Józef Wacław Rokicki was born on 6 March 1894 in Lipno, in the household of Clement and Maria of Lamparski. The father was an official, which provided comparative stableness for the family, though not the position of the elite.
Rokicki's education began at a local city school, which he graduated in 1906 and was then continued at home. As an extern, he passed an exam on six junior advanced classes in Płock in 1911. At the age of only 18, he began working as a taxation authoritative in Kalisz and then in Poltava.
In March 1915, he was incorporated into the Russian army. Trained in Tiflis and Oranienbaum, he took command of a company of device guns and then served in the Union of Military Poles at the 75th Infantry Division. In September 1917, he became commander of a company of device guns in the 9th firearm Regiment of the 3rd Division of the First Polish Corps (Dowborczyków). His loyalty to the thought of Poland's independency was already established.
After returning to the country in 1918, Rokicki joined the Polish Army. He initially served as Company Commander in the 28th Kaniowski firearm Regiment. In 1919 he graduated from the Officers' School of the Motor Forces in Kraków. Since then, he has developed his career in method – automotive and armored troops. He promoted to major in 1923 and to lieutenant colonel in 1937. During the interwar period he held a number of command and staff positions, among others he was commandant of the 9th armoured battalion in Lublin. He besides studied mathematics at the University of Warsaw.
On the 1 hand, a military professional, on the another hand, an intellectual and loyal citizen. Rokicki grew up to be an officer with broad horizons and at the same time firmly embedded in national values. He was a sympathizer of the national camp, which influenced his later conspiracy election. In September 1939, he served as a car supply officer in the office of the Corps II territory in Lublin. On September 19, he got into russian captivity, but managed to escape. It most likely saved him from dying in Katyn pits. As early as October, Rokicki started a conspiracy operation.
Roots and formation of an officer
Józef Wacław Rokicki was born on 6 March 1894 in Lipno, in the household of Clement and Maria of Lamparski. The father was an official, which provided comparative stableness for the family, though not the position of the elite. Rokicki's education began at a local city school, which he graduated in 1906 and was then continued at home. As an extern, he passed an exam on six junior advanced classes in Płock in 1911. At the age of only 18, he began working as a taxation authoritative in Kalisz and then in Poltava.
In March 1915, he was incorporated into the Russian army. Trained in Tiflis and Oranienbaum, he took command of a company of device guns and then served in the Union of Military Poles at the 75th Infantry Division. In September 1917 he became commander of a company of device guns in the 9th Regiment of 3rd Division 1st Polish Corps. His loyalty to the thought of Poland's independency was already established.
After returning to the country in 1918, Rokicki joined the Polish Army. He later served as Company Commander in the 28th Kaniowski firearm Regiment. In 1919 he graduated from the Officers' School of the Motor Forces in Kraków. Since then, he has developed his career in method – automotive and armored troops. He promoted to major in 1923 and to lieutenant colonel in 1937. During the interwar period he held a number of command and staff positions, among others he was commandant of the 9th armoured battalion in Lublin. He besides studied mathematics at the University of Warsaw.
On the 1 hand, a military professional, on the another hand, an intellectual and loyal citizen. Rokicki grew up to be an officer with broad horizons and at the same time firmly embedded in national values. He was a sympathizer of the national camp, which influenced his later conspiracy election.
In September 1939, he served as a car supply officer in the office of the Corps II territory in Lublin. On September 19, he got into russian captivity, but managed to escape. Already in October he started a conspiracy activity.
NOW and the full selection – between mission and ideology
The National Military Organization was a natural environment for Rokicki. Since November 1939 he led the Lublin District, building a strong conspiracy structure there.
“There he managed to make a very strong structure, which was seen. Thus, in 1941 he was asked by Stefan Sacha, the president of the Underground Board of the Main National Party, codenamed ‘Kwadrat’, to take the position of chief of the NOW office in Warsaw,” said prof. Jan Żaryn in the Polish Radio broadcast dedicated to the officer.
