Poland’s ambassador to the United States, Piotr Wilczek, wrote on Twitter: “It is with great sadness that I have learned of the death of Julian Kulski - a longtime DC resident, great patriot, WWII & Warsaw Uprising veteran, honorable human being and good friend of mine. May he rest in peace.”
Kulski was also remembered by Bix Aliu, chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Warsaw, who said in a Polish-language tweet that the passing of Kulski “is a great loss for both Poles and Americans.”
Born in Warsaw in 1929, Julian Eugeniusz Kulski was the son of Julian Spitosław Kulski, who served as mayor of Warsaw during the Nazi German occupation, a post he held with the consent of the Polish underground resistance movement and the Polish government-in-exile.
He fought in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Wounded twice, he was decorated with the Medal for Bravery and the Silver Cross for bravery and valor in combat.
After the collapse of the uprising, he was sent to a POW camp in Altengrabow, Germany.
Five days before its liberation by the Red Army, he escaped in a US Red Cross vehicle, and was smuggled into England posing as a returning British POW.
He studied architecture in England, and subsequently in the United States, where he settled in 1949.
He developed a fine professional career being in charge of several thousand architectural projects in the United States and beyond.
As a World Bank expert, he coordinated educational and cultural projects in Asia, South America, Africa, and Europe.
Kulski was the author of several books of memoirs, the latest of which, published in 2014, is entitled The Color of Courage: A Boy at War: The World War II Diary of Julian Kulski.
His honours included the Commander’s Cross with a Star of the Polonia Restituta Order for his outstanding contribution to Poland’s independence and for cultivating Polish national traditions.
(mk/gs)