History
I WAITED FOR WORLD WAR III
Jerzy Byczyński's Interview with a Polish resistance member living in the United Kingdom
Major Sergiusz "Kawka" (English: "Jackdaw") Papliński is a 93-year-old living legend for the Polish community in Great Britain. His turbulent life could make an excellent action movie based entirely on his immeasurable love for Poland.
P
apliński was born on September 9, 1927, in Radom, a town in Poland, and raised in a patriotic family. Throughout his long life, he was a member of the Home Army – the dominant resistance movement in Poland during World War II, a “Cursed Soldier” – a resistance member of the anticommunist underground, a prisoner of the communist detention center, a soldier of Freedom and Independence (Polish: Wolność i Niezawisłość or WiN), a Polish underground anti-communist organization, an emigre, a special force paratrooper (a so-called Silent
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The Warsaw Institute Review
Unseen, Polish: cichociemny), an acrobat, a waiter, and a painter. He also worked in a quarry and a casino. He spent his entire life being a “lone wolf ” and never started a family. Why? We interviewed “Kawka” in his painting studio in South Kensington, London – a place always open to his large group of friends. JERZY BYCZYŃSKI: MAJOR, HOW DID YOUR RESISTANCE ACTIVITY BEGIN?
Sergiusz Papliński: I supported the Home Army in Radom. My role was to smuggle weapons out of the armament factory in Radom. One day, I received a warning
