Ludwik Malinowski

Who was Ludwik Malinowski?

Ludwik Malinowski, as born in 1887 in the village of Ksawerow near Lodz, was a Polish Resistance fighter. As a teenager he worked in a textile factory in Lodz. In 1910, drafted to the Imperial Russian Army, went to Yaroslavl on the Volga river, where he served in the 181st Regiment.

During World War I, Malinowski was wounded, then voluntarily joined the 1st Polish Regiment of the Krechowce Uhlans. In 1919 he settled in the Volhynian village of Przebraze, where worked as a farmer, but also was an activist of the Polish Socialist Party. In the fall of 1939, following German and Soviet aggression on Poland, Volhynia was incorporated into the Soviet Union. Thousands of Poles were forcibly deported to Siberia and other areas of the empire. Malinowski was spared.

On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked Soviet Union. New wave of terror in Volhynia began, this time the Soviets were replaced by the Nazis and Ukrainian nationalists. In mid-1942 a group of young Poles were taken away to Germany, where they worked in factories. In this group were two Malinowski’s sons.

In October 1942 first Ukrainian attacks on Polish settlements started.