After taking office in Warsaw, Rokicki had to face organizational chaos and political tensions. Now's structures were scattered, and any of the local commandants did not trust the Sanctional core of the AK. Rokicki began an intense union campaign, visiting districts and relieving tensions. The merger with the National Army was 1 of the top challenges of his life. The goal was to get 70,000 fresh soldiers into the AK on a partnership basis, without losing organizational and ideological identity. Rokicki – as commandant – was to guarantee that the structures would be integrated into the AK without breaking their hierarchy.
“The chief commander of NOW Józef Rokicki was primarily loyal to the political environment attached to him in the structures of the conspiracy headed by president Stefan Sacha, but of course he had any objections”, explained Prof. Żaryn.
Rokicki's concerns were whether the AK officers, frequently of sanitation circles, would be able to respect the independency of the nationalists.
“Sanation, so the AK officers, will effort to subdue the soldiers of NOW, while avoiding the continuation of the NOW commanders as having a fundamental influence on their upbringing and ideological reality”, added the historian.
Rokicki saw that unification was not ideal.
“The political decision of the National organization was very hard for them. The chief commander of NOW-AK did not agree with her so much as he submitted to her, but he saw the weakness of this decision," the prof. said.
Nevertheless, Rokicki showed work and pragmatism. He endorsed the decision to merge and on 3 November 1942, together with Sacha, issued an authoritative order to include NOW in the AK. A day later, he took an oath on the hands of General Stefan Rowecki. In the following weeks, Rokicki supervised the oaths of territory chiefs and the implementation of a common organisational structure. He conducted field inspections, assessing the state of training, morale and the readiness of troops to act under uniform command. At the same time, he had to ease individual conflicts and keep ideological uniformity.
The merge became a fact, but at the same time led to a crack – any nationalists left the ranks of NOW and formed the National Armed Forces. Rokicki remained faithful to the thought of a common conflict and duties towards soldiers. As Inspector of the Main Commands of the AK, he conducted organizational activities in the Kraków District, focusing on maintaining morale, communication and combat readiness of troops.
Warsaw Uprising and Selection Drama
In the summertime of 1944, Józef Rokicki was at the center of events that were to decide the destiny of the capital and many of its subordinates. After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising on 1 August, he initially operated in the Śródmieście as a branch officer of the 3rd Commands of the AK District. On 18 August, he was appointed commandant of the Mokotov Oblast, which meant taking work for 1 of the city's hardest fighting areas. Shortly thereafter – 20 September – he was assigned the function of commander of the 10th AK Infantry Division. Maciej Rataja.
The conditions for fighting in Mokotów were highly difficult. Weak weapons, shortages of ammunition, overcrowded shelters, hunger and continuous bombings – it was the everyday life of his soldiers. Rokicki wasn't the chief from behind the desk. He moved around the battlefields, contacted the episode commanders, personally supervised the fortifications. In the morning of September 24, he reported the next day:
“I will defend myself on the rubble.”
But the situation was hopeless. The area occupied by the AK troops in Mokotów shrunk to about 1 square kilometer. There was physical and intellectual exhaustion. any of the soldiers were becoming vulnerable. As he himself reported in the dispatch:
“The moods among the panic troops. The desire to hang a white flag, 1 branch commander did not follow the order.”
On September 26, 1944, Józef Rokicki made a decision that went back to past as 1 of the most controversial in the full Uprising. He decided to evacuate Mokotów troops through the sewers to Śródmieście. He acted in the belief that further opposition meant the pointless death of hundreds of soldiers, and individuals could inactive be useful for fighting elsewhere.
“He was liable for the people. He realized that dying is sometimes much easier than living, and life is simply a value that must be considered important, due to the fact that a Pole can give his country more than one. These soldiers could inactive be of usage in Śródmieście...’, says Prof. Jan Żaryn.
This decision was opposed by General Antoni Chruściel ‘Monter’, who refused to evacuate and gave the order to fight to the end. However, this response, given in respective dispatches, did not scope Rokicki in time. On the night of 26 to 27 September, the lieutenant colonel gave command of the evacuation to Major Kazimierz Szternal and, with about 700 soldiers, left Mokotów.
