Wacław Olszak

Who was Wacław Olszak?

Dr. Wacław Olszak was a Polish physician, activist and politician from the region of Zaolzie, Czechoslovakia. He was a mayor of the town of Karviná for seven years. Ten days after outbreak of World War II he was murdered by Nazis.

Olszak was born in Šenov as a tenth child of a peasant. After elementary school he attended the German gymnasium in Cieszyn, from which he graduated in 1889. He went to Vienna to study medicine at the University of Vienna. He graduated in 1895. After returning to his region, Olszak started to work as a doctor in Karviná, becoming the first Polish doctor for coal miners in that town. He also worked as a doctor at the château in Fryštát for count Larisch-Mönnich, and as a family doctor for many local German engineers and administration workers. Olszak however, working mostly with poor coal miners and their families, helped to organize a social help for them.

Olszak was a member and co-founder of various Polish organizations in Zaolzie. He was a member of the general committee of Związek Polaków w Czechosłowacji and Związek Śląskich Katolików w Czechosłowacji. After World War I, as a member of the Association of Silesian Catholics, he took active part in the work of the National Council of the Duchy of Cieszyn, provisional Polish political body working for joining Cieszyn Silesia to independent Poland.