Henryk Harańczyk

Henryk Harańczyk was born on 28 November 1915 at Stryszów near Kalwaria Zebrzydowska in the Małopolska region of Poland. He was the youngest of three children of Jakub and Magdalena née Talaga. Henryk lost his father at the age of two. He graduated from a primary school at Stryszów. The times were very hard for the family, and his mother was forced to entrust him to 'Father Bronisław Markiewicz' Orphanage at Pawlikowice near Wieliczka, run by Michaelite clerical congregation, where he was brought up in Roman Catholic religion and in patriotism. After the postulancy period, he joined Michaelite novitiate formation at Pawlikowice on 2 August 1932. The novitiate ended with a canonical examination, followed by taking the first religious vows. Because of a serious illness, Harańczyk left on 10 May 1933 to be treated at home. Following recovery, he returned to the novitiate on 28 September 1933, to continue his education. He made his first religious vows on 5 May 1935, becoming a Michaelite deacon.

In 1937, he graduated from the 'Father Bronisław Markiewicz' Private Secondary School at Pawlikowice and became a tutor there. Then, together with a close friend, deacon Edmund Wyrębski, he went to work in Cracow. From 1938 Harańczyk worked as the prefect of the 'Saint Joseph Nursing Home' in Cracow, at 66 Karmelicka Street. At the same time he continued his studies at the Railway Faculty of the Administrative and Economic Institute in Cracow, where he graduated shortly before the war, on 14 June 1939.

After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, religious congregation activity was banned by the occupation authorities. Cracow became the capital city of the German-occupied Polish territories. The 'Saint Joseph Nursing Home' was closed and the building was taken over by the Germans. Ready to fight for his homeland, Harańczyk resigned his clerical status and he left Cracow on 1 April 1940, with the intention of joining the exiled Polish forces. He travelled through Slovakia and Hungary, crossing the borders illegally. He eventually received help from the Polish embassy in Budapest. From Hungary, he and other volunteers were sent to Split in Yugoslavia, and then by ship across the Mediterranean Sea to Syria. There, on 22 May 1940, he joined the Polish 'Carpathian' Rifle Brigade (which had been formed on 2 April 1940 at Homs under Col. Stanisław Kopański). He initially served as a private with the 6th Company of the 1st Regiment. After the fall of France, the brigade (including him) moved to British-controlled Palestine, where he was stationed at Latrun. In August 1940, he volunteered to join the Polish Air Force and was transferred to the group of candidates who were to be sent to Britain. On 11 September 1940, he was embarked on a ship in Port Said, Egypt. Through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, they reached Britain on 26 October 1940 (on the way, the ship called at Aden, Port Elizabeth in South Africa, and Gibraltar).

In England, Harańczyk, together with other soldiers, was taken to Blackpool, a sea resort on the Irish Sea. Initially, he was accommodated in a boarding house rented by the Royal Air Force. Following medical tests, he commenced his training in Blackpool. Due to his short-sightedness (he wore glasses), he was assigned to the ground crew rather than a flying training course (he had wanted to become a fighter pilot). On 22 November 1940, he was posted to No. 306 Squadron 'City of Toruń', where he then served as a clerk at the rank of Aircraftsman. On 11 April 1941, he transferred to the Ground Training Centre of the exiled Polish AF in Blackpool for initial wireless training. On 13 June 1941, he was posted to No. 1 Signal School at RAF Cranwell for an RTO course (for radio-telephone operators). After completing his training, on 2 September 1941, he was posted to No. 317 Squadron 'City of Wilno' as an RTO. From 18 June 1942, he served with the Operations Room of No. 317 Squadron. Due to his high level of pre-war education, he was selected for an officer's course and was sent to the Polish Officers' School at the Signals Training Centre at St Andrews in Scotland on 18 September 1942. On 9 April 1943, he received his graduation certificate as a cadet officer. Following a leave, on 27 April, he reported to the signals section at RAF Northolt near London, the station were the 1st Polish Fighter Wing was based. On 10 July 1943, he was transferred to a similar post at RAF Hemswell. On 30 September 1943, he was assigned to No. 1 Radio School at RAF Cranwell as an RTO instructor. From 18 March 1944, he was attached in a similar capacity at the Polish Technical Training School at RAF Halton, and then returned to No. 1 Radio School at Cranwell on 10 April 1944.

