not allowed to meet his family, his 5 year old son attacked a gendarme. It ended up with three nights of “overnight stay” with the mother in the local district, i.e. the police station. The hero himself proudly recalls that this was how he found himself behind bars for the first time. It is clear that the little boy already had blood flowing in his veins, not water.
Wiktor’s mother together with her friend ran a secret Polish school in Możejki. Her friend taught grammar and science subjects, and Wiktor’s mother told stories about the history of Poland and geography. However, the school was discovered by the gendarmes. And soo little Wiktor ended up in at the police station again. This time, the case was serious. Wiktor’s mother was saved by her friend, who not only did not betray anyone, but took the blame entirely upon herself. It needed with a high fine, which they could not pay off, so it was changed to a month in prison. The heroic teacher served three years.
In 1886 Wiktor went to public school, where the obligatory language was Russian. He learned it quickly because he had a talent for languages and acquiring knowledge came to him with ease.
Then came 1888, the year of the first Holy communion and an incident that showed the young man the range of problems in the empire. The Catholic priest, a Lithuanian, did not want to forgive Victor’s sins because the boy said the prayer in Polish. He was only eased by Onufry. Young Wiktor felt for the first time, so clearly, national nationalisms awakening in the empire. They will yield a harvest in the next bloody 20th century. According to Russian nationalists, everyone was to become a Russian, grateful that they could be subjects of a good Tsar-batiuszki. Many inhabitants of the empire thought so, but of their own nationality.
Wiktor graduated 6 year primary school with a gold medal in 1892. His further education in high school was closed for him because he came from a rebellious polish clan. He was expelled after the first semester, when his papers arrived at the school, which clearly stated: “son of a disloyal insurgent.” Friday censures and praises from teachers didn’t help. After being expelled from high school, Wiktor gave tutoring to students. The money that he earned he’d give away to his mother, whose health detoriated at that time. He was learning externally, received help from his teachers, who didn’t want to waste a capable, willing to learn student. This is how he remade the program of a three year high school. He also submitted an application for admission to the exam. He was refused for obvious reasons.
In the year 1894 he turned 15 years old and from under the mother’s wing,he fell under his fathers. He spent most of his time with him. His father saw that his son was devastated by not being allowed to take the exam. After a consultation with his mother, he taught him how to shoot and they set off into the woods together. The student quickly surpassed his master. In the wilderness, he found one of his loves: hunting. Wiktor took his bitterness out on unfortunate animals. It didn't help for long. He had to find a profession. In the town, some crafts, such as wig makers, hat makers and shoemakers, were almost exclusively performed by Jews. Wiktor's father was a shoemaker, so he ordered his son to learn the profession. However, Wiktor had no patience for that. So the Komorowski returned to Minsk, to their land, a few hectares in the village of Kasynka. The father and his son built a small two-room house with utility rooms. Wiktor could finally study within his own walls, which he assured them he did carefully. However, the land did not provide any income, and he was not particularly suited to be farmer.
Wiktor tossed himself from work to unemployment, from school to the absence of it, from Catholic faith to socialism, which did not suit him, he trusted his soul, but admired his unyielding fight with the tsar. The 20th century was approaching, the first revolution was waiting right around the corner. The largest opposition party is Russia at that time - the Social Democratic Labour Party of Russia was founded in March 1,1898 (13th of March according to the new style [4]) just in Minsk [5]. Komorowski entered the dark and bloody world of party and terrorist activity - as an excellent shooter got into the militia. We don’t know its composition and action, we only have Wiktor’s certificate. The group was released by a spitzer or a provocateur, because in the fall of 1899 the entire militia went to prison in Minsk. The time has come for a terrible punishment.
One thing needs to be clarified. How deep did Wiktor’s faith go hand in hand with beliefs of the socialist-revolutionaries? Until the October revolution, socialist believers were the majority in Russia and Poland. Atheism at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries concerned a few intellectuals and survivors [6]. Wiktor also often claimed to be an Orthodox Belorussian, which undoubtedly made it easier for him to have contacts in various environments.
