Adam Lazarowicz Major Adam Lazarowicz ( noms de guerre " Klamra " , " Pomorski " , " Zygmunt " , " Jadzik " , " Aleksander " , 1902 – March 1 , 1951 ) was a Polish military officer who played a prominent role in the Polish resistance movement in the German - occupied Poland in the Second World War . After the war , Lazarowicz remained in hiding and become a member of the anti - Communist organization Wolnosc i Niezawislosc fighting for Polish independence from Soviet Union . He was imprisoned by the Soviet imposed Communist authorities in Poland and executed on March 1 , 1951 in the Mokotów Prison in Warsaw . Early years . Adam was born in 1902 in the village of Berezowica Mała ( near Zbaraz , now in Ternopil Oblast , Ukraine ) to Franciszek Lazarowicz and Wanda née Ojak . At the age of 17 , Lazarowicz joined the Polish Army , in 1919 he fought the Ukrainians in Volhynia during the Polish - Ukrainian War . Then he took part in the Polish - Soviet War and was wounded during the battle of Ostrołęka . After the conflict , he graduated from a Gymnasium in Jasło , and later from the History Department of Kraków ’ s renowned Jagiellonian University . Due to an unknown sickness , Lazarowicz was dismissed from the Army and took up the job of a teacher in a school in the village of Gumniska , a few kilometers from Dębica . However , he remained in reserve , and in 1936 was promoted to Colonel . World War II . 1939 Campaign . During the Polish September Campaign Lazarowicz volunteered again , and he became military commandant of the town of Dębica . When Dębica ’ s garrison withdrew to the east he joined troops fighting Germans in the area of Rawa Ruska . In October 1939 , after the hostilities ended , he returned to Gumniska where organized an underground elementary school . Anti - German Resistance . In 1940 Lazarowicz became engaged in the anti - German Sluzba Zwyciestwu Polsce organization , then joined Zwiazek Walki Zbrojnej . Later , he was promoted to commander of Dębica ( “ Deser ” ) District of the Home Army ( Armia Krajowa ) and remained on this post until spring of 1944 . He was a skillful organizer , under his leadership the Home Army in Dębica and vicinity thrived and due to his decision , headquarters of the District were moved from dangerous Dębica to the relatively safe village of Gumniska . The Germans never found out about it . Lazarowicz ’ s work was highly appreciated by the Regional Command of the Home Army in Rzeszów . He organized 10 outposts of the organization , in several locations of the Dębica County ( e . g . in Pilzno and Ropczyce ) . Due to his efforts , Dębica District of the Home Army was regarded as the best organized of the whole Rzeszów Command . In 1943 Lazarowicz was promoted to Captain , then to Major . A year later , together with his men he worked out the German Army firing ground at the village of Blizna , where V - 2 rockets were tested ( see also Home Army and V1 and V2 ) . In the spring of 1944 he became inspector deputy of the Rzeszów Inspectorate of the Home Army , and during the Operation Tempest , he was commander of Dębica ’ s 5th Mounted Rifles Regiment of the Home Army , which numbered some 1200 soldiers . In February 1944 Lazarowicz ’ s men organized an unsuccessful attack on a train carrying Hans Frank . As a reprisal , the Germans shot 54 Poles , a monument commemorating this event is located by the rail track in Dębica . After World War II . In late 1944 , when the area of Dębica was captured by the Red Army , the Soviets awarded Lazarowicz the Red Star Order , as a gesture of appreciation of his efforts . However , he refused to accept it and in February 1945 moved to Rzeszów where he became commander of the Rzeszow District of Wolnosc i Niezawislosc , an anti - communist Polish underground organization . Later on , Lazarowicz moved to Wrocław , organizing the WiN in these parts . In December 1946 he became deputy of Łukasz Ciepliński . Arrest and execution . Lazarowicz was arrested by the Urząd Bezpieczeństwa ( Polish secret police ) in Żnin on December 5 , 1947 . After a brutal investigation , he was transported to Warsaw and placed in the Mokotów Prison . In October 1950 , he was sentenced to death . His execution took place on March 1 , 1951 . Aftermath . For fifty years , Lazarowicz ’ s story was censored out from all publications by the Soviet imposed Communist government of the People ' s Republic of Poland . In 1992 , after the collapse of the Communist system , the Military Court of the Warsaw District issued a decree which voided the 1951 sentence . A memorial plaque commemorating Lazarowicz can be found on the school in Gumniska , also since 1993 there has been a street named after him in Dębica .