Stefan Czyzewski photographs

Stefan Czyzewski was born on Aug. 12, 1922, in Leśna Gora, Poland. He worked on a farm in a small village in Poland. Stefan recalls reading the Bible aloud to villagers who had come to listen. The villagers knew World War II was coming, but they thought Poland would quickly defeat Germany. In Oct. 1939, shortly after the German invasion, Stefan joined the Obroncy Polski (Defenders of Poland), an underground organization. A month later, he was caught and sent to a camp in Siberia with his aunt, uncle, and cousin. The prisoners, poorly clothed and fed, were forced to cut down trees in freezing temperatures and deep snow. Stefan's aunt and uncle died. Stefan's talent for languages enabled him to become a translator, and he was allowed to go outside the camp. Befriending the Siberian natives, he was allowed to fish and was given food and clothing. Eventually, the Soviets sent the Poles back to fight the German Army. Stefan was trained as an underground fighter in British military camps in Prussia. In Nov. 1941, Stefan infiltrated Nazi-occupied Poland and joined the Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej (Union for Armed Struggle) in central Poland. In Sept. 1942, Stefan was given command of a 20-person action group squad that destroyed bridges and German supply trains and fought the Germans in central Poland. Stefan was part of an operation in eastern Poland and western Soviet Union against the Einsatzgruppen from May 1943 to Mar. 1944, helping to thin out their membership and destroy their command posts. Stefan was caught by the Germans in Mar. 1944 and interned at Sharyszewska transit camp in Warsaw, Poland, and later transported to Schorka labor camp in Silesia, Germany. In Apr. 1944, Stefan escaped and joined the Narodowe Sily Zbrojne (National Armed Forces) which was operating around Blachownia, Poland, and Lubliniec, Poland. Later that month, he was arrested near Lubliniec and sentenced to death. In May 1944, Stefan was temporarily confined to Gross-Rosen, a concentration camp in Germany, where he worked in the stone quarry. In June 1944, he was moved to Mauthausen, a concentration camp in Austria, and given the number 104222. Stefan was interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo and eventually was stamped "N&N," which meant that he was to be killed. Starting in Sept. 1944, Stefan worked in an armament factory in a subcamp of Mauthausen. In Jan. 1945, he was sent to Oppeln (Opole) in Silesia, Germany, to be executed. However, Oppeln had been overrun by Soviets so Stefan was returned to Mauthausen where he was assigned a new number, 122263. Stefan did tunnel work from Feb. to May 1945 in Gusen II, a subcamp of Mauthausen. Weighing only 72 pounds, Stefan was liberated by Thunderbolt - 11th Armored Division (General Patton's Army). In 1945, Stefan was moved to a displaced persons camp in Bamberg, Germany. From 1945 to 1946, he was a patient in a tuberculosis sanitarium in Forchheim, Germany. Afterward, Stefan lived in another displaced persons camp in Aschaffenburg, Germany. In 1948, he moved to yet another camp in Wildflecken, Germany, where he worked with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (UNRRA) as a police officer. Stefan immigrated to the United States in the fall of 1949.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Stefan Czyzewski

Stefan Czyzewski donated the collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1998.