Selmanowicz Feliks “Zagończyk”, conspiracy name: “Karol Szach” born 06-06-1904 in Vilnius, Poland,
the youngest son of Franciszek and Anna, born Zacharewicz. Feliks completed five classes of high school. Together with his brother, he participated as a volunteer in the Polish-Bolshevik War
of 1920. The Polish-Russian War [ N 1 ] (14-02-1919 – 18-03-1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , following World War I and the Russian Revolution
In the years 1921-1923 Feliks was attached to Division II of the General Staff of the Polish Army
(military intelligence) . In 1923 he retired from civilian life with the rank of sergeant. He worked as a post office clerk. He married Apolonia, born Skoczyk, with whom he had a son, Feliks; The marriage soon broke down. Later he probably had another daughter, Regina, whose mother and her fate are unknown.
On 25-08-1939 he was again mobilized to the KOP “Wilno” regiment.
After the aggression of the USSR against Poland , Feliks participated in defensive battles against the Red Army . After crossing the Polish-Lithuanian border , he was interned by the Lithuanian authorities . He quickly escaped from the internment camp and returned to Vilnius. There he came into contact with the underground, most probably with the organization “Regimental Circles.” In 1940 he was arrested by the Lithuanian police for participating in a conspiracy, but was released after 12 weeks for lack of evidence. Since his release, he has been living in hiding, using false documents.In January 1944, he was seconded to the 3rd Vilnius Brigade, of the Internal Army under Lieutenant Gracjan Fróg “Szczerbiec”
and then transferred to the 5th Vilnius Brigade of the Internal Army under Major Zygmunt Szendzielarz “Łupaszka,”
where he served as deputy platoon commander. He was known as a stern but fair commander. Soon he was promoted to second lieutenant during the war. During the fighting, he was wounded twice. In May 1944, he was given command of a company of the 4th Vilnius Brigade led by Second Lieutenant. Longin Wojciechowski “Ronin”. He held this position until the brigade was disarmed by Soviet forces on 17-07-1944.
After being disarmed, he shared the fate of other soldiers. He was interned in Kaluga , from where he managed to escape on 20-04-1945 and reached Vilnius . There he made contact with the remaining underground network and with their help he left in October 1945 on a repatriation transport to Poland.In early 1945/1946 he contacted Major. “Łupaszka”. In the 5th Wilno Brigade of the Internal Army, which was re-established in Pomerania, he took command of an independent combat and sabotage patrol of five for the Gdańsk-Olsztyn district, with which he was to raise funds for organizational activities. From March to June 1946 this unit carried out a number of actions, including: in Gdańsk , Sopot , Olsztyn , Tczew , obtaining weapons and money which were transferred to the unit of “Łupaszka”.
Death and burial ground of Selmanowicz, Feliks “Zagończyk”.
He was arrested on 17-07-1946, age 42, in Sopot and incarcerated in the local prison . A month later, the military district court in Gdansk,
headed by Major Adam Gajewski
sentenced him to death, the permanent loss of his civil and honorary rights and the forfeiture of all his property. The request for pardon was rejected. Probably the sentence was executed before the case was heard. The execution took place in the basement of a prison in Gdansk on 28-08-1946. Danuta Siedzikówna “Inka”
was executed together with him (the sentence on both was carried out by a traitor, Lieutenant Franciszek Sawicki,
the commander of the firing squad). Before the shots were fired, they both could still shout: Long live Poland! Sawicki’s gravestone after the war was daubed with murder charges.
In 1997, the death sentence was annulled by the Gdansk provincial court. On 08-01- 2015, the Institute for National Remembrance announced the probable location of Feliks Selmanowicz’s remains.
On 28-08-2016 a solemn state funeral of Feliks Selmanowicz took place at the Garrison Cemetery in Gdansk and Danuta Siedzikówna, pseudonym “Selmanowicz” , was buried next to him in a symbolic grave . “Inca”. The funeral liturgy celebrated in the co-cathedral basilica in Gdańsk was led by Archbishop Sławoj Leszek Głódź.
President Andrzej Duda decided to appoint Feliks Selmanowicz a lieutenant colonel. He was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Central Lithuanian Army and the 1918-1921 War Remembrance Medal . During the interwar period he received two medals for long service and in 1932 the medal for the tenth anniversary of regained independence . In 1944 he was awarded the Cross for Bravery by the Commander of the Internal Army . In 2016 he was posthumously awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.












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