Artillery lieutenant, one of the „Silent Unseen” (Cichociemny)

Waldemar Mariusz Szwiec was born on 13 August 1915 in Chicago, in the family of a Polish community activist who took part in the liberation of Poland in the army of general Haller. After the Congress of Polish Americans, which took place on 16-18 January 1921 in Toruń, he decided to return to Poland and settled down in 1922 in the city, where he founded Pomorzanka, a café later co-owned by his son. Waldemar attended the Nicolaus Copernicus Gymnasium (nowadays the First High School), where he was very successful in many sport disciplines such as swimming, ice hockey, ice skating. He also won an award in a nationwide photography competition. In addition to continuing the management of the café, he studied law at the law faculty of the University of Warsaw. Like most young men, he also received solid military training. In 1939 he fought in the defence of Bydgoszcz, in the battle of Bzura, near Łomianki and in the Siege of Warsaw, where he was taken prisoner by the Germans, only to subsequently escape. He fought in France and later in England. In 1942. as one of the „Silent Unseen” he was parachuted into occupied Poland. He fought in the units of Jan Piwnik (nom de guerre Ponury). He used many noms de guerre, the most famous of which became „Robot”. He was invincible, but in the result of betrayal by a double agent, he was killed in an  one-sided battle on 14 October 1943.

The exhibition was prepared by the students of the 1st Nicolaus Copernicus High School in Toruń.