Stefan Bałuk

Stefan Bałuk
A bust photograph of an older white man; he has little hair, is wearing large glasses and looking into the camera unsmiling.
Bałuk on 27 August 2008
Born(1914-01-15)15 January 1914
Died29 January 2014(2014-01-29) (aged 100)
Resting placePowązki Military Cemetery
Occupations
Military career
AllegiancePolish Underground State
ServiceHome Army
RankBrigadier general
Unit
Conflicts
Awards

Stefan Bałuk (15 January 1914 – 29 January 2014) was a Polish general and photographer.

World War II

Bałuk in 1944

Born on 15 January 1914, Bałuk was a law student at the University of Warsaw at the onset of World War II. After joining the Home Army, Bałuk fought in the Invasion of Poland, and then transferred to the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade. Bałuk received parachute commando training in Glasgow before being dropped back into Poland in April 1944 as a Silent Unseen. Bałuk "engaged in the production of false documents for Polish intelligence officers, made photo documentation of German military installations in Warsaw and took part in the Warsaw Uprising."[1] After his release from Nazi prisoner-of-war camp Oflag II-D in Großborn, Bałuk traveled to his mother's and sister's home in Praga; he found their house destroyed, but with a note saying they had fled to safety.[2]

During his World War II service, Bałuk was promoted to the (21st-century equivalent) rank of brigadier general and awarded both the Virtuti Militari[1] and the Cross of the Home Army.[3]

Post-war

After the war, Bałuk was imprisoned by the Soviet Union from November 1945 to March 1947.[3] He later worked as a taxicab driver and took up photography as a hobby—publishing several photo albums. In 2008, Bałuk published his memoir: Byłem Cichociemnym (released in English as Silent and Unseen: I Was a WWII Special Ops Commando).[1] Bałuk died on 29 January 2014.[3]

He was posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by Polish President Bronisław Komorowski, and later buried in Powązki Military Cemetery.[3] In May 2023, Bałuk was one of 19 insurgents honored by Warsaw and the Warsaw Rising Museum with a tree planted in Insurgents Park in Wola.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Poland's unsung war-time hero turns 100". Radio Poland. 15 January 2014. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020. General Stefan Bałuk, one of the last living members of the elite special-operations paratroopers of Poland's WWII Home Army celebrates his 100th birthday today.
  2. ^ Richie, Alexandra (2013). "Conclusion". Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Warsaw Uprising. New York City: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 642. ISBN 978-0-374-28655-2.
  3. ^ a b c d "Poland's war-time hero laid to rest". Radio Poland. 5 February 2014. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020. General Stefan Bałuk, one of the last living members of the elite special-operations paratroops of the Home Army known as 'Cichociemni' (Silent and Unseen), has been buried at Warsaw's Powazki Military Cemetery.
  4. ^ Piotrowski, Miłosz (15 May 2023). "Zasadzono kolejne drzewa w parku Powstańców. Będą przypominać o bohaterach 1944 roku" [More trees were planted in the Insurgents Park. They will remind us of the heroes of 1944] (in Polish). Radio Kolor. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023. W parku Powstańców na Woli zasadzono kolejnych 19 drzew, mają one przypominać o bohaterach Powstania Warszawskiego. To już trzecia edycja wspólnej akcji miasta i Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego.