Researchers say few episodes capture the long history of ties between the two nations more clearly than the work of the underground couriers during World War II.
During the German occupation of Poland, the route from the southern Polish ski resort of Zakopane through the Tatra Mountains to the Hungarian capital Budapest became one of the Polish resistance movement's most important links with the West and Poland's government-in-exile.
Researchers say the courier system began to take shape in the fall of 1939, after Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland and some Polish officials and soldiers reached Hungary.
A support network was then built in Budapest, and by early 1940 a functioning courier system was in place.
Around 40 Tatra couriers are believed to have worked on the route, carrying reports, microfilms and money, while also guiding officers, politicians and envoys across the mountains.
A key organizer of the network was Wacław Felczak, a historian and specialist in Hungarian affairs who helped build a relay-style system of communication and repeatedly traveled between Hungary and occupied Poland.
Budapest also became the base for intelligence and liaison structures that passed information farther west, first to Paris and later to London.
Help from Hungary
Historians say the operation would have been far harder without Hungarian support. Although Hungary was formally allied with Nazi Germany, its authorities and society remained sympathetic to Poles.
On September 17, 1939, Hungary opened its border to Polish refugees, allowing thousands to move south into Europe. That atmosphere later helped the underground courier system function.
The routes ran mainly through the western Tatras. One of the best-known paths crossed the Tomanowa Pass before continuing through what was then Slovak territory and onward to Hungary, often with the help of local contacts.
Other crossings were used as well, including the Pyszniańska and Kondracka Passes.
The couriers were chosen with great care. Many were mountain guides, rescue workers or top skiers, people capable of surviving extreme conditions and evading capture.
Among the best known were Józef Krzeptowski, often called "the king of the couriers," and Stanisław Marusarz, four-time Olympian and one of Poland’s most famous athletes, who later became known for his escape from a German prison.
Stanisław Marusarz, pictured in 1933. Photo: NAC/Public domain
Women also took part in the courier service. Helena Marusarzówna, the sister of Stanisław Marusarz and an outstanding skier in her own right, became one of the few women on the Tatra route.
Helena Marusarzówna (center), pictured during a skiing event in Zakopane in February 1939. Photo: NAC/Public domain
After her arrest, she was brutally interrogated but did not betray her fellow couriers. She was executed in 1941. Many others met the same fate.
Their story can be explored today at the Palace Museum in Zakopane, a branch of the Tatra Museum, in a building that housed the Gestapo during the war. The site is remembered locally as the Torture House of Podhale.
(rt/gs)
Source: dzieje.pl