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Part 1— an Introduction to the Family

My father told us many stories when we were children. I am writing this account on his behalf Tadeusz (Tadek) Korfanty, a concentration camp survivor of Mauthausen-Gusen and Polish political prisoner No 48938. Also the members of my Polish family I was never to meet and know except through old photographs and inherited documents. My father survived the camps and died peacefully in his chair at his home in 1992.

My name is Marysia and I am the eldest daughter of Tadeusz and Sheila Korfanty (nee Denham). I have a younger sister, Helen. My father told us the story of the origin of the family name.

’As the mists of war cleared between the Poles and the Turks on the mound at Piekary Slaskie in southern Poland, a church was built to celebrate Polish success. Before the final battle, King Sobieski had vowed to build a church to the Madonna if the battle went his way. After his success craftsmen and artists were brought from Italy to carry out the work. Once such man, a stained glass window craftsman, came to the village to fulfil the task of designing and making the windows for this small church. While he was there, the young craftsman met a young Polish girl and decided to stay. The man’s family name was Korfanty as the family name had originated in Corfu, which changed to Corfi, Korfi and at some stage in its development became Korfanty.’

My father told us he knew this story because as a child they had a large number of books in their house in Myslowice, Southern Poland. Sadly their books were gathered together and burnt during Krystal Nacht when many books were gathered together from peoples houses and piled in the streets and destroyed.

Introduction to the Family

My grandfather, Edmund was a very educated man and could speak Polish, German and English. Surprisingly he’d had to learn his national language of Polish in secret in what was then a Silesian/Germanic town. He was well educated, became a printer and journalist and wrote many published articles in support of the Silesian Polish people. He used the journalistic pseudonym Kye. His work and writings meant he travelled away from his hometown, sometimes to avoid detection following a controversial ‘underground’ article he’d written. It is on one of these travels from home he worked at a printers in the town of Rochlitz, Reichenberg where he met and married Maria Opplet in May 1913.

Maria was born on 25 March 1892 in what was then Prussia/Austria - now Czechoslovakia and Edmund on 14 July 1889 in Eichenau, Southern Poland.

The outbreak of the First World War followed soon after they married and their first child died after only two and a half months. Maria’s brother was sent to fight in this the First World War but Edmund received dispensation from fighting because of the work he did in the local printing factory.

When the war was over, Edmund worked on the plebiscite and attended the signing of the Versailles Settlement with Wojciech Korfanty. Reference to Wojciech and his work can be found in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Hilda was the first surviving child born to Maria and Edmund on the 23rd March 1915. As the eldest girl she helped Maria with the young family which later included son Ryszard, born on 8th August 1917, son Kurt 25th October 1919 and my father, Tadeusz born on 20th October 1921. The family lived in Siemianowice, Laurahutte and later moved to Myslowice in Southern Poland before the birth of daughter Wanda on 18th March 1923. The family moved so that Edmund could take up his new position as Chief Town Clerk of Myslowice and to set up the new Town Hall. Adas, the youngest boy was born on Christmas Eve 1928.

Outbreak of World War 2

At the outbreak of the 2nd World War, Maria’s brother who had been injured fighting in the 1st World War was set to work at a factory in Oswieciem (Auschwitz). His previous experiences and what he saw became too much for him and he committed suicide soon after the war started.

The young Korfanty family worked against the Nazi oppression throughout the war, each with their individual roles.

My Aunt Hilda was involved with the Red Cross and had set up the Fire Brigade in Myslowice. She was socially minded and ‘liked getting involved with worth-while projects’. She was musical. When Hilda married she continued to work with Edmund, her father, establishing a soup kitchen, Red Cross activities and the organising the purchase of a Leyland Fire engine from England (believed to be the first in Poland). Due to lack of medical care in the war years in Poland, she died in childbirth on 6 December 1942. Her baby son struggled to live and but only survived three weeks.

My Uncles, Kurt and Ryszard had attended private school as children. Kurt didn’t like this much and wanted to remain at home. He was quiet and very studious. He went to Berlin to work in a pharmacist’s when he graduated. When the war broke out, Kurt worked with his father producing false papers for people to escape and leave the country during the occupation of Poland. When brothers Ryszard and Tadek and father (Edmund) were trying to cross the border to join the Polish Army abroad, Kurt was advised to remain behind because of his poor eyesight. He was, however, later searched out by the authorities (Gestapo) and sent to Gross-Rosen then to Dachau concentration camp. When camp Dachau was liberated he was initially classed amongst ‘the not worth saving — nearly dead’. On second assessment by the liberating army it was decided to try to save him. Kurt was a tall man of over six foot but at that time he weighed only 4 stone 11lbs (30 kg). He survived the camps and after the war moved to America. He never worked as a pharmacist again and became a waiter, then a Maitre D’. He would sometimes walk with a shuffle which was the psychological result of the long forced marches prisoners where required to do. He married a Jewish woman who had also escaped to America before she could be arrested. He died 11 February 1993.

