To truly understand why the people of Warsaw were prepared to risk their lives in the Uprising against German occupation in August 1944, it’s worth looking at the youth. Young Poles, desperate to regain freedom had inherited a heady tradition of resistance. Uprisings against the Russian Empire formed their parents’ views, who had often been educated in secret Polish schools in the early 20th century. Even more so, it was their experiences of the extraordinarily evil regime of the German occupation from September 1939.

Stones for the Rampart

A short book first printed in the underground press in 1943 „Kamienie na Szaniec” (Stones for the Rampart) contributed greatly to stoking the fire of rebellion. It is based on the true activities of a group of close friends in the 23rd Warsaw scout troop from 1939 to 1943.

Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski / Photo source: Kamienie na Szaniec, Śląsk, 1958

The plot moves quickly from sunny pre-war days full of idealistic hopes for the future.  The grim reality of war soon forces the boys to search for the best underground group to work with, to retaliate. Focus is placed on the spiritual and practical development of two friends Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski (code name Alek) and Jan Bytnar (Rudy) with the third Tadeusz Zawadzki (Zośka) added in later editions.

Jan Bytnar (1st on right)/ Photo source: Kamienie na Szaniec, Śląsk, 1958

Always faithful to the scout promise of service to God, Poland and fellow citizens, they start with acts of mały sabotaż (petty sabotage) and diversion.

Tadeusz Zawadzki, Zośka / Photo in Kamienie na Szaniec 1958 Śląsk

Petty sabotage

From using toy printing presses to distributing messages inciting the people of Warsaw to acts of rebellion, they move to capturing large Nazi flags. They hang Polish flags on lamp posts and throw noxious gas bombs into shops selling goods only available to Germans. Once the Polska Walcząca (Poland Fighting) anchor is designed in 1942, it’s their mission to paint it on walls and monuments.

The PW anchor /illustration by A. Horowitz in Stones for the Rampart, London 1945

“I like the atmosphere which prevails in Petty Sabotage work. Not too much talk, and plenty of action. No irritating patriotic phrases, No empty show, but comradeship and discipline, serenity and chivalry, exemplified in every undertaking, every individual job” (Marian, Stones for the Rampart, London, 1945)

All of this was aimed at the 20,000 German citizens living in Warsaw and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers passing through. With each action the boys become bolder, such as Alek’s removal of a German plaque under the monument to Mikołaj Kopernik the Polish astronomer. 

Kopernik monument Warsaw /illustration by A. Horowitz in Stones for the Rampart, London 1945

In full view of the Police Headquarters, in daylight, he climbs up the statue and unscrews the plaque which falls into the snow below. It reveals the original Polish plaque and enjoys great publicity, spread by the underground press. In retaliation the Germans remove the statue of Jan Kiliński a 19th century insurgent. Alek follows the truck, painting: ‘People of Warsaw, I am here Jan Kiliński’ for all to see outside its resting place.

Armed engagement

The young men now in their early 20s become paramilitary scouts, the senior part of the Szare Szeregi (Grey Ranks), the name adopted by Polish Scouting in wartime. By the beginning of 1943, armed Home Army groups begin disarming Germans to gain weapons. Rudy, with a group of partisans comes across a SS officer and draws his revolver close up, shooting in cold blood.

Rudy shooting an SS officer /Illustration by A. Horowitz in Stones for the Rampart, London 1945

Whilst the soldier is still alive, Rudy asks him in fluent German “You’re an SS man, aren’t you?… So you know what concentration camps for Poles are like. You’ve heard of Oświęcim? Of the Gestapo’s methods of examination and the German principle of collective responsibility?”

 Alek, whose father has already been arrested and murdered by this point, is not so easily able to take another’s life. He wrestles with this problem spiritually, consulting others as to its justification.

The Arsenal action

Memorial to the action outside the Arsenal building, Warsaw / Photo: Wiki Commons

The Arsenal action in March 1943 is an ultimate moment in their activity. It involves Zośka freeing Rudy, who has been captured by the Germans and brutally tortured. Meticulously planned in collaboration with the Home Army, it resulting in freeing 24 Polish prisoners. Deaths occur on both sides including Rudy who has been tortured beyond help and that of Alek, shot during the action.

Graves of Rudy, Alek and Alek’s father moved to Powązki Cemetery after the war / Photo: A Kucewicz

Publication underground

Worried by Zośka’s deep depression after his friends’ deaths, his father suggests he writes up their work. Aleksander Kamiński, an established writer, head of the Information and Propaganda Bureau and scout leader, edits and publishes these notes in the underground press in July 1943 under the pseudonym of Juliusz Górecki.

Zośka’s grave in Powązki cemetery always visited by scouts / Photo: A Kucewicz

Reading about the boys’ bravery,  young people’s spirits are fired up to further acts of resistance. Taken by microfiche to London and Italy, the book is republished with an English edition in 1945. After the Communists enter Poland all of Kamiński’s books are taken out of circulation until 1956. The book then reappears under his own name and has been a seminal school text since then.

Title with a purpose

The title words, taken from Juliusz Słowacki’s famous poem were very poignant during the occupation. Zośka discussed it with Rudy just before his death.

Jan Rossmann, an instructor of the Szare Szeregi suggested that the most dear acts of friendship, the bravest actions are these stones thrown on the rampart. But he wondered what the rampart was protecting. The values of people? In the Home Army they were building a rampart of hearts, of ideals, based on an educated stance of morals. This rampart was to serve as a bastion for the living and for future generations.

Powązki cemetery where the young scouts of the Uprising are buried /Photo: A Kucewicz

Heroes and Heroines

Whilst the book centres on the three young men, there is a much wider network at work. Alek’s sister Maria ‘Maryla’ and his fiancée ‘Baśka’ Barbara Sapińska, Rudy’s sister Basia Bytnar ‘Duśka’ were also active, as were many friends who died during the Uprising. Of this whole group only Maryla and Baśka survived the war. Their many letters which survived show more of their characters and will be another story for you to read.