New Artifacts in the ‘We Will Preserve Your History’ Campaign - Mementos of Sailor Alfons Stróżyński
As part of the 2024 National Collection of Artifacts campaign, ‘We Will Preserve Your History...’ staff at the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk received a collection of mementos associated with the Stróżyński and Pater families.
The collection includes a fragment of a Polish model 31 military helmet found at the site of Sailor Alfons Stróżyński's death.
Alfons Stróżyński, born in 1915, was one of seven children of Andrzej Stróżyński, a well-known social activist in Wejherowo. Raised in a patriotic spirit from a young age, Alfons attended King Jan Sobieski State High School in Wejherowo and later worked at the local Social Insurance Institution.
In the spring of 1939, he was due to complete his mandatory military service, which was extended due to the growing tensions in Europe. After Germany attacked Poland, he took part in the defense of the town of Hel. He was killed on September 2nd, 1939, struck by shrapnel from a German bomb.
According to family history, his comrades took a fragment of his helmet and gave it to his family as they passed through Wejherowo as prisoners following the capitulation of the Hel Peninsula.
World War II affected millions of families in Poland, Europe, and around the world. Many mementos and memories have survived to this day, bearing witness to these wartime experiences.
If you would like the memory of your relatives and their stories to be preserved, we encourage you to donate items related to the war to our museum as part of the National Collection of Artifacts, ‘We Will Preserve Your History...’ All items will be carefully preserved and protected against the effects of time.
We look forward to welcoming you at the Museum of the Second World War, pl. Władysława Bartoszewskiego 1, 80-862 Gdańsk.
