Dr Jan Buzek

Dr Jan Buzek, a social and political activist from Cieszyn Silesia,¹ was one of over a hundred victims from the community of physicians from Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin during the Second World War. He was an inmate of the Nazi German concentration camp in Dachau, one of dozens of doctors from the Silesia and Dąbrowa region who were prisoners of that camp, and one of several murdered there.

Dr Jan Buzek. Source: Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim, 1980.

He was born in Cieszyn on 27 March 1874 into a peasant family: his father Andrzej came from Końska near Cieszyn, and his mother was Maria Buzek née Kajzar. On completing primary school in Końska, he attended the German grammar school in Cieszyn, where he belonged to Jedność, a secret Polish youth organization founded in 1886. He went up to the Faculty of Philosophy at the Jagiellonian University, but after the first semester moved to the Faculty of Medicine. In 1897-1898 he was President of Znicz,² a Silesian students’ society founded in 1894. He graduated with the Doctor Medicinae Universae degree³ in 1901.

He completed his postgraduate internship in hospitals in Kraków and Biała, and in 1902 settled in the village of Dąbrowa in Cieszyn Silesia, where he was appointed to the post of local community and miners’ physician. He worked there until 1939 as a general practitioner in a trilingual (Polish, Czech, and German) environment, and was highly appreciated as an exemplary physician and one of the prominent Polish activists in Cieszyn Silesia.

He took an active part in the Polish educational movement, primarily in a local education society founded in 1885 and operating in the Duchy of Cieszyn.⁴ He contributed to the foundation of a Polish grammar school⁵ in Orłowa in 1909, the second Polish secondary school in Cieszyn Silesia at the time. In the same year Dr Buzek contributed to the revival of a Silesian students’ society called Związek Starych Strzech Znicza, which ran a charity to assist poor students.

He was president and co-founder of Ognisko Polskie, a Polish social centre founded in Dąbrowa in 1911 for the Polish intelligentsia of the Karwina Basin.⁶ He lectured on hygiene and medical rescue at a Polish mining school⁷ in Dąbrowa, and on hygiene at a domestic science college in Orłowa.⁸ During the First World War he was called up for service as a military physician in the Austrian army, and was awarded a military distinction for his successful efforts to combat infectious diseases.

On the grounds of the decision of the Conference of Ambassadors of 28 July 1920,⁹ the territory of Cieszyn Silesia was divided into two parts, and one part was assigned to Poland, and the other to Czechoslovakia. Most of the Polish population left on the Czechoslovak side of the border was concentrated in two powiats,¹⁰ Czeskocieszyński and Frysztak. In addition to his professional work in the Zaolzie area,¹¹ Dr Buzek continued to engage in social work. One of the main Polish political organisations operating on the Czech side of the border was PSL¹² (the Polish People’s Party), founded in the autumn of 1922, mainly associated with the Protestant, petty-bourgeois and intellectual milieu. Dr Buzek was one of its co-founders and leaders. In 1931 he was elected its president and was a successful PSL candidate in the 1929 general election to the Czechoslovak National Assembly. He was a parliamentary deputy until 1935 and a member of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic parliamentary group. His work in the Czechoslovak parliament focused on the defence of the rights of the Polish people in Czechoslovakia, especially in education. He made a major contribution to the campaign to get the Polish grammar school in Orłowa recognised as a state school.

He also became the first vice-president of Rada Naczelna Polaków w Czechosłowacji,¹³ the supreme council of the Polish minority in Czechoslovakia, which was established in October 1935 as the superior authority for all the Polish political parties and economic, cultural and educational societies. Its president was Wacław Olszak (1868-1939), a physician from Karwina who was killed by the Nazis on 11 September 1939. Dr Olszak’s biography by Jan Sembol of Karviná has recently¹⁴ been submitted to the editorial office of Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim. Dr Buzek was also vice-president of the cross-party Związek Polaków w Czechosłowacji (Union of Polish People in Czechoslovakia),¹⁵ which was founded in March 1938.

