Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘He was our hero and a true inspiration... thank you Dundee’
Boguslaw Krawczyk (pictured right) was a komandor podporucznik in the Polish Navy, the equivalent of a lieutenant commander in the British forces.
Having come to Dundee in 1939 during the first month of the Second World War, Lt Comm Krawczyk took his own life with a gunshot to the heart at his office at the city’s submarine base HMS Ambrose in 1941, aged 35.
His family said this was “due to political background reasons that are still unclear to this very day”.
Lt Comm Krawczyk’s great-greatnephew Jacek Ciucias Vel McCiucias, who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, came to Dundee with wife Iwona and daughter Julia.
As well as an emotional visit to their relative’s grave i n Balgay Cemetery, the family took the opportunity to visit the Dundee International Submarine Memorial in Camperdown Street.
Jacek said: “For us as a family, Boguslaw Krawczyk is somebody special. He is our pride and he is part of Polish and Royal Navy history.
“He was a true inspiration for our uncle Leszek Piaseczny, who served in the Polish Navy and who proudly followed the path of Lieutenant Commander Krawczyk. As heirs of the history of Boguslaw, our family has never before had a chance to pay our respect to our great-grandpa by his grave.”
Jacek spoke to the Tele about his great-grandfather’s time in Dundee.
On September 11 1939, eight days after the official start of the Second World War, a submarine Lt Comm Krawczyk was commanding was ordered to head to Britain. Despite the submarine having been damaged by German fire, the crew took a “risky route” through the Danish Straits.
Lt Comm Krawczyk gave the message to the Polish headquarters during the journey, “We are going to Britain, long live Poland”, not realising he would never return home.
On September 20 1939, the damaged submarine and exhausted crew reached Rosyth — the first Polish submarine to join the Royal Navy.
Lt Comm Krawczyk and his crew were honoured with a Cross of Valour military order and later he was honoured with t he Cross Virrituti Military — one of the highest Polish military orders.
He was visited by King George VI and the Queen Mother, who was then Queen, during a visit to Dundee.
He became one of the first Polish officers honoured with the Distinguished Service Order by King George VI.
During his time in Dundee, his main duties were to patrol the North Sea. However, following a collision with another submarine, plans were put in place to separate him and his crew to other parts of the UK.
Jacek believes “internal politics” between his relative and Polish officials in London led to his suicide, saying there are files from the investigation of his death that are still classified.
He added: “Finally having a chance to visit his grave was such a unique experience for us all.
“Our family waited 75 years to pay our respects to him and other Polish soldiers at the Balgay Cemetery.
“We then went to the International Submarines Memorial.
“It was something very special and emotional for us. We were finally walking through the places where he had once been all those years ago — the streets of Dundee — his last home.
“We would like to say thank you for this beautiful and peaceful place of his rest — thank you the people of Dundee.”
A POLISH family made an emotional pilgrimage to Dundee to visit the grave of a relative who died during the Second World War.