Zbigniew Czajkowski - Czajkowski During Second World War

Czajkowski During Second World War

Czajkowski started fencing at the age of 14, while in high school. The outbreak of the Second World War interrupted his fencing career as, immediately after his graduation in 1939, he enlisted in the Polish Navy to fight the Nazis. In September, 1939, Czajkowski, along with four other Polish sailors, was captured by the Soviet army and sent for interrogation to the city of Kobryn. He was fortunate to avoid execution as the commissar in Kobryn was not interested in Czajkowski and sent him home. Czajkowski then made his way back to the Soviet controlled Lwów and, while waiting to be allowed to cross the Romanian border to rejoin the Polish forces in France, continued his fencing training. In April, 1940, while on his way to the border, Czajkowski was again arrested by Soviet soldiers and this time spent over a year in various Soviet prisons, being interrogated and tortured. He was then sent to the Soviet labor camp in Vorkuta, beyond the polar circle where he survived extremely harsh conditions until, in September, 1941, the new head of the labor camp decided to free him. During all his time as a Soviet prisoner, one of Czajkowski's main diversions was to hold a wooden spoon in his hand as though it were a sabre and "practice" fencing - visualizing himself engaged in his favorite activity as a distraction from the hardships of his imprisonment. After being freed from Vorkuta, Czajkowski spent weeks making his way to Uzbekistan, where he stayed for several months working on cotton and rice plantations. Before leaving, he also spent some time coaching fencing. On February 5, 1942, his birthday, Czajkowski rejoined the Polish Navy. He eventually was stationed in Great Britain, at the Polish Naval Station in Plymouth. Soon after D-Day, Czajkowski received leave from the Navy and began studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He fenced for the Edinburgh University fencing club and the Scottish Fencing Club. He also began to do some amateur coaching for the Polish Students Association in Great Britain.