Modern/Post-War Photos

The first Sailor of the Republic

Evillittlekenny

Tadeusz Ziółkowski was born 5th June 1886 in Wiskitnie, near Koronowo. With 16 he signed up in the sailing school "Großherzogin Elizabeth" in Hamburg. 1905-1906 he studied in the merchant marine school in Hamburg. On 7th February 1910 he passed the exams for the degree of a sea captain. 1910-1911 he had his military service on the battleship "Pommern". In 1914 he became a class II radio operator and was admitted to the officer corps of the shipping line Hamburg - South America. In World War I, Ziółkowski was conscripted into the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). He became a Second Lieutenant on the auxiliary cruiser "Kronprinz Wilhelm". He was, together with the ship, interned in spring 1915 in the USA. In October 1919 Ziółkowski returned to Poland and on 27th October 1920 he was appointed to the Polish Navy. He was assigned to the Naval HQ in Puck. On 4th September 1921, he was appointed to be the commander of the school ship "Lwów", which sailed already under British, Italian and Dutch flags (named "Chinsura", "Lucco" and "Nest"). It is notable, that on 13th August 1923, he crossed with the "Lwów" the equator, the ship being the first Polish unit to do so. On 4th March 1924 he was appointed the Deputy Commander Pilots Office, subject to the Council and Waterways Port of Danzig (today Gdańsk). In January 1929 he was appointed commander. On 25th August 1939, while the German battleship "Schleswig-Holstein" was entering Danzig (today Gdańsk), Ziółkowski was arrested by the police of Danzig for refusing admission to the "Schleswig-Holstein", along with several other Polish workers. After several hours he was released and restored to his position, only to be again arrested in the morning of 1st September 1939. He was sent to Stutthof concentration camp, where he was killed in a summary execution of Polish activists from Danzig/Gdańsk either on 11th January 1940 or 22nd March 1940. He is often called "the first sailor of the Polish Republic". --------------------------------- I made this picture during my visit in Gdańsk this August. Evillittlekenny