Henryk Torunczyk

Henryk (Heniek) Torunczyk was born in 1909 in Wloclaweck, Poland, the son of a Bund activist. He was a textile engineer, very involved in revolutionary activity and arrested many times. He did his military service in Poland and when he arrived in May 1937 in Spain (after crossing through Czechoslovakia, Austria and Switzerland on his way to Paris) he formed a new company in the Dombrowski batallion. Being one of the relatively few volunteers with a previous military experience he was given responsible posts from the beginning including adjutant of the Palafox batallion. After being wounded, he assumed the command of the Mickewicz batallion, then captain and chief of staff of the Dombrowski Brigade, and commander of the demobilization camp of the Dombrowski Brigade after its demobilization. In January 1939, when most of the brigadistas were already back in their respective countries, Torunczcyk was the commander of the "Agrupació Internacional" which was composed of the remains who were still in Spain and helped the Republic once again protecting civilians in their exodus to the French border. He was interned in a French camp and volunteered to serve in the French army after the German invasion but was not accepted. He was interned in Vernet and Djelfa (Algeria). In the latter he volunteered to join the Polish army that operated in the Soviet Union and trained other soldiers there who subsequently parachuted into occupied territory. After the war he lived in Poland where he played an important role in the reconstruction of the country. He died in January 1966.

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