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Oral history interview with Konrad Bogacki

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1995.A.1285.36 | RG Number: RG-50.149.0036

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    Oral history interview with Konrad Bogacki

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Konrad Bogacki, born July 28, 1908 near Poznan, Poland, describes his family and educational background; civilian life during World War I; the death of his father during WWI; attending the cadet school, Rawicz, beginning in 1924; his reasons for joining the army; the class background of the pupils; his training and the disciplining; his course at officer school in Warsaw, Poland; being in the 14th Infantry Division; the importance of horses in the Polish Army and the use of foreign equipment; the arrival of Polish signals equipment; the system of conscription and the foreign officers in Polish Army; seeing that war with Germany was inevitable; his attitude towards the Nazi regime; the attitude of officers towards the possibility of an alliance with Russia; the French and British response after the German invasion of Poland; his memories of the German invasion and preparing for it in August 1939; the encirclement of Infantry Division 14 at Lublin, Poland; evading capture; his opinion of the German Army; the condition of Warsaw and it's population in October 1939; German activities in Poland; deciding to remain in Poland and search for resistance groups; organizing signals equipment; his attempts to forge a radio link with the Polish Consulate in Budapest, Hungary in March 1940; security precautions when sending radio messages; other radio links; establishing contact with London in September 1940; his reaction to the fall of France in 1940; German surveillance of Polish men of military age; overcoming technical problems of reception and transmission; the reaction of the Polish underground to the German invasion of Russia in 1941; security measures within his resistance unit and the size of the unit up to 1943; transferring signals between different parts of Poland via London; being aware of the existence of the Warsaw Ghetto; evading capture at a German checkpoint; his first arrest and release in October 1943; his second arrest December 8, 1943; his feelings of relief after being captured; being interrogated by the Gestapo; his lucky escape from execution; being sent to Gross-Rosen concentration camp in April 1944; working for electronic section in camp; the treatment of inmates by the camp staff; conditions in camp; the execution of inmates who tried to escape; the evacuation of the camp in February 1945; the train journey and the conditions on board; the psychological effects of life in concentration camps; working with a mining unit at Hersbruck and repairing railway tracks through Nuremberg, Germany; marching to Dachau concentration camp and the execution of inmates there; being liberated by Americans; the comparison between Dachau and Gross-Rosen; the treatment of Poles by French authorities; more details on being with the Polish resistance from 1940 to 1943, including the use of hand and bicycle generators, securing equipment from a Warsaw electrical factory, the near discovery of radio equipment by Germans, the difficulties for resistance workers dropped by the RAF, forging a radio link with Russia circa 1942, and providing assistance to the People's Party; and the German policy towards Polish elite.
    Interviewee
    Konrad Bogacki
    Date
    interview:  1985 May 02

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    5 sound cassettes (90 min.).

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    Restrictions on use. Permission to copy and/or use recordings in any production must be granted by the Imperial War Museums.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Bogacki, Konrad, 1908-

    Administrative Notes

    Holder of Originals
    Imperial War Museum
    Provenance
    The interview was conducted by the Imperial War Museum as part of their retrospective oral history interview program. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acquired a copy of the interview with Konrad Bogacki from the Imperial War Museum in February 1995.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:17:28
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn510844

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