The prison in Minsk was no longer a circle for "72 hours". Wiktor, he claimed, was horribly tortured. And a new mystery appears. Why didn't he get a hard labour sentence? He recalls that he was visited one morning in prison by a gendarme and made an offer that was undeniable: a bullet in the head or leave the European part of Russia. He also had to sign a paper that he would not confess what happened to him in the prison cells. He signed and was allowed to return home for the duration of his treatment, where he could prepare for the road to Siberia, in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.
At this time in Wiktor's life, the mystery is chasing a mystery. It seems that he was bought out of prison with a bribe by the party. But if that was the case, why didn't he leave Russia like many revolutionaries at the time? The reason may have been a lack of knowledge of the Western language, but rather it was about Wiktor's wealth, or rather the lack of it. The costs of staying in France or England, not to mention Switzerland, were beyond his financial reach. Above all, however, the severity of the punishment. The lack of drudgedy can still be explained, but the issue of military service remains. After all, in Tsarist Russia, for a minor offence, they were taken to "kamash". He writes one sentence in his diary, important for unravelling the issue:
...In the 1900 I was 21 years old and as an older son, I was released from military service to the reserve. [7]
Only since the reform of Alexander II in 1874, the older brothers were taken and the younger ones were left to their parents when the older one served. In the case of Wiktor, another explanation exists – he was not appointed by his revolutionary activity. The state did not care that it sowed "sours" in the valuable army of the empire.
In Kolywan, Siberia, Wiktor quickly acclimatised with the Taraszkiewiczs, his father's friends. He pretended to be the proverbial "stupid Iwan" in the city. Can you believe it? Absolutely. Thousands of the proverbial "Iwans" occupied the cities behind the Urals at that time. In Russian, they were known as "Iwans who don’t remember". Despite his exile, Wiktor found himself in his element. He was young, strong, he was a great shooter, he helped on the Taraszkiewicz farm, he studied for the exam. Since he could not legitimise himself, he received a censorship from the authorities "bezopasnyj i bezputynyj brodziaga". However, the harmless, homeless tramp could, he claims, take the high school graduation exam. He passed it with the highest rating. This is how he finished his five-year junior high school.
In 1901, he moved to Nikolsk Ussyryski, and later continued his studies at the Vladyvostok Institute of Oriental Languages [8]. He could learn Chinese, Japanese, Manchurian, Korean there. Not all of them, of course, but his further fate may suggest that he was able to communicate in Manchurian and Japanese. The other subjects offered the study of economics and administration.
He also fulfilled one of his dreams, learned the martial art of jujitsu. He was probably one of the first Poles to get to know this Japanese fighting style. The Institute housed the first school of this kind in Russia, and even, as the Russian Wikipedia suggests, in the world outside of Japan. [9].
In 1904 Wiktor was drafted into the army. A war with Japan over Manchuria broke out. He served in the 3rd Siberian Rifle Regiment, as part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st East Siberian Rifle Division. Military exercises were organised in Szkotowo, where the 3rd and 4th Division regiments were grouped. A division of Siberian riflemen was installed east of the fortress of Port Arthur. In constant skirmishes, the 1st Siberian Division found itself outside the lines of the fiercely attacking enemy, fortunately avoiding the fate of the encirclement in the fortress of Port Arthur. Wiktor walked the entire battle route with the division, participating in all the important battles of Wafangou, Liaoyang or Sandepu. He saved the regiment's banner, he was awarded the medal of St. George. Unfortunately, a series of incompetence and absurd decisions of the generals wasted the valour of the soldiers. The Russians lost the war.
During the battles in Manchuria, a balloon was used as an observation. Was Wiktor then connected to this new military formation? This is an important question because he linked his future fate with military aviation. You can't be sure of that [10]. The first balloon vessel arrived at the front in June 1904. The second company was used in the attack on Sandepu in January 1905, where Wiktor fought and could see strange, round shapes floating majestically over the battlefield.
At the end of the war, he found Wiktor wounded in the infirmary. Russia lost and the sun set over the Empire of Nicholas II. Wiktor did not leave the hospital for a long time, he planned to continue his life in peace. With the orders won, his previous punishments were canceled according to his merit. He was comforted that his experience would be useful in Poland regaining independence. He had the following plans: to finish school in Vladivostok, earn money and return to the country. The new commander of the regiment was Colonel Odishelidze Ilya Zurabovich, who was friendly to him. When the Empire was burning under fire to the revolution, Victor's life paths were straightened. The colonel could not completely erase all the sins from the papers of the brave subordinate. The documentation concerning Wiktor, which the colonel from Minsk received, presented a terrible opinion about him [11]. The colonel offered him a position in the economic department of the regiment, but Wiktor abandoned military service. Treating him like a son, Colonel Odishelidze, through his friends, arranged for Wiktor to be a customs cler at the Border Station.
