Jan Bytnar

{{Short description|Polish anti-Nazi resistance fighter (1921–1943)}}

{{Infobox military person

| name = Jan Bytnar
"Rudy", "Czarny", "Janek", "Krokodyl", "Jan Rudy"

| image = Jan Bytnar.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|5|6|df=y}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1943|3|30|1921|5|6|df=y}}

| birth_place = Kolbuszowa, Poland

| death_place = Warsaw, Poland

| allegiance = Poland

| branch = Armia Krajowa (Home Army)

| rank = 30px Corporal

| battles = World War II

| awards = 40px
Krzyż Walecznych (Cross of Valour)
40px
Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta}}

Jan Roman Bytnar, nom de guerre "Rudy" (Ginger) (born 6 May 1921, Kolbuszowa, Poland – died 30 March 1943, Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish scoutmaster, a member of Polish scouting anti-Nazi resistance, and a lieutenant in the Home Army during the Second World War.

Biography

He was the son of Stanisław Bytnar, a teacher and soldier in the Polish Legions in World War I, and Zdzisława Rechulówna.{{cite web| url = https://glos.pl/99-lat-temu-urodzil-sie-jan-bytnar-rudy-jego-rodzice-byli-nauczycielami-zasluzonymi-dzialaczami-zwiazku |language = pl |title=99 lat temu urodził się Jan Bytnar "Rudy". Jego rodzice byli nauczycielami, zasłużonymi działaczami Związku |date = 6 May 2020 | access-date = 6 May 2021}} He attended elementary school in Piastów. In 1931 he was accepted to the Stefan Batory Gymnasium in Warsaw, where the Bytnar family moved in the same year. They lived in the Mokotów district.

In 1934, at the age of 13, he joined the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association. In 1938 he attained the highest non-instructor rank, "Scout of the Republic". Shortly before, in 1937, he began attending a lyceum; he graduated in May 1939.{{cite web | url = https://www.onet.pl/kultura/onetkultura/mija-setna-rocznica-urodzin-jana-bytnara/qs57v14,681c1dfa | language = pl | title = Mija setna rocznica urodzin Jana Bytnara | access-date = 6 May 2021 | archive-date = 6 May 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210506094951/https://www.onet.pl/kultura/onetkultura/mija-setna-rocznica-urodzin-jana-bytnara/qs57v14,681c1dfa | url-status = dead }}

World War II

After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Bytnar lived in occupied Warsaw and worked as a glazier and school tutor. In October 1939, together with a group of friends, he joined the short lived left wing Polish People's Independent Action (Polska Ludowa Akcja Niepodległościowa, PLAN), a resistance group. As its member he composed and distributed pamphlets in response to the formation of the General Government by the Nazis. However, the organization was soon infiltrated by the Gestapo and broken up by January 1940. Bytnar left Warsaw and lived with his grandparents in Kolbuszowa in south-eastern Poland, where he also became involved in anti-Nazi resistance. Sometime early in 1940 he joined the Union of Armed Struggle, a precursor organization of the Home Army. In March 1941 he became a member of the Gray Ranks, a paramilitary underground scouting organization which carried out sabotage and diversion against the Germans. In particular, Bytnar and his cell focused on so-called "small sabotage" as part of the Wawer Group.{{cite web| url = https://dzieje.pl/wiadomosci/100-lat-temu-urodzil-sie-jan-bytnar |language = pl |title=100 lat temu urodził się Jan Bytnar | access-date = 6 May 2021}}

=Arrest, death, and reprisal=

He was arrested by the Nazis on 23 March 1943 and rescued three days later by a combat group of the Gray Ranks during the Operation Arsenal on 26 March.{{cite news|url=https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/the-incredible-true-story-of-the-men-who-took-on-the-gestapo-to-save-a-friend-11521 |title=The incredible true story of the men who took on the Gestapo to save a friend |access-date=6 May 2021}}{{cite news|url=https://www.wprost.pl/historia/10309679/najbardziej-spektakularna-operacja-szarych-szeregow-w-czasie-okupacji-rocznica-akcji-pod-arsenalem.html |title=Najbardziej spektakularna operacja Szarych Szeregów w czasie okupacji. Rocznica Akcji pod Arsenałem |access-date=20 April 2020}} He died on 30 March, at the age of 21, from injuries sustained during the interrogation carried out by the Gestapo while in captivity.{{cite web | url = https://www.onet.pl/kultura/onetkultura/mija-setna-rocznica-urodzin-jana-bytnara/qs57v14,681c1dfa | language = pl | title = Mija setna rocznica urodzin Jana Bytnara | access-date = 6 May 2021 | archive-date = 6 May 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210506094951/https://www.onet.pl/kultura/onetkultura/mija-setna-rocznica-urodzin-jana-bytnara/qs57v14,681c1dfa | url-status = dead }}

The extremely brutal torture of Bytnar was conducted by SS Rottenführer Ewald Lange and SS Obersturmführer Herbert Schultz. Both were later assassinated by the Gray Ranks. Schultz was shot dead on 6 May 1943 by Sławomir Maciej Bittner (aka "Maciek") and Eugeniusz Kecher (aka "Kołczan").{{cite book |last=Strzembosz |first=Tomasz |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Akcje zbrojne podziemnej Warszawy 1939–1944 |url= |location=Warsaw |publisher=Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy |page=313 |isbn=83-06-00717-4}} Lange was shot dead on 22 May 1943 by Jerzy Zapadko (aka "Dzik").{{cite book |last=Bartoszewski |first=Władysław |author-link= |date=2008 |title=1859 dni Warszawy |url= |location=Kraków |publisher=Wydawnictwo Znak |page=497 |isbn=978-83-240-1057-8}}