In addition, he was a member of many other Polish social organizations. He was on the board of Macierz Polska¹⁶ in Czechoslovakia and was appointed its treasurer in 1921. He served as chairman of Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego w Czechosłowacji (the Polish scouting association in Czechoslovakia). He also worked with Sokół,¹⁷ a Polish gymnastics society; Rodzina Opiekuńcza (a charity providing aid for Polish families); a Polish friendly society called Towarzystwo Oszczędności i Zaliczek, the oldest banking institution in Cieszyn Silesia, established in 1863, with its main office in Ceský Tešín; Związek Polskich Straży Pożarnych w Czechosłowacji (the Association of Polish Fire Brigades in Czechoslovakia, established in 1920); Polski Zbór Ewangelicki w Orłowej (the Polish Lutheran Church in Orlowa); and Towarzystwo Ewangelickie Oświaty Ludowej (the Lutheran Society for People’s Education).

Dr Buzek was also a columnist and wrote newspaper articles on medicine and hygiene for the Polish periodicals published in Cieszyn Silesia. He also wrote historical and commemorative publications, and published his parliamentary speeches and questions.

When Germany seized Silesia in 1939, Dr Buzek appealed to the occupying authorities on behalf of the Polish inhabitants. He was arrested in Operation Tannenberg,¹⁸ which preceded the infamous AB-Aktion (Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion¹⁹). He was sent to a concentration camp, first Dachau, later Mauthausen-Gusen, and later again to Dachau, where on 24 November 1940 he died of exhaustion due to bloody diarrhoea.

This was the time of the first transports of Poles to Nazi German concentration camps, and few survived this period. Not surprisingly, I have been unable to collect a sufficient amount of information on Buzek’s experience in the concentration camps. Dachau in particular was a place of extreme terror for prisoners, who experienced SS brutality on a daily basis. At this point, it is worth mentioning the horror Polish physicians faced in this camp.

About 450 thousand people of 40 nationalities were imprisoned in Dachau and its sub-camps in 1933-1945; the number of those who died is estimated at about 160 thousand. No study has been published so far giving an accurate figure for the number of victims of Dachau, and the data in the sources vary over a wide range. 36,535 Polish prisoners were held in the main camp of Dachau in 1940-1945 alone. However, this figure does not include those who were killed in mass executions immediately on arrival. 41 thousand Poles, including 13 thousand of Jewish origin, have been estimated to have died in Dachau in 1939-1945. We do not have the full details of the occupations of the Poles held in Dachau; we know there were over 1,600 Polish priests, 861 of whom died in criminal pseudo-medical experiments carried out by the camp authorities. The number of Polish prisoner-doctors in Dachau has not been determined.

An incomplete list of Polish victims of Dachau from the former Regierungsbezirke²⁰ Kattowitz and Oppeln contains 888 names, including the following physicians killed in the camp: Jan Buzek of Dąbrowa (Cieszyn Silesia), Adam Fałęcki of Cieszyn (1898-1940), Włodzimierz Koczorowski of Dąbrowa Górnicza (1880-1940), Czesław Liedtke of Sosnowiec (1894-1941), Mojżesz Rotstein of Będzin (1910-1945), Majer Szmiedel of Dąbrowa Górnicza (1900-1945), and Piotr Śmigielski of Sosnowiec (1891-1942).

In April and May 1940, the Germans conducted AB-Aktion against the Polish educated class. On just one day, 3 May 1940, 190 members of the Polish intelligentsia were sent to Dachau from Sosnowiec prison. Nearly 30 physicians from Silesia and about 20 from the Dąbrowa Basin were arrested and some of them were taken to Dachau.

