White Couriers
Encyclopedia
White Couriers was a group of around 20-30 Polish boyscouts and former soldiers of the Polish Army, most of whom had been associated with the interbellum sports club Junak Drohobycz
. It existed between October 1939 and July 1940, when it was broken by the Soviet NKVD
. The task of the White Couriers was to smuggle people from Soviet-occupied southeastern part of the Second Polish Republic
, to the Hungarian
province of Carpathian Ruthenia
and further to Budapest
. The White Couriers were part of the Grey Ranks
(Polish: Szare Szeregi), a wartime codename for the underground Polish Scouting Association
Following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
, eastern Poland, known as Kresy
, was annexed by the Soviet Union
, allied with Nazi Germany
. The Soviets immediately began campaign of a large-scale mass terror
, with hundreds of thousands of people deported to Siberia
. The terror was mostly aimed at Polish nationals, members of upper classes, policemen, civil servants, soldiers and Intelligentsia
.
Creation of the White Couriers was direct result of the Soviet terror as hundreds of people, mostly from the city of Lviv
, decided to escape Soviet Union across the Soviet-Hungarian border in Eastern Carpathians, which had been established as a result of Soviet and Nazi aggression of Poland. The Couriers were mostly young men in their 20s or even teens, members of the prewar Polish Scouting Association and athletes of the Junak Drohobycz sports club. They knew the landscape very well and within 10 months they managed to smuggle an unknown number of persons. On their way back from Hungary, they took money, Polish-language newspapers published in the West as well as orders of the Government in exile.
The group was subject to the Ewa department (an abbreviation of the word evacuation) of the Polish Embassy in Budapest and among others, was supported by Major Mieczyslaw Mlotek. The name came from a humorous dialog of Szczepcio and Tonco, popular Polish Radio Lwow
characters of the Merry Lwow Wave
.
The couriers worked alone or in pairs. All had to be physically and emotionally strong, it was crucial for them to know the borderland area, guarded by the NKVD border troops. Altogether, there were up to 30 of them, only four survived World War II
. Majority was captured and executed by the Soviet occupiers. One of the survivors, Tadeusz Chciuk-Celt
, also known as Marek Celt, wrote a book White Couriers, in which he described their fate.
Junak Drohobycz
Junak Drohobycz was a Polish soccer team, located in Drohobycz , on the historic territory of Kresy Wschodnie . It was disbanded by the Soviet occupying authorities in the fall of 1939, following Soviet attack on Eastern Poland...
. It existed between October 1939 and July 1940, when it was broken by the Soviet NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
. The task of the White Couriers was to smuggle people from Soviet-occupied southeastern part of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
, to the Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
province of Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia is a region in Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkovyna and Romanian Maramureş.It is...
and further to Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
. The White Couriers were part of the Grey Ranks
Grey Ranks
Grey Ranks may refer to:* Szare Szeregi , the codename for the underground Polish Scouting Association during World War II.* Grey Ranks , a story-telling game based on the Szare Szeregi....
(Polish: Szare Szeregi), a wartime codename for the underground Polish Scouting Association
Following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
, eastern Poland, known as Kresy
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
, was annexed by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, allied with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. The Soviets immediately began campaign of a large-scale mass terror
Soviet repressions of Polish citizens (1939-1946)
In the aftermath of the German and Soviet invasion of Poland, which took place in September 1939, the territory of Poland was divided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union . Both powers were hostile to Poland's sovereignty, the Polish culture and the Polish people, aiming at their destruction...
, with hundreds of thousands of people deported to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. The terror was mostly aimed at Polish nationals, members of upper classes, policemen, civil servants, soldiers and Intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
.
Creation of the White Couriers was direct result of the Soviet terror as hundreds of people, mostly from the city of Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, decided to escape Soviet Union across the Soviet-Hungarian border in Eastern Carpathians, which had been established as a result of Soviet and Nazi aggression of Poland. The Couriers were mostly young men in their 20s or even teens, members of the prewar Polish Scouting Association and athletes of the Junak Drohobycz sports club. They knew the landscape very well and within 10 months they managed to smuggle an unknown number of persons. On their way back from Hungary, they took money, Polish-language newspapers published in the West as well as orders of the Government in exile.
