Date of birth:

January 25th, 1920 (Murmansk, Russia)

Date of death:

April 21st, 2007 (Coronado/California, USA)

Nationality:

Polish

Imprisoned in Bialystock:
In August, 1942, Dobrowolski received orders to transport a suitcase of training materials to a unit training in secret in a wooded area near the town of Bialystock. After arriving in the town, he was caught and interrogated by the Gestapo. He recounts, "Let's just say they interviewed me very 'vividly and painfully.' I was beaten with a hard rubber object with every question they asked. They next day they transferred me to the local prison that had been taken over and used by Gestapo at the beginning of the war. At first I was crammed into a 12x12 foot cell with about 30 or 40 people. We could barely move. Later I was transferred to another cell with 4 other guys that I realized were also in the underground. We didn't share much information. That was the cardinal rule. Everyone was on a strictly 'need to know' basis. The less said, the less you knew, the better."

Deciding to chance an escape, Dobrowolski befriended a Polish prison guard who had been pressed into service by the Gestapo and convinced the guard to send a note to his contact in Bialystock. "I asked them to simply send some food. We were only being given a thin gruel to eat. The reply came back in 2 days. I received a package with some sausage, bread and a bottle of juice. When I opened the bottle I noticed the cork had been slit in two and a cigarette rolling paper was carefully inserted inside with a message on it." The note asked Dobrowolski where he came from.

A correspondence was established with the local AK forces, and after some months, an escape plan was hatched.

"I had already decided to escape. Prisoners were being executed all the time or they were sent to the concentration camps. No one was ever freed. I figured I'd rather be shot than die a slow death in the camps."

Dobrowolski's original cell mates were not to escape with him. Shortly before the getaway, Gestapo soldiers entered the cell and took the four away to be shot. This incident served to strengthen Dobrowolski's resolve to leave. Dobrowolski managed to flee with four other prisoners that had served a work detail with him, along with the sympathetic guard, and made his way back to Warsaw to a hero's welcome.

"I found out later that the day we escaped the prison went into an uproar. The Gestapo were furious and frustrated because there was no one to blame, as the guard had come with us as well. Some of the prisoners composed a song which all of them began singing at the top of their lungs. It must have been quite a scene."

Warsaw Uprising:
A ceasefire was declared and on October 2, the German Whermacht [regular army] accepted a formal surrender from the leaders of the Polish Home Army. "I was chosen to lead two officers, emissaries of General 'Bor', through the rubble and barricades to a meeting with the Germans to discuss the terms of surrender. I waited 4 or 5 hours until the talks were done, and then I lead them back to headquarters again."

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• - Nina McDonald