Nazi General assassin given military send-off

photo - PAP/Tomasz Gazell

Michal Issajewicz (codename Bear), who died last week aged 91, had taken part in the shooting of General Franz Kutschera, Chief of the SS and Police in Nazi-occupied Warsaw.

The operation, which took place in broad daylight on 1 February 1944, was carried out in reaction to a rash of public executions and arrests under Kutschera's authority.

The SS general was pronounced guilty by a court of Poland's underground Home Army (AK).

Michal Issajewicz drove a car directly in front of Kutchera's limousine as the general was driven to work at SS headquarters on the morning of 1 Fenruary.

Having blocked the car, Issajewicz leapt out, and along with two other colleagues, fired shots at the general, who died on the scene.

A shoot-out ensued with German guards and nearby police, and four of the nine Polish participants perished as a result of the action.

The following day, a hundred Polish civilian hostages were shot on Ujazdowski Avenue as a reprisal.

The operation marked one of the last high level assassinations before the AK launched the Warsaw Uprising, the doomed bid to take control of the entire city that began on August 1, 1944.

Issajewicz's ashes were interred at Warsaw's Military Cemetery at Powazki, in the presence of family and other resistance veterans. (nh/pg)

Source: IAR