Polish home army?

MD

MD

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This is a bit off topic, but perhaps someone can point me in the right direction.

I grew up in small town and there was a Polish guy there who was quite rough and owned a fishing boat. He didn't get along with many people. He was known to have a handgun and brandished it and pointed it at people when he got into conflicts on the fishing grounds and in the confused minds of some people, got the nickname the "Mad Russian."

He claimed he could never go back to Poland because the Communists would "get him."

In his later life I caught a glimpse of his chest on a hot summer day and he had a swastika tatooed all acrossit.

My friend asked what it was and he said a "hakenkreuz" German for swastika.

Well when he died, his family dug out his war memoribilia and there was a cap and some papers from the Polish Home Army.

My understanding is that this was a resistance movement.

If he was really in the PHA, why did he have a swastika tatooed on his chest?

Anyone ever heard of such a thing?
 
I did live on the island. He was in Port Hardy the whole time I was growing up 1953-1973
 
MD said:
This is a bit off topic, but perhaps someone can point me in the right direction.

I grew up in small town and there was a Polish guy there who was quite rough and owned a fishing boat. He didn't get along with many people. He was known to have a handgun and brandished it and pointed it at people when he got into conflicts on the fishing grounds and in the confused minds of some people, got the nickname the "Mad Russian."

He claimed he could never go back to Poland because the Communists would "get him."

In his later life I caught a glimpse of his chest on a hot summer day and he had a swastika tatooed all acrossit.

My friend asked what it was and he said a "hakenkreuz" German for swastika.

Well when he died, his family dug out his war memoribilia and there was a cap and some papers from the Polish Home Army.
My understanding is that this was a resistance movement.

If he was really in the PHA, why did he have a swastika tatooed on his chest?

Anyone ever heard of such a thing?
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Have you had the papers translated? Might shed some light on the situation.
Otherwise we are just spectulating!
 
perhaps he was some sort of deserter? perhaps he was pro-fascist, but switched sides, or maby he was a spy of some sort. strange that one should tattoo a swastika across one's chest though...
 
"Have you had the papers translated? Might shed some light on the situation.
Otherwise we are just spectulating!"

No, I wasn't at the funeral and had moved away from the place I knew him when he died, but there was a story in the local paper about him and his background.
 
MD said:
"Have you had the papers translated? Might shed some light on the situation.
Otherwise we are just spectulating!"

No, I wasn't at the funeral and had moved away from the place I knew him when he died, but there was a story in the local paper about him and his background.
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Pity, would like to have know what they said!
 
... You could try contacting the local (Port Hardy) Newspaper and ask what they have on file. 'Can't really speak about Poland, but certainly Croatia, had more than it's share ,of Nazi sympathizers/collaborators, and those that were "with the Germans" were definitely on the Communists "hit list". There were a number from Croatia and Serbia that fled the Communists to Canada and Australia (Ustacia? the exact spelling escapes me for now) Bear in mind that during Cold War, Western Governments were willing to "overlook" a lot of things, as long as one was demonstrably "Anti-Communist" .... David K.
 
Yes there was a considerable number of Nazi sympathizers/collaborators in poland. In later years it became fashionable to pretend that they did not exist. Kinda like France!:rolleyes:
 
Gibbs505 said:
Yes there was a considerable number of Nazi sympathizers/collaborators in poland. In later years it became fashionable to pretend that they did not exist. Kinda like France!:rolleyes:
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Considerable? 120,000 out of 5 million ethnic Poles signed the volksliste. "Volksdeutsche" is a term of contempt in Poland.
 
There were a number from Croatia and Serbia that fled the Communists to Canada and Australia (Ustacia? the exact spelling escapes me for now) Bear in mind that during Cold War, Western Governments were willing to "overlook" a lot of things, as long as one was demonstrably "Anti-Communist" .... David K.
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what a farce that was! yugoslavia was quite a mess. the brits first supplied the chetniks(serbs) who were pro german later on, to fight the "baby eating commies" under Tito. also as you said there was the Ustasi, who were quite a nasty bunch. I have to say Tito handled it pretty well though! As for the pole/nazi, maby those papers are from someone he killed or a family member. or perhaps faked in order not to get executed? just some ideas.
 
es there was a considerable number of Nazi sympathizers/collaborators in poland. In later years it became fashionable to pretend that they did not exist. Kinda like France!
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I think most countries involved in the second great unpleasantness had it's share of Nazi syphesizers I know that my one great gandpa was a member of the "ossewa Brandwag" or oxwagon guard and they were pro german
 
MD said:
I did live on the island. He was in Port Hardy the whole time I was growing up 1953-1973
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That explains it! Port Hardy is about as backwater as you can get in BC. I live in Victoria BC, and you feel a little detached from the rest of BC living on the island...but Port Hardy is in the far, far north tip of the island. That's more desolate than the Yukon, in my opinion. :p
 
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