Olympian, patriot, and freedom fighter.
- Feb 28
- 2 min read
He was one of those people you would have seen only in newspapers and newsreels if you lived in the 1930s. His name was Bronislaw Czech, a young, good-looking, three-time Olympian, the kind of guy who flashed down mountains in exotic locations like St. Moritz and Lake Placid. The charmed life he had known ended abruptly when the Nazis invaded his Polish homeland. He spent that winter of 1939 skiing just as he had in years past, but this time not as an Olympian, but as a courier for the Resistance. It took several months, but the German secret police ultimately caught on to his activities, arrested him, and sent him to Tarnow prison.
A few months later, in June of 1940, he and 727 other young Polish men were sent to a new prison camp, still under construction. It was on the outskirts of the little town of Oswiecim in Poland, and there he became Prisoner No. 349. Unbeknownst to Bronislaw, he was one of the first of more than one million people who would live and die in this infamous place – Auschwitz.
In his particular case, however, it seemed that a "get out of jail free" card was available. You see, as a famous Olympian, he could be quite useful to the Nazis. Bronislaw was offered the distinct honor of coaching the German Olympic ski team in exchange for his freedom. Imagine the dilemma, the decision to be made – stay in hell or work for the hated enemy. As it turned out it was no decision at all for Bronislaw; he would never turn his back on his own people, his own country. Four grueling years later, on June 5, 1944, Bronislaw Czech, Olympian, patriot, and freedom fighter died of illness and starvation.
May his memory be blessed.
