From the Washington Post: George de Wrzalinski, GSA librarian and Polish emigre
George de Wrzalinski, a retired General Services Administration librarian and the scion of an aristocratic Polish family who during World War II was pressed into forced labor in a German aircraft factory, died Aug. 13 at the Powhatan Nursing Home in Falls Church.
He was 85 and died of complications related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure and the effects of a stroke suffered in May, said his executor and friend, Margaret Shannon.
Mr. Wrzalinski (pronounced “Jalinsky”) retired from the GSA in 1997 as chief librarian of the technical division of the National Capital Region. This job included oversight of architectural, engineering and other blueprints for federal buildings in the Washington area, including the White House.
He came to the United States in 1954 and was naturalized as a citizen in 1960. His neighbors said he flew a U.S. flag at his house in Arlington County every day, but he also retained his Polish roots and Old World mannerisms.
“When he greeted me, he always kissed my hand,” said Shannon, who lived next door to Mr. Wrzalinski for 36 years.
Jerzy Ludwik de Wrzalinski was born Jan. 30, 1926, in Poznan, Poland. His father was a colonel in the Polish army and would later become mayor of Gniesno. His mother was a concert pianist, and a grandmother was a Polish princess. A twin sister died at birth.
In 1940, he was a 14-year-old high school student in Gniesno when the occupying Germans shipped him to an aircraft factory near Breslau, where he reinstalled oxygen lines in damaged aircraft. He would later tell friends that he began smoking in those years because laborers who smoked were allowed cigarette breaks. (He quit smoking in 1983.)
Near the end of the war, he was relocated to a forced labor camp at Aschersleben, which was a subcamp of Buchenwald. He was liberated by the British there in April 1945.
After the war, Mr. Wrzalinski lived in displaced persons camps in Germany for several years. He was fluent in German, Polish, English, French and Russian, and he had various translating jobs.
Upon immigrating to the United States, he settled in St. Paul, Minn., where he worked in the personnel office of Remington Rand, the business-machine manufacturer. He had said he was once denied a pay raise there with the explanation that “he can be happy that he’s in America.” He studied English at the University of Minnesota’s extension division.
When he became a U.S. citizen in St. Paul, he changed his first name, Jerzy, to its anglicized version, George.
He moved to the Washington area in the early 1960s and became a cataloguer and analyst for a College Park documentation company. Later he was a documents and information specialist for a NASA contractor. He joined the GSA in 1984 and retired in 1997.
Mr. Wrzalinski never married, and he had no immediate survivors.
In the last years of his life, his neighbors in Fairlington supervised his medical care and helped look after his house, where in addition to the American flag, he flew the Polish flag and the state flags of Maryland and Virginia daily. He had an elaborate and extensive flower garden.
He looked the part of a European aristocrat. On summer days, he wore tennis whites, unwrinkled and pressed immaculately, and he liked to invite friends and neighbors over for drinks in the evening. He frequented the Fairlington community swimming pool, where he befriended the Polish lifeguards.
Marian Wojciechowski, 97, of Las Vegas
Passed away June 5, 2011. Was born April 25, 1914, in Polaniec, Poland.
Marian was a World War II veteran, a platoon leader who fought German forces Sept. 1, 1939 at the Battle of Mokra, considered to be a tactical victory for the Polish cavalry. His regiment, the 21st Pulk Ulanow Nadwislanskich, was later awarded the Virtuti Militari. He continued fighting after Russia attacked Sept. 17, 1939, then joined the Polish underground resistance. He was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo in Radom, and sent to Auschwitz (Nr. 50333), Gross Rosen, and Leitmeritz concentration camps. In the displaced persons camps of post-war Germany, he met and married Wladyslawa Poniecka, who had survived the Gestapo prison Pawiak in Warsaw, and the concentration camp Ravensbruck (Nr. 7532) north of Berlin. In 1950, they came to America with their daughter, and settled in Toledo, Ohio.
Marian was awarded a master’s degree in economics and business administration from the Warsaw School of Economics in 1937. He worked as auditor for the Union of Agricultural Cooperatives before his arrest in 1942. From 1946-1947, he was an officer in the Polish Civilian Guard under the command of the U.S. Army in the American Zone of West Germany. He also served as chief liaison officer for Polish groups to the International Refugee Organization. Marian was the owner and editor of the Polish-language weekly newspaper “Ameryka Echo” in Toledo until 1961. He worked for many years as urban renewal project administrator with the City of Toledo. From 1980-1994 he was an administrator with the Neighborhood Housing Services of Toledo, finally retiring at the age of 80. Marian moved to Las Vegas in 1998 to be closer to his family.
Marian was a past commander of the Polish Army Veterans Association Post 74 in Toledo for 10 years, a member of American Legion Post 545 in Toledo, and a member of the VFW. He actively participated in many organizations, such as the Polish American Congress and Polish National Alliance. Marian also received many honors and awards during his lifetime, including medals for his military service during World War II and his work in urban development. In 2009, at the age of 95, Marian realized his wish to return to Mokra to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II. He also visited the former Polish Army Cadet Officers Cavalry School in Grudziadz, and even Auschwitz along the way. He was accompanied on this splendid adventure by his grandson Craig with Jodi, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, and Dr. Roman Rozycki of the Las Vegas Polish community.
From the Modjeska Club: Tadeusz Bociański
Born 17 August 1935. Died 14 July 2011. Tadeusz Bociański served as the President of the Modjeska Club from 1983 to 1989. His activities contributed to elevating the Club to its high social status and to establishing its broad scope of cultural activities. With an extraordinarily limited budget, he was able to bring to California the most distinguished Polish politicians, actors and artists. As the owner of a Cultural Agency PolArt he organized performances by famous Polish theaters and cabarets throughout the entire West Coast and the Southwest. He was also active in other social and cultural organizations. On 17 January 1998, he received the Cavalier Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for his achievements in promoting Polish culture abroad.
Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord!