This is how a new stage in Wiktor's life began. He became an employee of the Customs Department at the Ministry of Finance. He did not boast of his salary, but it couldn’t be small, it was for Nicholas II, depending on the rank of an official, from 200 to 2000 rubles. There were also allowances, such as food or housing, which were often equivalent to the second salary. The most important thing is that customs officers received a generous share, even 50% of the profit, for catching the contraband. Wiktor's first task, as an excise and control official, was customs control at the Diazhnov capery. The control was quick, does not mention its fiscal victims. However, it was found at the easternmost end of Asia. He filled his hunter's caject with hunted bears, walruses, ducks, jackals and foxes. After completing the mission on Sakhalin, he returned to the Border Station with adventures.
From Wiktor's memories, the life of a trapper-official, full of adventures, clashes with the hunhuz, i.e. Chinese border bandits, stands out. Wiktor wouldn’t have been himself if he hadn’t also smuggled the fugitives, exiles from the Siberian mines. The Old World ends with the outbreak of the Great War in 1914.
Years 1914-1952
On the 1st of October 1914 (October 14 n.s.) Wiktor is appointed to the position of collegiate writer in the 4th Siberian Air Squadron (4-й Сибирский корпусной авиационный отряд) which is part of General Rennenkampf's 1st Army. The squadron had been stationed in Poland for several months, the soldiers could visit Warsaw, which Wiktor probably envied them for. In the years 1914-1915, the air unit fought in East Prussia. Wiktor analyses photos taken of enemy positions in the squadron. He also decides to become a pilot and his enthusiasm is noticed by Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the Inspector General of the Field of Aviation. In mid-1916, Komorowski was sent to the officers' aviation school in Sevastopol. It was then that his date of birth was changed from 1879 to 1887 to meet the conditions for a pilot.
He went to the beautiful Crimea with his newlywed young wife, Julia Kaczyńska, who quickly gave birth to his son Eugeniusz. They met in 1914. His wife’s family was forcibly evacuated during the great retreat of Russians in 1915. Julia decided to accompany her husband in his wartime wandering. The months of the year 1916 are filled with Wiktor’s: piloting training, marriage and new hobby - photography. He photographs not only enemy trenches, but above all, the surrounding world. He portrays the war in its obvious abomination: crashed planes, soldiers in the trenches, tired pilots, death of comrades. He does not avoid the beauty of his beloved, immortalising her in stylised photographs on the beaches of Crimea, bringing out the girlish beauty of his wife, then 16-year-old.
He completed his piloting studies by passing the exam on August 20, 1916 (September 2, N.S.) and returned to his unit. It has been stationed in Volhynia for a year, participating in the so-called Brusilov's offensive. Wiktor joins his fighting colleagues. He can fly in combat and does so i great style. The result: 6 enemy aircraft were shot down [12] in 50 combat missions, each lasting more than two hours. He is honoured with: Orders of St. Anna III class, St. Anna IV class, St. Stanisław III class [13].
During the war, he flies in different planes. From the box-like Furman to the already highly efficient Nieuports. Even before going to Sevastopol, he takes amazing pictures of the bomber "Ilya Muromiec", a real Flying Fortress of World War I. It’s the year 1916, summer is in full swing, and preparations are underway to equip the aircraft for bombing and photographing Austrian army fortifications ahead of the offensive [14].
Since 1918, after the October Revolution, Wiktor has been fighting the Whites. He organises the Red Aviation in Vitebsk and Tver. He becomes the commander of the 3rd Tver squadron, later renamed Moskiewska. In his monograph of the Komorowski family, Jerzy Kirszak speculates that Wiktor Komorowski's frequent visits to Moscow at that time, where he consulted on organisational matters of squadrons, could have been used by Borys Pasternak to create the demonic figure of Viktor Komarowski in Doctor Zhivago. We know from Russian sources that he sometimes appears as Komarowski. There is something to it, especially since this unflattering ‘Bulharin-like’ portrayal of Poles was, unfortunately, popular in Russia [15].
