INFORMATION PORTAL OF THE MARSHAL'S OFFICE OF THE KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE Region IN TORUŃ

The discovery of remnants of a Home Army (AK) partisan camp within the Wdecki Landscape Park was the focus of today’s (January 7) press conference, attended by Marshal Piotr Całbecki and Vice-Marshal Zbigniew Ostrowski.

 

“Our lands still hold many secrets. This is neither the first nor the last discovery made within the Wdecki Landscape Park,” said Marshal Piotr Całbecki. “I am convinced that reconstructing the camp and incorporating it into an educational trail dedicated to the Home Army in the Tuchola Forest will give this route a new dimension.”

“The history of our past seems to favor the Wdecki Landscape Park, and fortunately, it encounters engaged and professional people who approach these matters with passion,” emphasized Vice-Marshal Zbigniew Ostrowski. “We are committed to ensuring that the results of these studies are disseminated and made widely accessible.”

 

The “Świerki 101” partisan camp is located near the northern border of the region, along the Sobińska Struga stream. Commanded by Lieutenant Alojzy Bruski, alias “Grab,” the unit was one of the first partisan groups established during World War II in the Tuchola Forest and one of the most combat-effective Home Army units operating in Pomorze during the occupation.

Preliminary fieldwork has uncovered the remains of five dugouts where partisans lived 80 years ago, as well as personal items and military equipment left behind when the unit abandoned the camp during the night of December 29–30, 1944, as a German raid approached.

 

Among the artifacts discovered is an Italian medal depicting the Holy Family and the Guardian Angel, likely belonging to Lt. Bruski himself. During the conference, Mateusz Sosnowski, the camp’s discoverer and a specialist in landscape, historical, and cultural preservation at the Wdecki Landscape Park, explained that Bruski’s brother was a priest, and the medal might have been a keepsake from a pilgrimage and a brotherly gift.

In the commander’s dugout, researchers found a Czech-made pistol, which, according to Olaf Popkiewicz, an archaeologist with the Wdecki Landscape Park team, was standard equipment only for the Polish Border Guard. Bruski may have acquired it while hiding in Tczew, home to the Border Guard Inspectorate.

 

Dr. Alicja Paczoska-Hauke from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in Bydgoszcz, a respected researcher of the independence underground and author of the publication “Capt. Alojzy Bruski alias ‘Grab’,” highlighted that Lt. Bruski was a charismatic figure and the commander of a group of partisan units, which means his leadership was recognized by other partisan groups operating in the Tuchola Forest at the time.

 

“The news that the Wdecki Landscape Park team discovered my uncle Captain Alojzy Bruski’s final camp was extraordinary,” recalled Jan Wyrowiński, a family member of Bruski, former Vice-Marshal of the Polish Senate (8th term), and Chairman of the General Elżbieta Zawacka Foundation Council.
“His story accompanied me throughout my life. It was his figure that introduced me to Prof. Elżbieta Zawacka, who was equally impressed by his life’s drama. She constantly inspired me to seek more information about him.”

 

The conference was also attended by:

• Daniel Siewert, Director of the Wdecki Landscape Park,
• Joanna Bock, Senior Specialist for the Social Role of Forests at the State Forests,
• Representatives of the Brotherhood of Black Water from Osie, Józef Malinowski and Bogdan Ziółkowski, who actively preserve the memory of partisans.

 

In October, near the forest settlement of Grzybek (Osie commune) by the Żurski Reservoir, members of the Wdecki Landscape Park research team discovered a solitary grave of a German soldier who died in February 1945 during battles to liberate Osie from German occupation.

 

In 2017, near a nature reserve in the Osie area, remnants of a Gothic settlement from the 4th century were unearthed, described as an archaeological phenomenon.

 

The Wdecki Landscape Park is one of ten landscape parks managed by the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region Self-Government.

 

Beata Krzemińska
Spokesperson of the Marshal’s Office

 

January 7, 2025