The following physicians from Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin have been confirmed to have been prisoners of Dachau: Stanisław Brückner of Bielsko (1910-1971), Adam Butrym of Katowice (1906-1970), Edward Cienciala of Siemianowice Śląskie (1892-1951), Zdzis„aw Czechanowski of Katowice (b. 1907), Daniel Czyż of Mysłowice (1907-?), Jerzy Dadaczyński of Rydultów (1893-d. after 1939), Władyslaw Dulawa of Bielsko-Biała (1911-1975), Wladyslaw Dziedzic of Katowice (b. 1903), Albin Garbień of Cieszyn (1894-1967), Feliks Gołąb of Czechowice near Bielsko (1898-?), Tomasz Graczykowski of Chorzów (1886-1959), Józef Gruba of Chorzów (1897-?), Józef Hałacz of Katowice (1887-1947), Sylwester Janiak of Katowice (b. 1906), Wilhelm Janiczek of Chorzów (1882-1957), Michał Jurow of Dąbrowa Górnicza (1883-1942), Tadeusz Karolini of Kęty in the Powiat of Biała, settled in Bielsko Biała after the war (1907-1976), Tadeusz Kosibowicz of Będzin (1893-1971), Zygmunt Kotarski of Dąbrowa Górnicza (1879-d. after 1957), Franciszek Kubacki of Rybnik (1897-1961), Adolf Kubeczka of Rybnik (b. 1901), Stefan Kwassniewski of Katowice (1888-1970), Aleksander Laurentowski of Mysłowice (1903-1974), Tytus Machoń of Dąbrowa Górnicza (1903-d. after 1948), Adam Niepielski of Dąbrowa Górnicza (1882-1951), Zdzisław Nosek of Cieszyn (1911-?), Marian Piekarz of Mysłowice (1908-1946), Robert Schier of Chorzów (1896-1972), Alfons Sentek of Wielkie Hajduki (now within the municipal bounds of Chorzów; 1896-d. after 1956), Stanisław Skiba of Ruda Śląska (1887-1970), Alfons Spiller of Mysłowice (1894-1978), Józef Śmieja of Katowice (b. 1900), Paweł Raszka of Skoczów (1888-1940), Józef Twardowski of Katowice (1900-1977), Józef Walach of Bielsko (b. 1890), Eryk Winkler of Rybnik (1912-1945), Władysław Wybieralski of Katowice (1902-1972), and Jan Zaczyński of Jastrzębie Zdrój (1903-d. after 1945). This list of physicians from the region of Silesia and Dąbrowa may be incomplete. It is extremely difficult to make a full list of all the Dachau victims after the lapse of almost 35 years.

As a result of a petition lodged by the German medical chamber, after some time most of these doctors were released from Dachau. This medical chamber asked for their release because there was a shortage of physicians. But only a few of the physicians who were released were allowed to work in Silesia, most of them were resettled to the Generalgouvernement.²¹ In late 1940 Buzek was on the list due to be released. But at the time he was so emaciated by bloody diarrhoea that the camp physician crossed him off the discharge list.

Dr Buzek’s ashes (or most probably his ashes) were sent to his family and laid to rest in the grave of his first wife, Anna Buzek née Michejda, in Bystrzyca cemetery. He left a widow and two sons, Jan, who is now a lawyer, and Władysław, now an engineer.

Dr Jan Buzek has earned a place in the history of Silesia and his biography has been published in several encyclopaedias.

***

Translated from original article: Brożek, K., “Dr Jan Buzek.” Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim, 1980.

