Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz, hero of Poland , Britain and Greece

On 7-8 January 2013, the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression together with the Polish Embassy in Athens and the local authorities of the Athenian district of Kesariani, organised a ceremony in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the death of Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz. On 8th September 1942, the Germans surrounded Iwanow-Szajnowicz in a house at 3, Kioutachia in Athens where he hid after his second daring escape from the island of Faros. He was given a triple death sentence on 2nd December 1942. On 4th January 1943, he was stood before a firing squad at the shooting range in Kesariani (currently a district of Athens). Szajnowicz made his final attempt to escape immediately before his execution; wounded, he was dragged to the spot where he was to meet his death in a hail of bullets.

This anniversary ceremony is dedicated to an outstanding Polish and British agent, a consummate practitioner in the art of deception. His activities cost the German Kriegsmarine two U-boats – the U-133 and U-372, and the Luftwaffe dozens of aircraft in July 1942. The ceremony began on 7th January with a high mass celebrated in the Polish parish church in Athens by the Rev. Lt.-Col. Wiesław Okoń of the Polish Army Chaplaincy-in-the-Field. During the mass, ecumenical prayers were recited by the Rev. Lt.-Col. Daniel Popowicz of the Polish Army Orthodox Chaplaincy and Rev. Cmdr. Marcin Pilch of the Evangelical Army Chaplaincy.

An official ceremony took place on 8th January 2013, at the site of the former military shooting range in Kesariani, with the participation of veterans of struggles for independence, Siberian deportees, Wanda Nowicka – the Deputy Speaker of the Lower House of the Polish Parliament and Chair of the Polish-Greek Parliamentary Group, Lower House Deputy Grzegorz Schetyna, Minister Marek Bucior - Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Jan Stansław Ciechanowski – Acting Head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression, Upper House Senator Barbara Borys-Damięcka, Lower House deputies: Ligia Krajewska, Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, Jarosław Sellin, Michał Szczerba, the Polish Ambassador to Greece - Maciej Krych, the Director of the Prime Minister’s Office - Rafał Hykawy (who was representing the Prime Minister), the Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance - Agnieszka Rudzińska, the Director-General of the National Archives - Prof. Władysław Stępniak, the Director of the Museum of Polish History - Robert Kostro, the Director of the Central Military Archive - Andrzej Czesław Żak, and representatives of Poland’s two scouting organisations – ZHP and ZHR. The Polish Army was represented by: the Operational Commander of the Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Edward Gruszka, Maj.Gen. Romuald Ratajczak (who represented the Chief of General Staff), the Deputy Commander of the Land Forces - Maj.Gen. Andrzej Malinowski, the Commander-in-Chief of the Military Police - Maj.Gen. Mirosław Rozmus, the Commander of the Garrison of the City of Warsaw Brigadier-General Wiesław Gruziński, the President of the Association of UN Peace Mission Veterans Brig.-Gen. Stanisław Woźniak, Commander of the Military Intelligence Training Centre Col. Eugeniusz Szczęśniak. The Greek side was represented by: Minister Photini Tomai-Constantopolou of the Greek Foreign Office, Leonarda Lambrianidu - Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz’s niece, and Antonis Kambakas – the Mayor of Kesariani. A letter from the President of Poland Bronisław Komorowski, addressed to the ceremony’s participants was read out by Lower House Deputy Grzegorz Schetyna. “It is thanks to people like him that victory was possible in a war in which the stake was the fate of Europe and of the world. Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz dedicated his exceptional talents and skills to this cause, and finally he gave his life for it. The valuable information that he transmitted to the allies and the daring deception initiatives that he carried out in cooperation with the Greek resistance movement, were severe blows for the German and Italian occupants” – wrote President Komorowski.

In his commemorative speech, the Acting Head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression - Jan Stanisław Ciechanowski recalled that in the period of the Soviet-imposed Polish Peoples’ Republic, attempts were made to harness the memory of Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz to serve the needs of the regime’s propaganda. Dr. Ciechanowski explained: “The lie was fabricated that Iwanow-Szajnowicz was rejected by the Polish army because he was the son of a Russian. It was nothing of the sort. Upon the outbreak of World War II, Iwanow-Szajnowicz was deployed in Greece to organise the evacuation of Polish officers and soldiers, and next he became a Polish intelligence agent. In the end, the Poles detailed him to serve the British, who were better placed to make full use of his skills in intelligence and deception work…Throughout the whole of his life he considered himself a Pole. His mother inscribed the message on his Athenian gravestone that he died for Poland. Who better than she could know what he fought for and gave up his life for.” Dr. Ciechanowski went on to remind his audience that in December 2011, his Office, together with the Greek Embassy in Szajnowicz’s home town, Warsaw, organised a commemorative ceremony on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of his birth.

In his speech, Antonis Kambakas, the Mayor of Kesariani, emphasised Iwanow-Szajnowicz’s attachment to Greece. “We have gathered here today to commemorate an important hero who stood up to the Nazis and did not hesitate to sacrifice his life in pursuit of that aim. What we have here is a hero who first and foremost was a sportsman – an excellent swimmer, who decided to sacrifice his career in order to fight. He decided to fight, and to sacrifice his life. What was characteristic of him was his love for two homelands; his last words uttered on 4 January 1943 at the shooting range in Kesariani were: Long live Poland! Long live Greece!”.

Next to speak was Leonarda Lambrianidu, the daughter of Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz’s half-brother, who thanked the organisers for remembering her uncle. She emphasised that he was in fact the hero of three nations.

After these speeches, the Representative Company of the Polish Army fired a salvo of honour following which wreaths were laid at the foot of the monument and the bugler’s lament “Sleep dear comrade, sleep” (“Śpij kolego”) was played.

The next port of call for the Polish delegation was the Nikea district cemetery, where the remains of Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz lie. The Deputy Speaker of the Lower House Wanda Nowicka spoke briefly, underlining Iwanow-Szajnowicz’s valour, which should be an inspiration to the further development of Polish-Greek relations. This was followed by ecumenical prayers after which Jan Stanisław Ciechanowski lit a commemorative candle on the grave of Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz.

This Polish-Greek ceremony was concluded with a formal dinner party at the invitation of the Head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression.

Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz, one of the most famous allied agents during World War II, was born in Warsaw on 11 December 1911. He was the son of a Russian father and a Polish mother. His parents divorced when he was several years old. His mother married a second time, a Greek, and emigrated together with her son to Thessaloniki. She brought him up in a spirit of patriotism. In 1935, Szajnowicz acquired Polish citizenship. In the 1930s he chalked up numerous sporting victories and was among the best of Europe’s swimmers. He represented Poland in water polo. He studied agrotechnology in Belgium and France, where he was awarded the title of engineer. He could speak six foreign languages.

https://www.gov.pl/web/greece/tribute-to-jerzy-iwanow-szajnowicz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvQRW4lN0rk