In 1919, under unclear circumstances, Wiktor left the Red Army and in the summer, probably ill, arrived with his wife in his hometown Ksynka. Let's remember, at that time he fought only with the Whites, who seemed to be worse enemies for Poland than the Reds. Wiktor also wanted to get into the 1st Polish Corps, unfortunately, under the difficult conditions of the time, he was unable to do so. At the same time, he gathered a guerilla detachment near Minsk and successfully fought the Bolsheviks in the midst of the historical turmoil that engulfed the borders of the Republic of Poland at that time. He also has a son, Stefan. Unfortunately, his son Eugeniusz, like many children in those days, did not live to see his return to the country.
When the Polish army finally reached the Minsk region, Wiktor's personal belongings were confiscated. For some time, he was also suspected of Bolshevism. As a result of the recommendation of his fellow airmen from the tsarist times, however, on August 14, 1919, he was assigned to the 4th reconnaissaice air squadron stationed in Minsk of Lithuania. On the German fighters Albatros C.X and DIII, he supported the fight of the 2nd Legion Infantry Division. However, he was unable to build good relations with superiors from Małopolska. Characterological conflicts of warriors from various partitions were not always short-wited at that time. From September 15, 1919, Komorowski was replaced by Lt. Jurkiewicz as a squadron commander and function until November 16 this year [16].
When the 4th squadron was retreated to the rear of the front to make up for losses, Wiktor, in order to continue fighting, at his own request, became the pilot of the new 39th air squadron, which had just returned to Poland with Józef Haller's army from France. The squadron was armed with Breugets XIV A2 bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Once it took on a Polish character, it was renamed the 16th Intelligence Scadra. This squadron took part in the victorious Kiev offensive in the spring of 1920 and attacked Bolshevik transports, trains and cavalry [17]. Earlier, in the absence of air bombs, soldiers converted cannon shells into them, which was Komorowski's idea [18]. He describes it as follows:
The work was difficult, because Warsaw did not provide us with bombs, and to enable the bombing squadron to work, I sent Ensign Ciechoński to the artillery park for cannon shells, he brought 100 pieces, from which we made 50 bombs and in the following way: we took the boards taken out of the platforms from the station, they cut them to a length of 75 cm., one end was cut narrowly and the other thinly and flat, to the narrow and grooved end for the shells they tied two shells with wire so that the weight flat end of the board served as the tail of a bomb, they screwed fuses into the shells and dropped them from the cabin of the plane. With such makeshift bombs, they bombed two armoured trains at the Czudnów station, and by damaging the track, they would turn one back and this train fell into the hands of our troops, and the other managed to escape. Columns of enemy troops were successfully bombed with these bombs during the offensive on Kiev... [19]
On May 1, 1920, Victor's happy streak as an aviator ended. His machine, damaged by rifle fire, had to make an emergency landing. Despite breaking several ribs and general bruises, Wiktor remained in the unit. Already on May 18, replacing the commander in the squadron, despite the express ban of the doctor, he flew further, among others to bomb the Bolshevik armoured train at the station in Human. As he assured himself - the offensive was in full and there were no pilots [20]. Jak intensywne były wówczas walki, niech świadczy fakt, że w eskadrze został jeden sprawny samolot. Resztki eskadry zostały oczywiście wycofane z frontu.
The fact that there was one working aircraft left in the squadron how intense the fighting was at the time. The remnants of the squadron were of course withdrawn from the front. In June 1920 Wiktor became an aviation technical officer in the 3rd Army. At the new position, he prepared aircraft and equipment needed by aircraft units. The Poles were able to stop the Bolshevik storm and in a series of magnificent victories, starting from the Vistula, push the Red Army behind the Nemen River. Victor no longer had permission to fly, but in his habit again pretended that he did not hear the doctor. Stubborn, he could not refuse a few farewell shots at the enemy. Unfortunately, his earlier injuries were renewed. On October 7, 1920, 12 days after the final victory over the Nemun, he was sent to the Ujazdowski hospital in Warsaw for a few months [21].
