Lech Gade

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

Lech Gade was born on 25 February 1930 in Warsaw, Poland. His childhood was shattered during the German invasion in September 1939, when a bomb destroyed the family home and killed his mother. During the occupation, he joined the Szare Szeregi (“Grey Ranks”), the underground Polish scouting organisation, using the pseudonym “Jurek.”

When the Warsaw Uprising began on 1 August 1944, fourteen-year-old Lech was at home on Nowy Świat Street. He slipped out the following evening and joined the insurgents, taking the name “Leszek.” Sworn into the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), he became a messenger serving the headquarters of Colonel Antoni Chruściel, “Monter,” commander of the Warsaw District.

Operating mainly in northern Śródmieście, he carried orders and reports between headquarters and insurgent positions. Early assignments also took him into the Old Town before it was cut off. Several fellow messengers were killed or wounded; Lech recalled surviving the entire uprising without injury.

After the uprising’s surrender in October 1944, he became a prisoner of war, held first at Stalag XI-B Fallingbostel and subsequently at Stalag VI-J Dorsten, with prisoner number 140273. His father, Franciszek, was deported separately and died in 1945 at the Katzbach concentration subcamp in Frankfurt, part of the Natzweiler camp system.

Following liberation, Lech joined the Polish Armed Forces in the West and continued his education. Unwilling to return to communist-controlled Poland, he emigrated to Australia in 1949. Between 1958 and 1963, he served in the Australian Army Reserve, including commando service. He later became active in Sydney’s Polish veterans’ community, sharing his experiences with younger generations.