1. Śląsk Cieszynski is a historical region in south-eastern Silesia, centred on the towns of Cieszyn and Ceský Tešín and bisected by the River Olza. Since 1920 it has been divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). Cieszyn Silesia covers the area of the former Duchy of Teschen (1290–1918). Before the First World War Cieszyn Silesia was in the Habsburg Empire, and during the Second World War it was incorporated in Nazi Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cieszyn_Silesia^a
2. Polish Stowarzyszenie Akademików Polskich na Śląsku „Znicz”. The aim of this student association was educating, mutual aid in learning, and maintaining the spirit of camaraderie and solidarity among students. See the statutes of the association: Statut Stowarzyszenia akademików polskich na Śląsku „Znicz”, Cieszyn 1906; online at https://www.sbc.org.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=162265^b
3. Doctor Medicinae Universae (Doctor of General Medicine) was the official title of the degree awarded to students graduating in medicine at the time in the Habsburg Empire (to which this part of Poland belonged following the Partitions of Poland and the country’s loss of independence in the late 18th century).^a
4. The full Polish name of this educational and patriotic society was Macierz Szkolna Księstwa Cieszyńskiego (Macierz Szkolna Ziemi Cieszyńskiej after 1918). It was one of the oldest organizations of its kind in Silesia.^b
5. Polskie Gimnazjum im. Juliusza Słowackiego was founded in 1909 in the town of Orłowa (Orlová) as the second (and up to 1938 the only) Polish secondary school on the territory of Zaolzie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliusz_S%C5%82owacki_Polish_Grammar_School^c
6. The city is now on the Czech side of the border, and is known as Karviná. It lies on the River Olza in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia and is one of the most important coal mining centres in the Czech Republic. Together with neighbouring cities it forms the industrial Ostrava-Karviná Coal Basin.^a
7. Polska Szkoła Górnicza w Dabrowie.^c
8. Szkoła Gospodarstwa Domowego.^a
9. The Spa Conference was held after the First World War in Spa, Belgium, on 5–16 July 1920, to settle border issues concerning the new states created in Central Europe following the collapse of the Habsburg, Hohenzollern, and Romanov Empires. It was attended by the Supreme War Council and the government of the Weimar Republic. One of the issues discussed was the territorial dispute over Cieszyn Silesia between the Republic of Poland and Czechoslovakia. On 28 July 1920, the territory was divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia, leaving Zaolzie with a considerable Polish minority on the Czech side of the border. This division created future animosity between the two countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spa_Conference_of_1920^a
10. A powiat is the second-tier unit in the territorial division of Poland into administrative and local government regions. “Powiat” is the word used in the original Polish article, though the area in question was on the Czech side of the border.^c
11. After the 1920 demarcation, Dr Buzek lived in Zaolzie, the Polish name for the area on the Czech side of the border with a large Polish minority.^c
12. Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (PSL) was a political party in Czechoslovakia founded in the autumn of 1922, and most of its members were middle-class Polish Protestants. The Polish minority in Czechoslovakia was an exception to the general rule that most Poles belong to the Roman Catholic Church. Most of this community were Lutherans. The PSL in Czechoslovakia should not be confused with the political party operating under the same name in Poland, which was founded much earlier, although the choice of a name was an obvious reference to the Polish PSL. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_People%27s_Party_(Czechoslovakia)^b
13. Polish Naczelna Rada Polaków w Czechosłowacji. This organization was considered to be the highest instance representing the Polish ethnic minority in Czechoslovakia. Source: Polska Zachodnia, 1935(254).b)
14. Dr Olszak’s biography appeared on p. 169-173 of the 1981 edition of Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim and is available online at https://www.mp.pl/auschwitz/journal/polish/171131,volume-1981^c
15. Związek Polaków w Czechosłowacji, a social-political association of Poles living in the Zaolzie region, it demanded respecting the rights of national and ethnic minorities from the Praga government, focusing especially on the right to education in the mother tongue, the right to use Polish in state institutions in Cieszyn Silesia, and the right to use bilingual names of towns and streets.^b
16. See earlier comments.^c
17. Sokół (Falcon), a Polish gymnastics association founded before the First World War. It promoted the patriotic and pro-independence attitude.^c
18. Operation Tannenberg (German: Unternehmen Tannenberg) was the codename for one of the anti-Polish extermination operations carried out by Nazi Germany against Poles in the opening stages of World War II as part of the Generalplan Ost for the German colonization of the East. The executions were conducted with the use of a proscription list, compiled by the Gestapo over the two years before the 1939 invasion. The top secret lists identified over 61 thousand members of the Polish elite: activists, intelligentsia, scholars, clergymen, actors, war veterans and others, who were to be interned or shot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tannenberg^b
19. The AB-Aktion (German: Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion, English: Extraordinary Operation of Pacification), was the second stage of the Nazi German campaign of violence during World War II to eliminate the intellectuals and the upper classes of the Second Polish Republic across the territories slated for eventual annexation. Most of the killings were arranged as forced disappearances from many cities and towns as soon as the Germans arrived in the spring and summer of 1940, over 30 thousand Polish citizens were arrested by the Nazi authorities in German-occupied central Poland. About 7 thousand community leaders, professors, teachers and priests “suspected of criminal activities” were subsequently massacred secretly at various locations including the Palmiry forest near Warsaw. Others were sent to German concentration camps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_AB-Aktion_in_Poland^b
20. The Germans used the term Regierungsbezirk for the largest territorial division of the lands they occupied in Poland and other Central and East European countries. Kattowitz and Oppeln are the German names for the Polish cities of Katowice and Opole.^c
21. Das Generalgouvernement (GG) was the name the Germans gave the part of occupied Poland which they did not annex and incorporate in Germany. The GG was ruled by Hans Frank and a German administration.^b
22. Misdated to 1977 in the original Polish article.^c
23. The name of the periodical is missing in the original Polish article.^c

a—Translator’s notes; b—notes courtesy of Anna Marek, Expert Consultant for the Medical Review Auschwitz project; c—notes by Teresa Bałuk-Ulewiczowa, Head Translator of the Medical Review Auschwitz project.

A publication funded in 2020–2021 within the DIALOG Program of the Ministry of Education and Science in Poland.