The Germans took the retired Polish army officer and led him away from his house. He met his death at the edge of the village. After the war his place of execution became commemorated by locals, despite his burial nearby. For over half a century multiple generations of families have paid tribute to a man considered a respected neighbor. The memory of Michał Gaca lives on in Strzelce Wielkie.
From fieldwork to leadership on the battlefield
Michał Gaca was born into a peasant family in the village of Pojawie, near Tarnów, in what is now Brzesko County, Poland, on 17 February 1885. Poland was partitioned at that time, since the late eighteenth century, and not reunited until 1918, making Michał a subject of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Galicia– one of its poorest provinces. But fate had a different plan for Michał than life as a fieldworker.
In 1892, Michał enrolled in the small primary school in Zaborów. There he stood out as a gifted student. The school’s headmaster and a local priest saw potential in the young boy, and they successfully persuaded his parents to send him to to a secondary school. Michał had a particular knack for foreign languages and in his lifetime learned Latin, Greek, Italian, German, English, and Czech, in addition to his native Polish.
Moving to Bochnia in 1898, Michał attended gymnasium then lyceum for eight years. He later studied at the Higher Polytechnic School in Lviv which became Lviv Polytechnic University. Also obliged to serve in the Austro-Hungarian military, he entered a one-year military school and company commanders course shortly before the First World War. The scholar-soldier would soon put theory into practice.
Michał saw considerable action on the Italian Front during the war. He rose through the ranks from cadet to lieutenant, accumulating an impressive array of awards and decorations along the way. These included the Order of the Iron Crown, 3rd class and the Medal of Bravery, 1st class. He was also hospitalized twice during his service. The first instance occurred in December 1915 when he fell ill with typhus. After returning to duty in February 1916, he sustained severe head injuries just a few months later, from which he recovered for over half a year.
The armistice of 11 November 1918 did not bring an end to Michał’s military career. Nor did it bring peace to Europe, with several regional conflicts tied directly to the war breaking out. Poland, for instance, fought against neighboring countries to secure its reestablished borders. Its fledging army required professional soldiers and thus, Michał answered the call.
Joining as a volunteer in what became the 16th Infantry Regiment, in late 1918, Michał saw active service in the Polish-Soviet War. He was promoted to major in 1919 and was praised twice by the garrison commander of Grodno the following year, for his bravery, courage, and sacrifice. Once the war ended, he chose to remain in the army and was stationed at different garrisons until his retirement in 1928.1
Retirement and execution
All of his war wounds finally caught up to him. Michał retired from the army in 1928, his military records showing that he was previously ill and was on long term sick leave. What to do now as a forty-three year old retiree?
Returning back home, the retired soldier settled near his birthplace in the village of Strzelce Wielkie. This was the home of his wife Katarzyna whom he married on 26 January 1913. Becoming a respected member of the local community, the worldly man helped his neighbors in any way he could. He lived out his retirement surrounded by fields, forests, and friends and family, an ideal existence that lasted for a little over a decade. In 1939, his native land once again became engulfed by world war. The last war he experienced.
At first, the retired major was of little interest to the German occupiers. Then came 29 June 1942.2 On this day the gestapo arrived to Michał’s home early in the morning, forced him to come out, and after conversing with the retiree in German, led their detainee away to the end of the village. They stopped at a roadside. It was time. The Germans shot Michał in the head and in the chest, leaving his body to rot in a ditch.3
Locals buried Michał in the Strzelce Wielkie village cemetery, where his wife joined him in death years later. The couple had no children but did have a large extended family. Many relatives still reside in the area today.
Monument to a respected neighbor
Sometime after the war, the exact date is unknown, the residents of Strzelce Wielkie and the municipal authorities of Szczurowa worked together to commemorate the memory of Michał Gaca. They constructed a simple monument at the site of his execution made out of poured concrete. The current monument has been in place since at least the 1960s. Affixed onto its slanted portion is a plaque, which has a photo of Michał in his Polish army uniform along with a few short lines of text:
Tu Został Rozstrzelany 28. 06. 1942 Przez Hitlerowcow Major W.P. Michał Gaca ur. 17. 02. 1885 Cześć Jego Pamięci
In English: ‘here he was shot. 28 June 1942. By the Nazis. Polish Army Major Michał Gaca. Born 17 February 1885. Honor his memory.’
The monument has long been a local focal point of patriotic commemoration. One time in the year that sees an influx of visitors to the site is late October around All Saints’ Day, a national holiday, when people pay homage to the departed in cemeteries. In older times scouts would stand watch over Michał’s monument for one-hour intervals. Teresa Stasiek, née Kozak, my mother, did so in the late 1970s, as well as her sister Krystyna. Their father was himself a victim of Nazi oppression, having been a forced laborer in Germany.
Click here to read about the wartime experience of my Józef Kozak, my grandfather.
Decades after my mother’s own school days, the children of Strzelce Wielkie continue to care for Michał’s monument. These days students from the village primary school are taken on service trips in the weeks leading up to All Saints Day. They go around visiting local monuments and graves in the parish cemetery, historic and or abandoned, tidying up the grounds and leaving behind offerings.
Click here to view photos of students in Strzelce Wielkie on their All Saints’ Day tour in 2019.
Even the COVID-19 pandemic could not stop the annual trips. In the fall of 2020, the children went out as always, bundled in warm clothes, with tools in hand, albeit now masked. Indeed, their teachers stress the importance of civics and local history.4
Recently, however, a second site commemorating Michał’s memory has emerged. Over ten kilometers away, the primary school in Zaborów unveiled a plaque dedicated to its talented former pupil. The dedication ceremony took place on 28 October 2018 as part of national celebrations commemorating the 100th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence. A Holy Mass in the village parish commemorating local veterans of the First World War, the Polish-Soviet War, and the Second World War, was followed by the unveiling at the school. Distinguished guests attended the event as well as several of Michał’s relatives.
Sources
- A short biography of Michał Gaca was published by the director of the primary school in Zaborów. Mieczysław Chabura, ‘Walczył o wolność i niepodległość’ [in Polish], in W Zakolu Raby i Wisły, vol.26, no.1 (2018), pp.34-5. Viewed at: https://gck-szczurowa.pl/pdf/zakole_1_2018.pdf (accessed 1 January 2022).
- Some confusion exists as to the date of Michał’s execution. The memorial at his execution site lists 28 June 1942. Local historians like Mieczysław Chabura, however, cite 29 June 1942. Furthermore, the Straty database, a database of Polish victims of Nazi oppression, compiled by Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance, records Michał’s death as May 1940.
- Details of Michał Gaca’s execution appear in a commemorative book published by the Strzelce Wielkie club of Chicago on the occasion of its 70th anniversary in 1998. Józefa Drabik, ‘Strzelce Wielkie Na Przestrzeni Wieków’ [in Polish], in Pamiętnik Towarzystwa Strzelce Wielkie 1928-1998 (Chicago: Towarzystwo Parafii Strzelce Wielkie, 1998), p.74.
- ‘Świętowanie rocznic w czasie pandemii w Publicznej Szkole Podstawowej w Strzelcach Wielkich’ [in Polish], in Nasza Gmina: Biuletyn Informacyjny Gminy Szczurowa, no.4 (2020), pp.23-4. Viewed at: https://gck-szczurowa.pl/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/naszag4_2020.pdf (accessed 1 January 2022).
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