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The Nigerian in the Polish Resistance

Discussion in 'WWII Today' started by GRW, Oct 3, 2020.

  1. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    I love finding stories like this.
    "Among the hundreds of thousands of patriots that Poland celebrates for serving in the resistance movement in World War Two there is one black, Nigeria-born man.
    Jazz musician August Agboola Browne was in his forties, and had been in Poland for 17 years, when he joined the struggle against Nazi occupation in 1939 - thought to be the only black person in the country to do so.
    Under the code name "Ali", he fought for his adopted country during the Siege of Warsaw when Germany invaded, and later in the Warsaw Uprising, which ended 76 years ago this month.
    Astoundingly, he survived the war in which 94% of the residents of Poland's capital were either killed or displaced, and continued living in the ravaged city until 1956 when he emigrated with his second wife to Britain.
    A small stone monument in Warsaw now commemorates Browne's life. But the scant details that there are may never have been known were it not for an application he made to join a veterans' association in 1949.
    The document was filed away for six decades, until 2009, when Zbigniew Osinski from the Warsaw Rising Museum came across it."
    www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-54337607
     

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