In March 1921, the Treaty of Riga was finally signed between Poland and Soviet Russia. Unfortunately, Belarusian territories were divided. Kasynka, the cradle of the Komorowski family, ended up on the Soviet side. A disheartened Wiktor continued briefly to fly as a pilot, holding the rank of lieutenant in the 3rd Air Regiment in Ławica. From February to March 1922, he served as a technical instructor at the School of Aviation Mechanics in Bydgoszcz. Disappointed by the direction of political changes and in conflict with his superiors, he left military service for exactly one year, from April 1, 1922, to April 1, 1923, to work in agriculture. However, he did not have a natural inclination for farming [22]. He was saved from near bankruptcy by a promotion to captain, with a retroactive effect from June 1, 1919, and the Virtuti Militari V Class order, which he received on October 4, 1923, from the Chief of State, Marshal Józef Piłsudski. In 1928, Viktor was again awarded the prestigious Field Pilot Badge, granted only to pilots who conducted combat flights during the struggle for independence [23].
During this period, both good and bad events marked Viktor’s family life. In 1923, along with the prestigious order, he welcomed a second—technically third, counting Eugeniusz, who had died in infancy—son, Jerzy. His joy over the birth of a child was marred by the news of his father’s death. Onufry passed away in March 1924 at the venerable age of 104, having lived peacefully until the end in Kasynka. Viktor, however, was unable to attend his funeral. Two months later, another tragedy struck Viktor. Due to a misdiagnosis by a military doctor, who turned out to be a veterinarian, he lost his young son, Stefan. Comfort during this period of continuous mourning came with Julia’s new pregnancy, and on November 29, 1924, she gave birth to a healthy son, Bogdan; two years later, she bore another son, named Ryszard.
Despite approaching retirement age, Viktor remained actively involved in military aviation. He returned to the 3rd Air Regiment as a pilot. However, to fly the new aircraft, he had to complete an additional course at the Higher Pilot School in Grudziądz. From January 22 to May 1924, he commanded the 5th Aviation Squadron, and later Viktor was assigned as the commander of the airfield in Toruń, where the 4th Air Regiment was stationed. Viktor would remain tied to the beautiful city of Copernicus until the end of the Second Polish Republic. The Komorowski family settled at 14 Bartosza Głowackiego Street.
After the May Coup of 1926, which brought Józef Piłsudski’s Sanation government to power, the new head of aviation, Colonel Pilot Ludomił Rayski, began ‘refreshing the aviation staff.’ Wiktor, who was older than indicated in his documents, did not avoid the purge. As an officer of the 4th Air Regiment, he was placed on paid leave and assigned to the Central Aviation Depot. On the last day of 1928, he was officially retired [24].
In civilian life, he turned his attention to improving agricultural mechanization, retaining his technical flair from his military days. After many attempts, he patented a device in 1933 for hatching chicks, called the ‘Wikoma’ incubator, which was cheaper than imported Western models [25]. Unfortunately, in the 1930s, the bitterness of retirement was compounded by a formal-procedural refusal to award him the Cross of Independence[ [26].
In September 1939, he rejoined his 4th Air Regiment as a reservist, and with the reserve unit, along with his wife and sons, he was evacuated to Kovel. On September 17, he crossed into Romania with his eldest son, Jerzy, while his wife and two other sons, Bogdan and the youngest, Ryszard, remained in the occupied country. This was how Wiktor found himself once again in exile. A small comfort in defeat was the kind treatment of the Romanians, who placed internment camps for pilots in Babadag and Slava Rusa, providing conditions that were comfortable for military camps. He briefly served as the deputy and then as the commander in the officer camp at Slava. With his duties not being overly demanding, he began to write memoirs of his life. The occupation of Romania by the Red Army in 1944 was a nominal ‘liberation.’ Viktor was arrested by the NKVD and remained in Russian hands for nearly two years. It was only in August 1946 that he was released from a camp near Budapest. By then, he had learned that Julia had survived the occupation with their sons, but she had decided to divorce him and marry Wacław Sikorski. The Sikorski family settled in Walbrzych.
After seven years of hardship, in 1946, Wiktor returned to the new Poland. He chose to settle in Karpacz, a picturesque town in Lower Silesia, where his youngest son, Ryszard, was studying to become a forester. From 1947 onward, Wiktor lived on a modest pension. He resided in the lower part of a house called “Mała Łomnica” at 4 Strażacka Street. In late 1948, he found a job as an administrator of vacation homes.