Ryszard had been a very bright child. He’d learned to fly and was a member of a gliding club. He was very cavalier. He’d fly his plane under bridges and upside down. He was quite a ladies man and was known for his endearing smile. All the girls loved him. He was also a very talented musician and artist. Tadek adored him as an older brother and often said, whatever Ryszard touched turned to gold. He, like my father worked on underground activities. Ryszard received an eight-year sentence of hard labour for treason against the German State and was sent to Mauthausen concentration camp and later to Gusen. He died there from an injection of petrol into the heart and was cremated in Gusen concentration camp ovens on 17 January 1943.

Tadeusz (Tadek), my father, was quite a handful as a child. He put glue on his teacher’s chair because he thought gluing and sticking was girls’ stuff. He followed army manoeuvres into the next town when he was sent out of the class for misbehaviour and then had to follow the tram tracks in the dark to find his way home. He stole a police dog puppy and wrecked a steam train. His elder sister Hilda had played schools with him so when he started school he thought he should be with the big boys and girls and went to their class instead of his own with the younger children. When the war broke out Tadek was 17 years old. He was in the Scouts and they would pass messages between the defending Polish soldiers. On one such occasion when they heard an attacking plane overhead, Tadek dived into a large drainpipe by the roadside. He felt the soil and stones landing on the back of his legs. When he came out and brushed off the debris he found every one of his young friend’s dead. They were only 15, 16 and 17 years old.
As he was running away from the bombing after 6 of his friends were killed and he was the only survivor, he came across a group of Gypsies sitting in the wood. A lady from the group called after him ‘don’t rush young man you will survive the war — you will go through a lot of hardship and will marry twice and live a long time.’

Later Tadek’s underground activities included visiting deserted properties that had been sealed up which were awaiting Gestapo/SS search. He’d cut the paper seal to the door with a knife, enter the property, gather up and burn all the papers they could find so as to avoid anyone being incriminated by them. On leaving they had to reseal/glue the paper seal. As this took place at dead of night he used to have to hide in doorways so as not to be seen. As a curfew was in force he would have been shot on site if discovered. As it was dark and many of the doorways were poorly lit it was not difficult for the patrols to think the buildings were still secure. When they realised the properties had been broken into it was already too late.

Edmund, with his sons Ryszard and Tadeusz were all eventually caught trying to cross the Polish Hungarian border to join the army abroad. They were captured at the Hungarian border and taken on the trail of the ‘seven prisons’ until they arrived at Berlin for trial. They were severely tortured and eventually tried for treason against the German State. Tadeusz, then only 20 years old was tortured by having his hand held in a press and his nails torn back. Edmund and Ryszard received harsher treatment. Edmund received a life sentence for treason against the German State and died in a Gestapo prison on 20 June 1942.

For treason against the German State, my father Tadeusz received a sentence of four years hard labour. He was sent to Mauthausen concentration camp and later to Gusen. My father learnt to survive. There are many horrific stories in between but when the camp was liberated he was taken to a Red Cross hospital in Italy. There he joined the 2nd Corps under Commander Anders. On his Polish Army identification document from that time it notes that Tadek’s weight on registration was 56lbs. (26kg). He was now 23 years old. It took two years after that liberation before he could eat solid food properly.

The youngest girl of the family, my Aunt Wanda was gentle and homely. When last I spoke with her she admitted to ringing doorbells and running away as a child. This is probably the worst thing she ever did. She only saw the goodness in people. She never discusses the war and never answers any questions about it when asked but looks away as if she didn’t hear. She became a Lutheran Nun after the war and dedicated her life to looking after children and adults with special needs.

The youngest boy of the family, my Uncle Adas was the baby of the family and ‘everyone’s little darling’. He was born on 24 December 1928 and just ten years old when the Nazis invaded. He was the only male member of the family not to be arrested and sent to the camps. Like his older brother Ryszard he was a very talented musician. He remained with Maria, his mother and sister Wanda throughout the war in Myslowice. Adas and Wanda would walk with their mother, Maria to watch her sons march backwards and forwards between their work and prison cells before they were finally sent to the concentration camps.

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