Senior Legionary Ignacy Zatorsk
Today, on September 1 , 2021, commemoration ceremony was held at Westerplatte. During the ceremony, the Marshal of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek, the Director of Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, Dr Grzegorz Berendt, and Dr Karol Nawrocki, the President of the Institute of National Remembrance, presented the identification note to the family of a Westerplatte soldier. The identification note was received by Mrs. Katarzyna Bodak, granddaughter of Senior Legionary Ignacy Zatorski's brother.
In autumn of 2019, a team of archaeologists from Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk discovered the remains of nine Westerplatte defenders. After more than 80 years, owing to the collaboration of Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, and the Institute of National Remembrance - Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, the identity of yet another Westerplatte defender has been established. This was the sixth successful identification of the Westerplatte defender.
Senior Legionary Ignacy Zatorski will be ceremonially buried at the new Military Cemetery of Polish Army Soldiers at Westerplatte, together with the Commander of the Military Transit Depot and other fallen defenders of Westerplatte. The cemetery is currently under construction as part of the first stage of the development of Westerplatte and the War of 1939 Museum.
Senior Legionary Ignacy Zatorski (1915 - 1939)
Ignacy Zatorski, born on July 25, 1915 in the village of Baranów (currently Suchedniów; he lived in Bugaj, Suchedniów community, Świętokrzyskie voivodeship). He was the son of Andrzej and Marianna, née Mendakiewicz. He served with Fourth Legions Infantry Regiment in Kielce. Having reached the rank of a Senior Legionary, he arrived at Westerplatte on March 30, 1939 as a machine gunner. On August 17, 1939, he was assigned to the 1st unit of the 1st platoon. The platoon was sent to defend eastern posts of the defensive system of the Military Transit Depot at Westerplatte. On August 31, 1939, Commander of the Guard Detachment, Captain Franciszek Dabrowski, issued an order by which Zatorski was assigned to Guardhouse No. 5. As one of the men in Corporal E. Szamlewski’s unit manning the „Wał” outpost, he repulsed the initial German attack. On the afternoon of September 2, 1939, Zatorski was in Guardhouse No. 5, where he was killed during a Luftwaffe air raid. Ignacy Zatorski was posthumously decorated with the Virtuti Military Cross 5th Class (in 1945) for the defence of Westerplatte by Personal Order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces No. 749 of 30 August ,1945.
