Zygmunt Rumel Zygmunt Jan Rumel ( 1915 – 10 July 1943 ) was a Polish poet and chef of the Wolhynia Region of the Bataliony Chłopskie . Rumel ' s poetic talent was acknowledged by a renowned Polish poet Leopold Staff , and author Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz . One of his poems entitled " Dwie matki " ( " Two mothers " ) in which Rumel described his love of Poland and Ukraine , was published in a popular " Płomyk " magazine in 1935 ( issue No . 28 ) . He was killed during the Ukrainian Insurgent Army massacres of Poles in Volhynia in 1943 . Early years . Rumel , whose talent was often compared to the one of Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński , grew up in Krzemieniec in the province of Volhynia . The exact location of his birth has not been confirmed . He came from a military family , his father Wladyslaw , an engineer of agriculture , was also an officer of the Polish Army who fought in the Polish - Soviet War and was awarded the Cross of Virtuti Militari . Some time in the 1920s , the family settled in Volhynia as osadnik s . The Rumels lived in the countryside near Krzemieniec , in a manor once belonging to the family of Juliusz Słowacki . His parents were avid readers and their son inherited it from them . At home , he read Polish classics of Slowacki and Adam Mickiewicz . Zygmunt graduated from a renowned Liceum Krzemienieckie and went to Warsaw to continue his education at the Warsaw University . Leopold Staff once said to his mother Janina ( née Tyminska ) : " Keep an eye on this boy , he will be a great poet one day " . Despite living in Warsaw , he was actively involved in social life of Volhynia in the second half of the 1930s . Rumel was a member of Volhynian Association of Village Youth , and cooperated with People ’ s University in the village of Rozyn , where he probably met Kazimierz Banach . He was a publicist of the “ Droga Pracy ” magazine , writing about history and society . Rumel supported the idea of multinational Poland , and cooperated with a bilingual ( Polish and Ukrainian ) magazine “ Mloda Wies - Molode Selo ” , which was published in Krzemieniec . War years and death . In 1939 , as a result of the joint attack of Germany and Soviet Union on Poland , the province of Volhynia was incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR . Then , in June 1941 ( see : Operation Barbarossa ) , it was overrun by Nazi Germany . Rumel , an artillery colonel , took part in the September 1939 campaign . Captured by the Red Army , he presented himself as a private , and was released . He spent early months of the occupation in Volhynia , where in late 1939 he joined underground , anti - Soviet organization , created by activists of people ’ s movement . In January 1940 , Rumel and Pius Zalewski were sent to the General Government , to get in touch with former voivode of Volhynia , Henryk Jozewski . They failed to cross the border , and returned to Lutsk , where they were met by envoys of the Union of Armed Struggle ( ZWZ ) , Tadeusz Majewski and Jerzy Potapow , who came to Volhynia to build the organization . In February and March 1940 Rumel twice travelled from Volhynia to Warsaw , as a courier of the ZWZ . At the same time , the NKVD managed to destroy the organization in his native province , arresting , among others , Rumel ’ s brother , Bronislaw ( murdered by the Soviets in 1941 ) . Zygmunt survived because he remained in Warsaw , where he married Anna ( née Wojciszkiewicz ) , and together with another brother , Stanislaw , ran a hardware store in the Ochota district . All the time he actively participated in the Polish resistance movement , his nom de guerre was " Krzysztof Poreba " . In the spring of 1943 he returned to his native Volhynia and became a commandant of the Bataliony Chłopskie ' s VIII District covering the area . In early summer 1943 , when the Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( UPA ) , together with local Ukrainian nationalists , began a series of massacres of Polish civilians in Volhynia , Rumel , who spoke Ukrainian fluently , was assigned to get in touch with leaders of the UPA and start talks , which would bring an end to the massacres . The order was issued by Kazimierz Banach , chief of staff of the Bataliony Chłopskie and a delegate of the Polish government - in - exile in Volhynia . On 7 July 1943 , Rumel , together with officer Krzysztof Markiewicz ( aka " Czort " ) , both dressed in military uniforms , aided by guide Witold Dobrowolski , contacted the Ukrainians . They were officially representing the Polish government . However , instead of peace talks , a different fate awaited them . Both were tortured for three days . Then , on Saturday 10 July , Rumel was tied to four horses and his body ripped apart . Markiewicz and Dobrowolski were killed in the same manner in the village of Kustycze , near the Volhynian town of Turzyska . The next day , Sunday 11 July 1943 , was the bloodiest day yet of the Volhynian massacres , when armed Ukrainians attacked Polish settlements and churches , killing thousands of people , including infants , women and senior citizens . Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz , upon hearing of Rumel ' s death , wrote in his diary : " He was one of our diamonds , with which we shot at the enemy . This diamond could have shined . . . " Aftermath . In 2004 , Polish director Wincenty Ronisz made a documentary " Poeta nieznany " ( " Unknown poet " ) , which describes the life and death of Rumel , who is also a patron of several clubs of young Polish poets . However , he remains unknown to the majority of Poles . On February 10 , 2011 , Public Library in Warsaw ' s borough of Praga - South was named after him . Also , there are streets named after him in Gdansk and Legnica . Works . First Rumel ’ s poems were published in a school paper , in 1934 . He kept most of his works to himself , and did not want them to be published . Manuscripts of his poems were kept by his wife , who was a nurse in the Warsaw Uprising and survived the war . First publication of selected works of Rumel , edited by Anna Kamienska , was issued in 1975 , and was highly praised by Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz who wrote : “ Rumel had a mind and talent on an original scale ” . According to Polish literary critic Bozena Gorska , Rumel ’ s poetry was strongly influenced by the works of Juliusz Slowacki and Cyprian Kamil Norwid . He rarely reached to the works of Polish avant garde poets , but in some poems influences of Leopold Staff and Boleslaw Lesmian can be found . Rumel was close to the Volhynian folk culture , and frequently used Ukrainian and Russian words . He also touched historic subjects , which is seen in his poem “ The Year 1863 ” .