Stefan Bałuk

Who is Stefan Bałuk?

Stefan Klemens Bałuk was a Polish Military General, best known as one of the last surviving members of the Cichociemni paratroops.

Baluk was born and died in Warsaw. He attended Warsaw University during the mid 1930s, but as WW2 broke out, Baluk enlisted in the Polish Military in 1939 and served under the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade. After undergoing training in the United Kingdom for several years, he fought through many campaigns until he was captured and imprisoned by the Communism Party in 1945. Baluk was imprisoned for approximately two years until he was set free in March 1947. Many years later, the 5th Polish President Bronisław Komorowski, awarded Baluk with the Order of Polonia Restituta. For the remaining years of his life, Baluk took up professional photography as his career. He died at the age of 100.