Henryk Flame “Bartek” and Rev. Władysław Gurgacz “Sem” commemorated on silver NBP coins.

Two new collector coins of the series “The Enduring Soldiers Accursed by the Communists” – “Henryk Flame ‘Bartek’” and “Rev. Władysław Gurgacz ‘Sem’” will be available on sale as of tomorrow.

The coins, each with a face value of 10 złoty and minted in up to 10,000 pieces, will be sold at all the NBP regional branches and in the NBP online shop Kolekcjoner at the price of PLN 230. The coins are made of 925 purity silver, have a diameter of 32 mm and weigh 14.14 g.

The reverse of the coin commemorating Henryk Flame alias “Bartek” features his image and the images of the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, a white-and-red flag with the symbol of Fighting Poland, the inscriptions: “Zachowali się jak trzeba” (“They acted as they should”) and Bartek’s dates of birth and death: 1918–1947.

The reverse of the coin commemorating Rev. Władysław Gurgacz alias “Sem” carries his image and the images of the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituted, a white-and-red flag with the symbol of Fighting Poland, the inscriptions: „Zachowali się jak trzeba” (“They acted as they should”) and Sem’s dates of birth and death: 1914–1949.

The obverse of all the coins of the series “The Enduring Soldiers Accursed by the Communists” is common: it features an image of prison bars torn apart, the state emblem of the Republic of Poland, face value and the year of issue.

Henryk Flame in the defence war, as a pilot of the 123rd Fighter Squadron assigned to the Pursuit Brigade, defended the skies over Warsaw. On 1 September 1939, in the first air battle of the Second World War, in the vicinity of Zakroczym, Cpl. Flame’s plane was shot at while he was trying to shield his commanding officer. The pilot was forced to land. After 17 September, he was shot down by the Russians near Stanisławów, but survived and managed to cross the border into Hungary.  In 1943, he organised an independent partisan unit operating in the Podbeskidzie region. From May 1945 to February 1947, he headed the largest unit of anti-communist resistance fighters in the Cieszyn Silesia region, consisting of more than 300 well-armed and uniformed soldiers. The unit carried out about 340 armed raids against the communists. The most famous one  took place on 3 May 1946. The unit occupied the town of Wisła, where they organised a two-hour parade on the 155th anniversary of the adoption of the first modern European constitution − the Constitution of 3 May 1791.

Most of Henryk Flame’s soldiers were transported by secret police officers to the Opole region and murdered there. Their commander, after the communists announced an amnesty, seeing no possibility of further resistance, revealed himself on 11 March 1947 in Cieszyn. He then tried to establish what had happened to his subordinates, and when he learned of their fate, he searched for the site of the communist crime. The act  of “Bartek” revealing himself was a huge success for the communists, overshadowed, however, by the fact that Flame had benefited from the amnesty and was therefore granted immunity. According to them, he should bear the punishment, so another provocation was prepared. The assassination of Henryk Flame was carried out on 1 December 1947 in Zabrzeg near Czechowice. The assassin was a local policeman, Rudolf Dadak, who was never tried for his crime.

Władysław Gurgacz was ordained as a priest at Jasna Góra in August 1942. When World War II ended, he became a parish priest in Gorlice, and then in Krynica. He publicly cautioned against the rule of the Soviet occupiers, who sought to shatter the unity and Catholic faith of the Polish people. Rev. Gurgacz’s sermons came under scrutiny by the communist services. Expecting to be arrested, the priest fled Krynica and joined the “Gendarmerie” unit of the Polish Underground Independence Army, which was stationed in the forests of the Beskid Sądecki mountain range. The partisans would call him “Father”, but the priest himself adopted the nickname “Sem”, which was an abbreviation for the Latin Servus Mariae – a Servant of Mary. He instructed his companions to act in accordance with Christian ethics.

The “Gendarmerie” was tracked down by units of the communist Department of Security. In the spring of 1949, it split into smaller groups. The one in which the Jesuit found himself, having no funds to continue its activities, conducted a confiscation operation. On 2 July 1949, the partisans raided a state bank in Cracow. Eventually, all members of the group were put under arrest. Rev. Gurgacz was not himself involved in the operation, but he surrendered to the security service. All the inmates were subjected to a harsh investigation in the prison located at ul. Montelupich in Cracow. On 13 August 1949, with his last words, Rev. Gurgacz addressed the Military District Court: “[…] these young people, who are now standing trial before this court, are not bandits, as you slanderously call them, but defenders of their homeland! I do not regret what I did. I acted in line with what millions of Poles think, those Poles whose current fate was decided by the bayonets of the NKVD. I will go to my death gladly. What is death, anyway?… I believe that every drop of innocently shed blood will produce thousands of your opponents and lead to your undoing”.

On 14 September 1949, the priest and two soldiers of the “Gendarmerie”, whom the chaplain had supported to the very end, were murdered in the courtyard of the Cracow prison. They were shot in the back of the head. The body of Władysław Gurgacz was secretly buried in the Rakowicki Cemetery in Cracow. His remains were identified in October 2018 by the staff of the Institute of National Remembrance.

More information can be found in the brochures: “Henryk Flame ‘Bartek’”  and “Rev. Władysław Gurgacz ‘Sem’”.

NBP collector coins and banknotes are sold in commercial packaging with an attached certificate.

The next issue is scheduled in January 2025. Narodowy Bank Polski will be putting into circulation a silver collector coin inaugurating the series “Treasures of the Medal-Making Art” – “Stanisław Małachowski”, with a face value of 50 złoty.

Contact:

Contact for collectors: e-mail kolekcjoner@nbp.pl, tel. +48 22 185 17 05

Contact for the media: e-mail press@nbp.pl, tel. +48 22 185 2012

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About NBP

Narodowy Bank Polski holds the exclusive right to issue banknotes and coins in Poland. All currency issued by NBP, including collector banknotes and coins, is legal tender in Poland. Issuing collector items is an occasion to commemorate historic figures and anniversaries as well as to develop the interest of the public in Polish culture, science and tradition.

High-resolution images of the coins: https://nbp.pl/en/coins-and-banknotes/collector-coins/catalogue/