He fell in love again, and on April 16, 1950, he had a daughter, Larysa, with Bronisława Łauszkin, a resident of Karpacz. He also became a grandfather. His son Jerzy, after returning from Romania, married Jadwiga Skibniewska, and they had a son, Ludwik. However, after his wife left him, Jerzy moved in with his father and brother in Karpacz. Bogdan lived in Wrocław, where he continued his studies at the Wrocław University of Technology.
During the dark times of Stalinism, Bogdan Komorowski and his friend Włodzimierz Turski smuggled goods and people across the border in the Karkonosze Mountains. Post-war hardships created a demand for many goods, which they sold on the black market. However, smuggling people, who were escaping communist Poland, and Western agents entering Poland, was even more dangerous. After being forced to flee the country due to government pursuit, Bogdan was recruited by American intelligence. Alongside Włodzimierz Turski, who had already fled, they returned to Poland to smuggle underground literature and investigate uranium mines in Kowary and airports in Lower Silesia. They involved Jerzy in their operations, who created plans of the mines and airports for them. Unfortunately, they were captured in April 1951. Only Bogdan managed to escape again and reach Vienna. Jerzy Komorowski and Włodzimierz Turski were sentenced to death, and the sentences were carried out on April 15, 1952, at Prison No. 1 on Kleczkowska Street in Wrocław [27]. The investigation also extended to Wiktor Komorowski. He was arrested on April 16, 1951, along with several others, including Julia and Ryszard. The indictment accused Wiktor of serious offenses, including possessing firearms and aiding the border crossing of individuals considered enemies of the state. In a closed trial without legal representation, he was sentenced to one and a half years in prison. The court needed only two days to issue a verdict, with a panel led by Captain Zygmunt Kubrycht. After the verdict, Wiktor was transferred from Detention Prison No. 2 to the ‘hellish’ Prison No. 1 on Kleczkowska Street in Wrocław. Prison records reveal a sudden decline in Wiktor’s health. As an elderly man, he likely did not survive the harsh interrogations. He outlived his son Jerzy by only a few months, passing away in the same prison on August 23, 1952. He was buried at Osobowicki Cemetery next to his son. In a bitter tone, the prison doctor listed lumbago, emphysema, and asthma as the cause of death on Wiktor’s medical report [28]. Unfortunately, Bogdan was also captured in January 1953. The investigation quickly revealed his work for American and British intelligence. He was executed on August 5, 1954, in Mokotów Prison in Warsaw. Like many victims of communism, Bogdan’s grave is unknown. It is worth noting that Bogdan Komorowski’s arrest was initiated by the Stalinist prosecutor, Lt. Col. Helena Wolińska.
After the trials, Wiktor’s wife, Bronisława, lived in Upper Karpacz (then called Bierutowice) with her five children (four from a previous marriage). Until her death, she carried the stigma of being the wife of a “bandit.” Her daughter, Larysa, also faced public cruelty, even into the 1990s, when a certain “Karol Naiwny” defamed her father in the magazine Panda. She quickly left Karpacz for Wrocław.
Julia Komorowska (now Sikorska) lived in Wrocław with her youngest son, Ryszard, who was released from prison in 1954. After the October Thaw, he became actively involved in scouting as the leader of the Aviation Scouting Center. He taught young pilots in the “Błyskawica” troop, passing on a love of aviation that he had inherited from his father. He died one year before the regime change, on February 16, 1988, and was buried next to his father and brother at Osobowicki Cemetery.
Jerzy’s only son, Ludwik, moved to Wrocław in the 1970s. It was not until 1990 that he met Larysa Gruszecka, the daughter of Wiktor and Bronisława Łauszkin. They had lived in the same city for nearly 20 years without knowing of each other.
In the late 1980s, efforts began to preserve the cemetery plots of Stalinist murder victims. Through human determination and courage, these graves were saved. In 1990, at the opening of an exhibition commemorating this event, Larysa and Ludwik met in an extraordinary atmosphere. In February 1990, the family’s appeal for Wiktor’s exoneration succeeded, and the Supreme Court of the Third Polish Republic annulled the Stalinist court’s verdict [29].
Thus, history came full circle, bringing a more fitting conclusion to Wiktor’s life than the dubious fame of the character Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago.