Tadeusz Gajda “Tarzan”. He fought for the Poland he believed in
4-5.10.2019, outdoor exhibition: Tadeusz Gajda “Tarzan”. He fought for the Poland he believed in, square at the Church of Our Lady of the Scapular in Stalowa Wola-Rozwadów
On October 12-19, 2017. The IPN’s Office of Search and Identification, in cooperation with the IPN’s Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Krakow, conducted search and exhumation work at the Rakowicki Cemetery, as a result of which Tadeusz Gajda’s remains were found. On October 4, 2018, an identification note was presented to Andrzej Gajda, Tadeusz’s son, at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw. The burial ceremony for the remains of our local Hero will take place on October 5, 2019 at the Rozwadowski War Cemetery.
The exhibition, prepared in connection with the ceremony for the reburial of Tadeusz Gajda, alias Tarzan, tells the story of the tragic fate of the Charzewice-born, charismatic commander of the Polish independence underground.
Tadeusz Gajda
He was born on February 15, 1924 in Charzewice (now a neighborhood of Stalowa Wola). During the German occupation he lived with his family in Nisk, where his father worked at the post office. By the outbreak of war, Tadeusz had completed four grades of the Nisk gymnasium. In 1941, as a 17-year-old, encouraged by his father Jozef, a.k.a. “Zawisza,” he joined the National Military Organization, adopting the pseudonym “Tarzan.” After being declassified in October 1943, he moved to the unit of Franciszek Przysiężniak, a.k.a. “Father Jan,” operating in the Janowski Forests in the Lublin region. The same unit included Tadeusz’s relatives: his father, uncle – Piotr Gajda, a.k.a. “Armored”, and cousin – Kazimierz Gajda, a.k.a. “Orla”. In the period from June 10 to 15, 1944, he took part with them in one of the largest partisan battles against the Germans on Porytowe Wzgórz, which ended with a victorious breakout from the encirclement.
Wanted by the NKVD and UB since September 1944, he sought refuge in Berling’s army. He joined the 25th Infantry Regiment, 10th ID of the People’s Army of Poland, in Rzeszow, but threatened with arrest (for belonging to the Home Army) – deserted.
He returned to his hometown, where he again found himself in the underground, this time anti-communist. In May 1945, by order of the Commander of the Forestry Branches of the Rzeszow District of the NZW, Tadeusz Gajda – “Tarzan” is appointed commander of one forestry unit.
In the initial period of formation, the unit had only 12 members, but already in July 1945, the state was approximately 50 people, subject directly to the orders of “Tarzan.” The unit was joined by deconspirators, deserters from the LWP, as well as soldiers serving in other outposts of the Rzeszow structures of the NZW.
The unit’s activity mainly covered the northern part of the Tarnobrzeg district, as well as the Nisko district (Pysznica and Jastkowice-Lipowiec villages) in the former Rzeszow province.
Among the tasks of members of the anti-communist underground was to recapture from detention centers and prisons those incarcerated there by the Security Police and the MO. Propaganda, intelligence and liquidation activities were carried out, targeting persecutors and dangerous confidants. For supply purposes and to raise funds for further independence activities, expropriation actions were carried out in banks, cooperatives and state farms, taking care not to affect civilians not involved in the struggle. The punishment of flogging, inflicted on allies of the People’s Power and supporters of the PPR, as well as sentences carried out on confidants and traitors, meant that in some circles of the local population these formations were regarded as thieving and bandit groups.
In July 1945 there was a dramatic clash between the “Tarzan” unit and the Soviets in Lipovec. After this action, on the orders of a Soviet general, three of the captured soldiers were shot in the market square in Janow Lubelski, while others were sent to prison, often receiving long sentences. The unit de facto ceased to exist, and the surviving soldiers were constantly oppressed by the UB and the army.
In February 1946. “Tarzan” was appointed commander of the Tarnów branch of the Special Action Ambulance, under the National Military Union. In May, he received a nomination for captain.
After the security forces cracked down on the independence underground in Tarnów, he was arrested in early August 1946. He was held and interrogated in the prisons of the PUBP in Tarnow and later in Cracow.
On September 27, the local Military District Court sentenced Capt. Tadeusz Gajda to death. The sentence was carried out by shooting on October 14, 1946, in a Krakow prison on Montelupich Street. Tadeusz Gajda left behind a wife and two small children.
Exhibition preparation: Aneta Garanty, Aneta Jonaszek, Katarzyna Sabat
