Piotr Ścibior 1888 - 1942

Born 10.10.1888 in Karmanowice
Died 26.8.1942 in Mauthausen

Biography

Piotr Ścibior was born on 10 October 1888, in Karmanowice, in the region of Lublin. Piotr was a military officer and a veteran of three wars: World War I, The Polish–Soviet War and World War II. He was a front-line man and always fought for the independence of Poland. Joining the I Brigade of the Polish Legion (Legiony Polskie) on 1 August 1915. During 1915-1916 he was twice wounded and hospitalized. In civil serving as a police officer in Chełm, between the wars up until WWII. In the fall of 1939, he went to the front with his son Tadeusz. After the fall of the defense of Poland and the occupation by Germany, Piotr continued to work as a police officer. He always refused to cooperate and helped the people persecuted by the Germans until he was arrested by the Gestapo. He was transferred to concentration camp Mauthausen on 21 June 1942. According to the death registers of Mauthausen Piotr died on 26 August 1942 due to “Herzschlag” (i.e. ”stroke”). After he was murdered in Mauthausen, the Gestapo brought his ashes to the widow, Franciszka, with intention to also arrest their children who were fighting against the occupation in the ranks of the resistance movement. The children continued to fight for Poland only to see the arrival of a new occupier. My grandmother, Zofia, always missed her father, a lot… My grandmother's cousins were executed during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. Piotr would certainly have been involved in the fighting in Warsaw if he had only been able to. The following poem is written by Józefa Radiszyńska (1921-2002), who fought in Warsaw in 1944 – Piotr fought for the freedom of Warsaw in 1920 against the Soviets. I think the poem reflects well on the feelings of all those who were fighting and fell for Poland, also those who survived.

 

„’Ojczyzna’

 

Dotykam ciebie

drżącymi rękami

Polsko, wyrosła

z ciężkiego Podziemia.

 

Jesteś wciąż ze mną.

Na swe zmartwychwstanie

wybrałaś miasto moje

i płonący Sierpień…

 

Jesteś wciąż ze mną

żywa i tak jasna,

że oczy mrużąc

pod suchy trzask kuli,

trwam w Twej bliskości

i żyję w Twym blasku,

który zwycięży

i oddali ból.

 

Tobie dziś płoną

bitewne pożary

i ranni krwią przelaną

dziś Tobie się modlą –

Ziemio, znaczona

stygmatem ofiary

Ojczyzno, własna

jak ostatni oddech…"

 

Jani Suominen, Great-grandchild

 

 

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