The Christian, failing to admit Rokicki's decision, ordered him to return through the sewers to Mokotov. This order was not carried out either – the channels were already under German control. Meanwhile, the Mokots capitulated. On 27 September, in consequence to the evacuation, Gen. Chruściel set up a peculiar commission “with the character of a military court”, which negatively assessed the actions of Rokicki.
“He fought with himself. Heroic death was an attraction. The work was to do differently," Jan Dobraczyński, a comrade in arms, wrote about him.
Rokicki didn't fight for a reputation. He didn't answer the charges, he didn't explain. In his later memoirs there is simply a image of the commander knowing the price of his decision, but a certain right. Among the soldiers and officers, opinions were divided – for any he was a coward, for others a man who saved hundreds of lives.
After the surrender of the uprising, he was imprisoned in German, first in Sandbostel, then in Murnau. There he stayed until his liberation by the American troops in April 1945. In the camp he suffered from chronic bronchit, a illness that affected his wellness for the remainder of his life. The destiny of Rokicki's decision is simply a classical example of war dilemma: to stay and die to uphold the legend of opposition or to save people for further struggle. A choice no 1 wants to make, a choice individual has to make.
In the shadow of post-war: emigration, return, oblivion
After the liberation of the prison camp in Murnau by Americans in April 1945, Rokicki has not decided to return to the country. He chose emigration, aware of the consequences that could happen to him from a fresh communist power. He settled in Paris, where he rapidly became active in the Kombatan activity. From 1948 he was a associate of the Audit Committee of the Paris branch of the AK wheel, and from 1954 president of the territory of France of the same wheel. He besides acted in national environments, maintaining contact with erstwhile combat companions and editorials of emigration writings.
His publications (letters for editorials, printed memoirs in Placówka and “Polish Thoughts”) were not so defensive as documentary ones. He wanted to preserve a image of the conflict he was in for posterity. His most crucial work “The Blue and Shadows of the Heroic 5 Years” was published on emigration in 1949. This is simply a communicative not only about the Warsaw Uprising, but besides about the everydayness of conspiracy, loyalty and the price of work of the commander. In Poland The book only appeared a fewer years ago, thanks to the National thought Heritage Institute, which was managed by prof. Żaryn.
In 1957, Rokicki decided to return to Poland. The motives of this decision are not full known, but it can be assumed that she weighed down her desire to end her life in her homeland. The return wasn't triumphant. On the contrary – Rokicki was under constant surveillance by the safety Service, though he was never formally arrested. He was treated with distrust, as many AK soldiers, especially those associated with the national camp. He was severely sick with his lungs, and he did not return to work until July 1959. He worked in the United economical Teams INCO (it was a unique PRL company created by the PAX environment, i.e. erstwhile falangists Bolesław Piasecki), and then as a elder referent-planist at the Warsaw Transport Services Database. He never returned to military service or regained the position he had before the war. His life was on the outside, without publicity and without authoritative honors.
In 1966, he submitted a typo of his war memories at the Pax Publishing Institute. The manuscript was not released in his lifetime. Only 10 years after his death was a fragment of the letter to the War Historical Review published by R. Bartoszyski. It was 1 of Rokicki's last traces as a associate and witness to history.
He died abruptly on October 6, 1976 during the inauguration of the academic year at the Academy of Catholic Theology in Warsaw. He rests at the Military Cemetery in Powązki, in the office of the NOW-AK Battalion "Gustaw". Although the communicative did not deal with him graciously, and the legend of the Warsaw Uprising for years ignored him, Rokicki was 1 of those who did not bow down either under the force of ideology or under the burden of lonely decisions.
"He realized that dying is sometimes much easier than surviving later, and life is simply a value that must be considered important, due to the fact that the Pole can give his country inactive many more," says Prof. Jan Żaryn.
Today it slow returns to collective memory as a tragic but consistent figure. His life shows that past is not black and white, and decisions made in the shadow of war do not always let a choice between good and evil – sometimes only between tragedy and responsibility.
Tomasz Kavalec