The group was subject to the Ewa department (an abbreviation of the word evacuation) of the Polish Embassy in Budapest and among others, was supported by Major Mieczyslaw Mlotek. The name came from a humorous dialog of Szczepcio and Tonco, popular Polish Radio Lwow
Polish Radio Lwów
Polish Radio Lwów was a station of the Polish Radio, located in the city of Lwów , which in the interbellum period belonged to the Second Polish Republic. It was regarded as the second most popular station of the Polish Radio, behind Radio Warsaw .- History :The station was opened on January 13,...
characters of the Merry Lwow Wave
Wesola Lwowska Fala
Wesoła Lwowska Fala was a weekly radio program of the Polish Radio Lwow, broadcast every Sunday by the Polish Radio. The broadcast, composed mostly of light music, sketches and humour, was among the most popular programmes of Polish Radioof the Polish Radio in the period between the world wars...
.
The couriers worked alone or in pairs. All had to be physically and emotionally strong, it was crucial for them to know the borderland area, guarded by the NKVD border troops. Altogether, there were up to 30 of them, only four survived World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Majority was captured and executed by the Soviet occupiers. One of the survivors, Tadeusz Chciuk-Celt
Tadeusz Chciuk-Celt
' was a Polish Cichociemny, journalist, and author. He did two parachute missions into occupied Poland during World War II and for his war work he was honored with the Virtuti Militari....
, also known as Marek Celt, wrote a book White Couriers, in which he described their fate.
List of White Couriers
Note: the list is incomplete:- Tadeusz Chciuk-CeltTadeusz Chciuk-Celt' was a Polish Cichociemny, journalist, and author. He did two parachute missions into occupied Poland during World War II and for his war work he was honored with the Virtuti Militari....
(nom de guerre Zawadkowski), - Szczepan Michalski, murdered in Soviet prison in June 1941,
- Ferdynand Freimuth,
- Rudolf RegnerRudolf RegnerRudolf "Rudek" Regner , was a Polish scout, soldier and member of the White Couriers...
, murdered in Soviet prison in June 1941, - Tadeusz Żelechowski, (nom de guerre Lopek),
- Władysław Ossowski,
- Zbigniew Janicki,
- Zbigniew Twardy,
- Jan Hammerling,
- Jan Antoni Krasulski (nom de guerre Naganowski), a BatiarBatiarBatiar , a popular name for a certain class of inhabitants of the nowadays Ukrainian city of Lviv .It is a part of the city's subculture, the Lviv's "knajpa" lifestyle, and became a phenomenon at the beginning of the 20th century although takes its roots somewhere in mid 19th...
from Lwow, killed by the NKVD border troops in 1940, - Stanisław Gerula, goalkeeper of Junak DrohobyczJunak DrohobyczJunak Drohobycz was a Polish soccer team, located in Drohobycz , on the historic territory of Kresy Wschodnie . It was disbanded by the Soviet occupying authorities in the fall of 1939, following Soviet attack on Eastern Poland...
, - Bronisław Lisowski,
- Helena Świątek, née Kamińska.
Sources
- Marek Celt, Biali kurierzy
- Celt, Marek (1986). Biali Kurierzy. Wydawnictwo LTW, Dziekanow Lesny. ISBN 83-88736-62-0
- Szatsznajder, Jan (1994). Dopisany Zyciorys... Wlawa Ossowskiego. Wyd. "W kolorach teczy", Wroclaw
- IPN: Polskie Podziemie 1939-1941. Od Wolynia do Pokucia. cz. 2, Warszawa-Kijow 2004, Wyd. Rytm, str. 1221-1319.
See also
- Home Army
- Political repression in the Soviet Union
- Rudolf RegnerRudolf RegnerRudolf "Rudek" Regner , was a Polish scout, soldier and member of the White Couriers...
- Wladyslaw OssowskiWladyslaw OssowskiWladyslaw Ossowski , was a Polish boyscout and member of the White Couriers....
- Polish contribution to WWII