Wladislaw Stanislaw Swiader was born on the 4th of August 1922 in the small village of Huta-Nowa (wojwode Tarnobrzeg) in south-eastern Poland as son of a small hard-working farmer. This region was,and still is,one of he poorest regions of the Polish Republic. Still.....he was able to receive a good education. Just before the Nazi's invaded Poland on the 1st of September 1939 he was working as an junior accountant.
When the Polish Government announced the general mobilization of it's troops,Wladislaw,as a 17-year old kid,volunteered for the Polish infantry. Just like tens of thousands others,war was going to be a game...........but alas,as we all know and he would soon find out....it isn't a game but deadly earnest! After the defeat of the Polish forces Wladislaw escaped capture and returned to his home village
German registration-card (Kennkarte) in KIRCHHAIN (Hessen)
Shortly after,German occupation was a fact and former Polish soldiers were being rounded up for shipment as slave-laborers to Germany. To avoid being denounced and to increase his chances in getting a somewhat beter treatment,he gave himself up and "volunteered" for labor in Germany. He was put to work as a laborer in a "Sattlerei" making leather goods such as saddles,belts,pouches cases etc. in the small German town of KIRCHHAIN (Hessen province).