03.VIII.2016

Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz Meets with "Gryf" “I would like to thank you for your continuing efforts in telling the world what the history of Poland and the history of the Warsaw Uprising really looked like.

There are not enough words of gratitude to express our thanks for this,” said the Minister of National Defense Antoni Macierewicz during a meeting with Janusz Brochwicz-Lewiński, nom de guerre “Gryf,” (Eng: “Griffin”) a soldier of the Home Army (AK) of the “Parasol” Battalion.

The Spokesperson for the Defence Ministry Bartłomiej Misiewicz also took part in the meeting.

Brigadier General Janusz Brochwicz-Reynolds “Gryf” spoke about the fate of his battalion during the meeting, about what had happened in the Wola District of the city, about the history of the Michla Petite Palace and about his return to Poland.

Reminiscing about his return to Poland, General Janusz Brochwicz-Reynolds “Gryf” stressed that even a dozen years ago or so one could witness in certain parts of the capital city that people actually began “forgetting about these events, which took place in 1944 in the Wola District of Warsaw.”

“When I came here in 2002, there wasn’t even any sign, not to mention a monument commemorating these events. No one knew what had happened and where. I met with tour guide leaders. I told them what and where events took place. I tried to talk about those past events during excursions. We fought for every stone in the city, which commemorates the Uprising,” said the general during the meeting.

“I am not a great or famous man, but I joined the British army, with a tendency to further continue the fight against Bolshevism. I was passed on to the British. I was a guardian of King George VI. From there, I joined the secret service. I worked for British intelligence for 25 years. I performed tasks, during which one mistake meant a loss of a life,” said Brigadier General Janusz Brochwicz-Lewiński about himself.

“The memory of the Warsaw Uprising needs to become specific—very tangible and concrete. You have to show the individual parts, individual places, individual battles that took place. The Warsaw Uprising

Page 1 consisted of thousands of battles, which are often unknown, which do not exist in the public consciousness. Often, as you say, today's Warsaw inhabitants, which by far is made up of newcomers to the city, has little awareness of what these streets looked like, what had happened here during the Uprising. This history needs to be rediscovered and shown anew,” said the Defence Minister during the meeting.

As the Defence Minister pointed out during the interview with Brigadier General Janusz Brochwicz-Lewiński “Gryf,” actual places need to be identified that will speak to those times and about the drama of the war.

At the end of the meeting, Brigadier General Janusz Brochwicz-Lewiński “Gryf” presented Defence Minister Antoni Macierewiczow with a book. “I hope that this reading will show you what I experienced and will show you my existence. This book describes my life, from the war (…) I hope that it will show you my history and that of the Warsaw Uprising.”

The Minister presented the General with a commemorative gorget.

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Brigadier General Janusz Brochwicz-Lewiński made his mark on history on 4–5 August 1944, in his defense of the building complex “Getreide Industrie-Werke,” i.e., the mill, pasta factory, warehouses and the “Palace,” in reality, a single-storey house of Karol Michla at Wolska St. No. 40. For the battle, he was awarded the Cross of Valor (Pol.: Krzyż Walecznych). From August 6th, he commanded a group of a score of soldiers as a “delaying group,” which was to defend the area of Młynarska-Żytnia Streets. On August 8th, he was severely wounded in the jaw during fighting in the Evangelical Cemetery in the Wola District of Warsaw, which halted him from further fighting. After the capitulation of the Warsaw Uprising, he found himself in a transitional camp Lamsdorf (Łambinowice), and then sent to the POW camp in Murnau. After the liberation of the camp by the Americans, he went to the hospital, where he stayed until February 1946.

After the liberation of the camp by the Americans, he remained in the West, and was soon allocated to the Reserve Brigade of the Independent Parachute Brigade (Pol.: Ośrodek Zapasowy Samodzielnej Brygady Spadochronowej), from which in September 1945, he was assigned to a hospital in Scotland. There he underwent serious jaw surgery and a five month rehabilitation period. In February 1946, he left the hospital and later remained in Great Britain. He joined the British Army (3rd Royal Regiment of Hussars), and served among others as a guard to His Majesty George VI. He also served in Palestine and Sudan as an intelligence officer. After leaving the army, he was quartermaster and administrative officer for 15 years in one of the British military schools. In July 2002, he returned to Poland.

He was awarded the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari (Pol.: Krzyż Srebrny Orderu Wojennego Virtuti Militari), the Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland (Pol.: Krzyż Komandorski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski), the Officer's Cross of the Rebirth of Poland (Pol.: Krzyż Oficerski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski), the Cross of Valor (Pol.: Krzyż Walecznych)—twice, the Partisan Cross (Pol.: Krzyż Partyzancki), the Cross of the Home Army (Pol.: Krzyż Armii Krajowej), the Cross of the Warsaw Uprising (Pol.: Warszawski Krzyż Powstańczy), the Cross of the September Campaign (Pol.: Krzyż Kampanii Wrześniowej), and the Gold Medal of Merit for National Defense (Pol.: Złoty Medal za Zasługi dla Obronności Kraju).

Page 2 Biography: www.1944.pl

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