Adam Borzobohaty | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 December 1909 |
| Died | 22 August 1992 (aged 82) |
| Other names | Jelita, Pietuszok |
| Occupation | Agricultural engineer |
| Known for | Military activities in the Armed Forces and Home Army |
| Awards |     |
Adam Borzobohaty (1909-1992) was a Polish agricultural engineer and an artillery second lieutenant in the Polish and Home Army.
Adam was the son of Maria Dominika née Szrejber (1873-1942), second wife of Konstanty Franciszek. His father was a doctor from the polish noble Jelia family, who settled in 1921 in Nowa Wilejka, 10 km east of Vilnius. During WWI, the family was evacuated to Sumy (today in Ukraine).
Adam studied at the "Saint Casimir" Secondary School in Nowa Wilejka.[1] He then moved to Poznań to get education on agriculture at the University (Polish: Uniwersytet im. Adam Mickiewicz) from 1930 to 1934.[2] After graduation, he worked at the Vilnius Chamber of Agriculture.
In 1929, he volunteered for military service: after his training at the "Volhynian Artillery Reserve Cadet School" in Włodzimierz Wołyński, he got the rank of platoon cadet and was assigned to the 1st division of the 19th Light Artillery Regiment in Nowa Wilejka.
Adam was appointed to the rank of second lieutenant (Polish: Podporuchik) with seniority on 1 January 1933.[3]
In 1935, Borzobohaty transferred to Wesoły Dwór (English: Happy palace) -the family estate- near Zdzięcioł in today's Belarus and worked there as a district agronomist.[4]
At the outset of WWII, Adam fought in 1939 with the 19th Light Artillery Regiment incorporated into the 19thInfantry Division of the "Prusy" army. As such, he followed war actions all along the path: Wieluń-Piotrków Trybunalski-Skarżysko-Kamienna-Świętokrzyskie Mountains.
He escaped capture and joined the fights in the capital under the command of Lieutenant colonel Pełczyński.[2] After the capitulation, he moved to Vilnius, where he arrived on 15 October.
Borzobohaty sheltering place was soon occupied by Soviet forces, as a result of the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. He then moved underground, contacting Captain Antoni Olechnowicz, aka Pohorecki.
After the outbreak of the German-Soviet war, Adam, known now as Jelita or Pietuszok, gathered with his family from Vilnius to "Wesoły Dwór", where he continued his underground activities:[2]
On July 1942, he was arrested by the Gestapo but immediately escaped: under a presumed name, Adam started to work in the village of Szumsk in the Wilno-Troki County.[4]
He was still active in the underground fight, commanding a bicycle-platoon of the 10th Home Army Brigade. As such, he took part in early July 1944 in the Operation Ostra Brama, an attempt by the Home Army to take over Vilnius from Germans evacuating troops ahead of the approaching Red army. Mid-July 1944, after the failure of this action, he avoided disarmament by the Soviet Forces and returned to Vilnius, in his flat at 10 Rossa street.[2]
As this apartment was Antoni Olechnowicz's main place of contact, NKVD set up there a trap, threatening Adam with arrest. As a consequence, he fled at once by a train of repatriates departing from the city of Ignalina (in today's eastern Lithuania). At the end of his journey, he reached Międzyrzecz, a Polish western city on the Obra river, where he first settled under the nameKonstanty Michniewicz.[2]
From 1946 to April 1947, Borzobohaty worked on a farm of the Poznań University in Swadzim.
In May 1947, he was employed as the farm manager by the State Scientific Institute of Medicinal Plant Feedstock (Polish: Państwowy Instytut Naukowy Leczniczych Surowców Roślinnych) in Plewiska near Poznań.
With the transfer of the Home Army District from Vilnius to Poland, he operated as a contact point, e.g. providing money to the families of Home Army members arrested by the NKVD. For this reason, he kept contact with Antoni Olechnowicz, now Lieutenant colonel, last commander of the Vilnius District.
In July 1948, Adam Borzobohaty was apprehended by the Polish communist Security Office. He was sentenced to 6 years of prison in 1949: a year later, the verdict was increased to 8 years with deprivation of civil rights and confiscation of property. He served his sentence first in the Wronki Prison where he met his brother Wojciech.[2] He was then sent to the Central Labour Camp in Potulice. Eventually, after a review of the judgement, Adam was released in December 1954.
From his release onwards, Adam Borzobohaty took many different positions:[4]
He suffered a heart attack in 1972 that pushed him out of full time activity; he retired in 1974.
In 1990, the Polish government rehabilitated Adam Borzobohaty from the accusations he was victim of under the communist regime and ordered a 200 million Old złotys compensation payment.[5]
Borzobohaty died in Bydgoszcz on 22 August 1992: he was buried in the cemetery of the St. Saint Vincent de Paul parish in Bydgoszcz.[6]
Borzobohaty was the co-founder of the Pastoral Care of Former Residents of the Eastern Borderlands ("Kresy") of the Vilnius-Nowogrodzki district at the parish of the Holy Polish Brothers Martyrs in Bydgoszcz. He also co-established with his brother Wojciech the World Association of Home Army Soldiers.
In August 1935, Adam married Helena Krakowska, the daughter of a merchant from Vilnius.[2] They had three children: Ewa, Kalina and Jacek. Helena died in 1972.
Two years later, Adam married Jadwiga Czernis.