On 4 April 1946, his close friend and fellow Szare Szeregi member who died on the same day during the war, Maciej Dawidowski (aka Alek), was buried in a common grave alongside Bytnar at the Powązki Military Cemetery.{{cite book |last=Trojan |first=Włodzimierz |author-link= |date=2011 |title= Kwatera batalionu "Zośka" Armii Krajowej. Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach |url= |location=Warsaw |publisher=Społeczny Komitet Opieki nad Grobami Poległych Żołnierzy Batalionu „Zośka” |page=24 |isbn=978-83-933302-0-1}}

In literature and culture

Bytnar is the main character in Stones for the Rampart, considered a classic of Polish literature for teenagers and young adults, by Aleksander Kamiński{{cite news|url=https://culture.pl/en/work/stones-for-the-rampart-aleksander-kaminski |title=Stones for the Rampart – Aleksander Kamiński |access-date=6 May 2021}} and Rudy, Alek, Zośka by {{interlanguage link|Barbara Wachowicz|pl|Barbara Wachowicz}}.{{cite web| url = https://naszemiasto.pl/prawda-o-bohaterach-kamieni-na-szaniec/ar/c13-4520596 |language = pl |title=Prawda o bohaterach Kamieni na szaniec |date = 24 August 2014 | access-date = 6 May 2021}}

He is portrayed by Cezary Morawski in Jan Łomnicki's 1977 historical film Akcja pod Arsenałem telling the story behind Operation Arsenal.{{Cite web |url=https://filmpolski.pl/fp/index.php?osoba=111350 |language=pl |title=Cezary Morawski |website=filmpolski.pl |access-date=19 November 2023}}

In a 2010 documentary film Oni szli Szarymi Szeregami directed by Mariusz Malec, the character of Bytnar is played by Bartłomiej Firlet.{{Cite web |url=https://filmpolski.pl/fp/index.php?osoba=111350 |language=pl |title=Oni szli Szarymi Szeregami |website=filmpolski.pl |access-date=19 November 2023}}

He served as inspiration for Dawid Podsiadło's 2014 single 4:30, the title of which alludes to the time when Bytnar was captured and arrested by Gestapo on 23 March 1943. The song appears in Robert Gliński's 2014 war drama Stones for the Rampart, a film adaptation of Kamiński's book of the same title, in which the role of Bytnar is played by Tomasz Ziętek.{{Cite web |url=https://kultura.onet.pl/muzyka/wiadomosci/piosenka-430-dawida-podsiadlo-w-filmie-kamienie-na-szaniec/7312v8l |language=pl |title=Piosenka "4:30" Dawida Podsiadło w filmie "Kamienie na szaniec" |website=onet.pl |date=28 January 2014 |access-date=18 November 2023}}

Remembrance and recognition

File:Mural Janka Bytnara w Kolbuszowej (2023).jpg

In 1943, he was awarded the Cross of Valour for having demonstrated deeds of valour and courage in wartime. In 2009, he was posthumously awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of Poland.{{Cite web |url=https://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WMP20100270296 |language=pl |title=M.P. 2010 nr 27 poz. 296 |website=isap.sejm.gov.pl |access-date=19 November 2023}}

A commemorative plaque was unveiled on Bytnar's birth house on ul. Nowe Miasto in Kolbuszowa. In 1980, a second plaque was unveiled at the entrance to the tenement house al. Niepodległości 159 in Warsaw where he used to live and where he got arrested.{{cite book |last=Trojan |first=Włodzimierz |author-link= |date=2011 |title= Kwatera batalionu "Zośka" Armii Krajowej. Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach |url= |location=Warsaw |publisher=Społeczny Komitet Opieki nad Grobami Poległych Żołnierzy Batalionu „Zośka” |page=190 |isbn=978-83-933302-0-1}}

Streets bearing his name are located in Warsaw, Opole and Kolbuszowa.{{cite book |last=Żarnowski |first=Witold |author-link= |date=2014 |title=Raczej zginąć, niż zdradzić sprawę. Areszt śledczy gestapo w al. Szucha 25 |url= |location=Warsaw |publisher=Instytut Pamięci Narodowej i Muzeum Niepodległości |page=57 |isbn=978-83-7629-664-7}} He is also a patron of 150 Polish scout teams as well as many schools across Poland.{{cite book |last=Komorowski |first=Krzysztof |author-link= |date=2015 |title=Warszawa walczy 1939–1945. Leksykon |url= |location=Warsaw |publisher=Fundacja Polska Walczy i Wydawnictwo Bellona |page=84 |isbn=978-83-1113474-4}}

See also

Further reading

  • {{in lang|pl}} Paweł Dubiel, Józef Kozak, Polacy w II wojnie światowej: kim byli, co robili, Oficyna Wydawnicza RYTM, Warszawa, 2003, {{ISBN|83-7399-054-2}}
  • {{in lang|pl}} Stanisław Kopf, Stefan Starba-Bałuk, Armia Krajowa. Kronika fotograficzna, Wydawnictwo Ars Print Production, Warszawa, 1999, {{ISBN|83-87224-16-2}}
  • {{in lang|pl}} Aleksander Kamiński, Stones for the Rampart
  • {{in lang|pl}} Barbara Wachowicz, Rudy, Alek, Zośka, Oficyna Wydawnicza RYTM, {{ISBN|83-88794-95-7}}

References