On 5 February at the age of 96, Juliusz Kulesza “Julek” died. The graphic artist, author of historical books, soldier of the Home Army, and veteran of the Warsaw Uprising. Captain of the Polish Army. How fewer people could tell about 63 days of fighting for the free capital without unnecessary patos.
– Julek, due to the fact that that's what I can say about him erstwhile he hosted me in his flat on the tenth floor., he always pointed to the balcony window and said, “Peter, look, you will set the Erkaem and half the territory under control.” A real insurgent! – Piotr Korczyński, editor-in-chief of the quarterly “Army Poland. History’. – Julek is simply a soldier, and at the same time an artist with subtle sensitivity, what he feels erstwhile looking at his graphic works. He was not just a witness to history, a veteran, he was a soldier and an artist all the time. Beautiful man, modest hero, large artist, guardian of memory, chronicler of prewar Warsaw. What a deficiency of it! There will be no exaggeration in this shadow erstwhile I say that he and Julius left the pre-war aura of Warsaw! Julek, you've joined the squad! You loved those soldiers and they loved you! – Korczyński adds.
Juliusz Kulesza was born in 1928 in Warsaw. During the business he attended secret sets and evening printing school. From 1942 he worked as a cartoonist at the Polish safety Printing Works (in the business the plant operated under the name Staatsdruckerei). There, under the pseudonym “Julek”, he besides joined the conspiracy activity.
Time Warsaw Uprising fought in the ranks of the independent group PWB/17/S (Underground Banknote Production Company, which previously dealt with, among others, the forgery of papers for the needs of the Polish Underground State). He participated in the business of PWPW and then in defence of this simplification until the end of August. With the remainder of his division he withdrew to the Old Town, where he continued to fight. After the fall of the territory and exit from Warsaw he was in a group of civilians in the camp Dulag 121 in PruszkówWhere did he get distant from?
Juliusz Kulesza with Piotr Korczyński, editor-in-chief of the quarterly “Army Poland. History’.
After the war, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and was a associate of the Association of Polish Artists. In the late 1970s, took care of documentation of the Warsaw Uprising. He is the author of respective books describing the fighting in the capital, including “With Tasiemka for Tanks”, “Reduta PWPW” and “Destroy Confidents and Tanks”. For the latter, written jointly with Robert Bielecki, he received the Nike Award in 1996. He is besides co-author of the “Encyclopaedia of the Warsaw Uprising”.
He was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, OOP Knight's Cross, OOP Knight's Cross, National Army Cross, Warsaw Insurgency Cross, Partisan Cross, Medal for popularization of the Warsaw Uprising. He was a associate of the planet Association of National Army Soldiers, the Association of Warsaw Insurgents and the Polish Historical Society. In 2018, he was promoted to captain of the Polish Army.