On 3 October 1944, Harańczyk was posted to RAF Cosford for an instructional technique course, after which, on 17 October 1944, he was posted as an instructor to the Polish Technical Training School for Minors at Halton. There, he taught the signals trade to teenage Polish boys, air cadets. On 17 January 1945, he was posted to the RAF School of Administration Trades at Kirkham for an equipment officers' course. On 23 April 1945, he was commissioned to an officer's rank. After completing the course, on 13 May 1945, he was posted to the Polish Air Force Depot at Blackpool (later at Dunholme Lodge), and from 6 July 1945 he served as an equipment officer with No. 1 Mobile Repair and Salvage Unit at No. 58 Maintenance Unit, at Newark-on-Trent. He remained at this post until May 1946, when he was demobilised from the exiled Polish Air Force as a Polish podporucznik (Second Lieutenant) and British Flying Officer. For his service during World War II, he received the Polish Air Medal and British campaign medals.

In 1946, Henryk Harańczyk, encouraged by the propaganda of the 'people's' (communist) government in Poland, decided to return to his homeland. He boarded a ship on 1 November 1946, and on the 6th he disembarked in Gdańsk. Upon arrival, he went to his brother in Cracow. On 1 December 1946, he was employed at the 'Tadeusz Kościuszko' Secondary School at Myślenice as a teacher of English, which he spoke perfectly after six years in England. In 1947, he left for Łódź where he found employment as a tutor at the Higher School of Farming, and then at the Processing-Paper Industry Secondary School. At the same time, he started his studies at the Higher School of Economics in Łódź, earning a degree there in 1951.

The late 1940s and early 1950s were very difficult for him. Veterans of the exiled Polish Armed Forces who returned from the West were prosecuted. He was harassed by the political secret police, detained and interrogated. His home was searched several times. He had to change his jobs and places of residence frequently. During his English lessons, he used to tell his students about such facts from the history of World War II that were forbidden by the communist authorities (including the 1939 Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, the 1940 Katyn massacre, the lack of support from the Red Army for the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, etc.). Eventually, the police found out about this. He was summoned and instructed to stop engaging in historical topics in his lessons or he would face dire consequences. Eventually, he gave up his teacher's job and moved to work in the industry. Between 1951 and 1953 he lived in Cracow and worked at the Hosiery Industry Plant as a supplies' manager. In April 1954 he moved to Sosnowiec, and in 1958 to Zawadzkie in the Opole region. He worked as an administrative manager in a metallurgical technical school, a youth educator in a boarding school, and a teacher of business economics and military training. In 1961, he was employed at Huta Małapanew at Ozimek as an economist. At the end of the 1960s, he moved to Zabrze. He was employed at the 'Centrozap' Foreign Trade Centre in Katowice as a translator-trader. He then got a job at the 'Proerg' Organic and Plastics Industry Design Bureau in Gliwice as a translator and deputy manager of the economics department, and later at the 'Patex' Patent and Inventiveness Office in Gliwice as the head of the engineering department. In 1965, he undertook studies at the Industrial Faculty of the Higher School of Economics in Katowice. He graduated from it in 1969, with a master's degree in economics.

In the 1970s, Harańczyk resumed work as a teacher. He became an English teacher at the 4th and 1st Secondary Schools in Zabrze, and then at the 3rd 'Wincenty Styczyński' and the 2nd 'Walery Wróblewski' Secondary Schools in Gliwice. Even after he retired to a modest pension, he continued to teach (the 7th Secondary School in Zabrze was his last workplace), and also tutored English in his apartment. He was very active physically and mentally until the end of his life. He was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit for the 20 years of his impeccable teaching work.

Henryk Harańczyk died of flu complications on 29 January 1999 in Zabrze, aged 84. He was buried in the St Thomas Parish Cemetery in Sosnowiec. He was married to Halina née Pilarska, 19 years his junior, since 20 April 1954. They had three sons: Jerzy, Ryszard and Artur.

Artur Harańczyk
(tłumaczenie Wojtek Matusiak)