Jan Karczewski 1901 - 1942

Born 16.5.1901 in Montowo
Died 31.10.1942 in Gusen

Biography

From the life and work of Jan Karczewski

1901

Born in Montów, in the Lubawa poviat (today the Nowe Miasto poviat) in the working family of Teofil Karczewski, on 16 May, Jan was born, a future teacher and headmaster of the school in Płąchawy. John had four brothers – Bernard, Damazy, Józef, Wincenty, Franciszek – and a sister – Wanda. Jan’s parents moved to Tuchola in Pomerania. They settled on ul. Krzywa 24.

1920

Jan, as a student and volunteer, took part in the war with the Bolsheviks. He served in the front office from 20 July 1920 to 15 January 1921.

1924

In 1924, he graduated from a teacher's seminary in Tuchola, passing the secondary school-leaving examination. He started his teaching career in Unisław and Różnów.

1925

Jan Karczewski’s service in the Third Platoon of the School Battalion Teacher Company in DOK VIII.

1930

From 1930 to 1939 he was the head of the one-class Public School in Płąchawy.

19..

Three daughters were born from the marriage of Jan and Stanisława – Jadwiga, Halina and Irena. Daughter Halina remembered her father this way; “He was very gentle. Friendly to people with whom he often contacted …”
Living in Płąchawy, he was not limited to school work. He was active in the Teachers’ Union and the Western Union. He liked sport and music on the violin.

1930

On 30 July, Jan Karczewski completed a course for teachers in Toruń on Polish with the topics Romantic epoch in Polish literature and descriptive voting. The course lasted 120 hours. Lectures were held by doctors from Lublin and Krakow.

1939

After returning from the September campaign, Jan Karczewski was arrested in his school apartment in Płąchawy and transported to Chełmno, where he was kept in the church together with others. Stanisław’s wife tried to ask one “important” German for intercession. So, he gave her a letter of recommendation to the SS command. At home with Karczewski’s sister Wanda, they peeled off the envelope in which the “good German” wrote to arrest her and her children and send them to a concentration camp. Some people from the church were taken to Klamer for execution. Karczewski was later moved to a cellar, where Stanisław’s wife served him food through the window. When she received the information that if she signed a request among the Germans among the Germans to release at least two Germans, she would release her husband. She tried – he did not find a single brave and fair!
Jan was later taken to Torun forts. Then there were several prison places and finally on May 30, 1940 he was sent to Mauthausen. He was registered under the number 1060.

1942

On 5 November, the registry office of Mauthausen II, the Upper Danube, announced that the teacher Jan Karczewski, who had lived in Chełmno on Vistula St. 7 on the Młyńska 7 street, was born on 16.05.1901 in Montów, poviat. Lubawa died here on 31.10.1942. According to a later account of a neighborhood teacher, Lisewski was murdered in block 11. Someone returned from the camp after the war said that Jan Karczewski was drowned many times in a barrel of water for picking up a lying carrot and putting it in his pocket. Then he was ordered to run along the queue track and a cart with stones was let down from above. He was still alive when he was thrown into a pile of corpses.
On 25 June 1943, the camp administration informed his wife Stanisława Karczewska that the remaining items after Jan Karczewski were not subject to shipping. The Germans returned only the gold ring of Karczewski.

The Karczewski family paid their patriotic tribute, brother Jan Józef died in 1939 as a soldier in defense of Bydgoszcz.

1987

A plaque dedicated to the memory of Jan Karczewski with the following text was unveiled on the front of the primary school in Płąchawy – In memory of Jan Karczewski, a great patriot and social activist, activist of the Western Borderlands Defense Association and a soldier of the September campaign, who was murdered by the German in Mauthausen-Gusen on 31 October 1942. “Płąchaw Society 1987”
 

Janusz Kowalski, grandson

Location In room