Wincenty Galica Monument
Poland
Wincenty Galica (born on October 29, 1916, in Zakopane, died on May 21, 2010, in the same place) was a participant in the September Campaign, a prisoner in German concentration camps, a physician, and a social activist.
Wincenty Galica
Wincenty Galica completed primary school in Poronin and secondary school in Zakopane. He completed the Divisional Reserve Officer Cadet Course at the 4th Podhale Rifles Regiment in Cieszyn and was subsequently assigned to the 1st Podhale Rifles Regiment in Nowy Sącz.
He participated in the September Campaign as the commander of the 1st Platoon of the 5th Company of the 1st Podhale Rifles Regiment, holding the rank of cadet corporal. Taken prisoner by the Soviets, he escaped three times and was captured by the Germans. He escaped again during transport to Stalag in Lamsdorf. After returning to Zakopane, he was involved in the resistance movement and worked as a liaison-courier on the Zakopane-Kraków-Warsaw route. On August 11, 1941, he was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo at the Zakopane "Palace" and in Tarnów prison. He was sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp (camp number 27 164) and later transferred to KL Mauthausen-Gusen (camp number 274) and KL Sachsenhausen (camp number 51 241).
From 1946 to 1952, he studied medicine at the Medical Academy in Kraków. After completing his studies, he worked at the Oncology Institute in Kraków until 1955, and then in a radiological laboratory in Zakopane.
Wincenty Galica was a co-founder of the Podhale Association, serving as its president from 1973 to 1976. In 1993, together with Marian Polaczyk and Władysław Szepelak, he established the Palace Katownia Podhala Museum of Struggle and Martyrdom in the "Palace" villa.
He was buried at the Nowy Cemetery in Zakopane, located on Nowotarska Street (plot N1-1-2).