Wacław Ołdakowski 1896 - 1945

Born 10.11.1896
Died 25.1.1945 in Gusen

Biography

Wacław Ołdakowski, son of Tadeusz and Marianna, was born in Krzeczkowo Mianowskie on 10 November 1896. He went to a school in Rosochate Kościelne. Prior to the First World War he attended a Varsovian secondary school on Freta 10 street. Due to the outbreak of the war in 1914 his education paused to be resumed in 1918 in Ostrów Mazowiecka. Later he became a teacher in a country school nearby. After some years he moved to Warsaw. The second World War began. During the German occupation of Poland (1939–1945) he kept in close contact with doctor Franciszek Sienicki and Balbina Przeździecka – a teacher and an officer of Armia Krajowa (the Home Army, the biggest resistance movement in the European theater of operations). Wacław Ołdakowski’s superior knowledge of German tongue enabled him to find work in German offices. In 1944 he was arrested by Germans and transported to the concentration camp Mauthausen Gusen, Austria. His prisoner number was 95664. The prisoners met with tasks and living conditions which drained their strength in body and in spirit. Few survived countless days of hard work in the quarry, accompanied by physical and mental torture from the overseers. The last letter to his brother, my father Bolesław Ołdakowski (a prisoner at Dachau concentration camp), was written by dictation to a colleague, due to severely damaged health. Soon after this message Wacław Ołdakowski died on 25 January 1945. He was buried in a mass grave at the site.

Maciej Całka, nephew

Location In room