Eustachy Jaroszenko

He was born to Eustachy Jaroszenko and Helena (nee Robak on 26 October 1921, in Strzałków, Poland. His father was a surveying engineer; his mother worked in hospitals and a sanatorium as a senior nurse.

Eustachy spent his childhood and early youth in Ząbki, where his parents rented three apartments. He attended the General School in Ząbki, as well as to the school at Szeroska Street in Warsaw’s Praga district. He graduated from the seventh grade in Bialystok, where the family moved due to his father’s work. Then he went to the Joseph Piłsudski high school.

The outbreak of the war found the family in the countryside near Brań, where his father carried out a classification of land. His father was arrested by the Soviets in December 1939 and was killed in the Katyn massacres. Eustachy, his mother, and his sister were arrested on 13 April 1941 and deported to Siberia. They ended up at the labour camp in Pavłodar, where he worked on digging of wells and breeding horses.

Released by the ‘amnesty’, Eustachy left Pavlodar to join the Polish Army forming in the Soviet Union. During the several-month journey, he worked at various jobs, including building a bridge on the Syr-Darnia River. He arrived at the Ugawaja station, where volunteers were assigned to the 4th Infantry Division. In March 1942, he and the army were evacuated to Pahlevi, Persia (Iran).

In the Polish 2nd Corps in the Middle East, Eustachy Jaroshenko served in the protection of the women's camp in Tehran. He then boarded the British cruiser "Circassia" and sailed to Great Britain. In the UK, Eustachy was assigned to the 1st Polish Armoured Division. He took a driver’s course and was posted to the traffic regulation squad. In August 1944, the Division was sent to the front in Normandy, and he was assigned to the 24th Lancers Regiment (he was the commander of a tank). In March 1945, he was sent to the Armoured and Motorized Weapons Training Center. After participating in the European Campaign, he served with the occupation forces in Germany.

He returned to Poland in 1947 and studied at the School of Planning and Statistics. He passed the exams but was not accepted for the next year. He was later allowed to return to the university by Minister Adam Rapacki.

Eustachy worked in a housing cooperative as its vice-president and president. After his retirement, he became the president of the association of former soldiers of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and vice-president of the National Union of Former Polish Armed Forces in the West. He died on 7 November 2015, at the age of 94 years.

Source: Interview in Polish by Jarosław Pałka in 2010.