The Forgotten Courier to the Delegation of the Polish Government. Second Lieutenant Napoleon Segieda “Wera” (1908–1991)

Abstract

The article presents Second Lieutenant Napoleon Segieda, alias Gustav Molin “Wera” or Jerzy Salski (after the war), born in the Zamość region, a resident of Pomerania, and a political courier to the government of the Polish Underground State (during the war), parachuted to the country on the night of 7th November 1941. The paper is the first attempt to show his biography and military achievements. He was a participant in the war of 1939 (the defense of Warsaw), and then, a prisoner of war in the German camps, whence, after many trials and tribulations, he arrived at the Polish Forces base in Great Britain. On completing his mission in the country (summer 1942), Segieda set off to London again with the first comprehensive report of the Polish Underground State to the Polish government-in-exile, London. As early as in 1942, being a witness to the extermination, he alerted the world to the Holocaust, to practically no effect, since the West was not particularly interested in the problem. From spring to summer 1942, Napoleon Segieda stayed in the city of Oświęcim where he collected information about the Concentration Camp Auschwitz. On 8th August 1942, he left Warsaw and, via Cracow and Vienna, reached Switzerland where, for unknown reasons, he got stuck on the way to London for a few months. His report was later distributed among many important and influential politicians of the allied community in Great Britain and the USA. It is worth mentioning that the messages on the Holocaust by Stefan Karboński (the head of the leadership of civil combat) also arrived in London during the summer 1942. After the war, Napoleon Segieda settled down in London, under the surname of Jerzy Salski, where he died completely forgotten.