According to the official version of the communist authorities, the 26-year-old Jan “Anoda”, committed suicide on 7 January 1949, by jumping off the fourth floor of the Security Police’s building. The discussion about the exact cause of this death remains a mystery even today. 

Jan Rodowicz was born on 7 March 1923 in Warsaw. He was a pupil at the private Common School of the Mazovian Land Society, where he joined the 21st Warsaw Scout Group named after General Ignacy Prądzyński. 

He later attended the Warsaw State Gymnasium, and later, in the years 1935-39, the Stefan Batory Secondary School. During this period, he also became a member of the 23rd Bolesław Chrobry Warsaw Scout Troop, the so-called Pomarańczarnia.

“Anoda” was an active member of the underground since the start of the 2 World War in 1939 when he was 16 years old. As a soldier of the Grey Ranks, he took part in the most important combat actions of the Assault Groups in 1943: the action at the Arsenal (he was the first to throw a bottle of petrol), the rescue of prisoners near Celestynów, and the actions near Czarnocin, Sieczychy, and Wilanów. 

In the Warsaw Uprising, he fought in the ‘Radosław’ grouping. He was wounded four times.

In August 1944, he was awarded the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari. After the war, he studied at the Faculty of Architecture at Warsaw Polytechnic. Rodowicz was arrested on Christmas Eve in 1948.

Until today it remains unknown what happened during the interrogation. Historians claim that he was either shot in the head, beaten to death by the communist police or decided to commit suicide. It is sure that in any case, the cause of his death was the arrest by the communist repression apparatus.

In 1991 the investigation of the mysterious death of the hero of the Grey Ranks was renewed (the investigation was initiated by the Main Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation). 

The key figure in the investigation was Bronisław Kleina, a former member of the communist repression apparatus, known as the only witness to the last moments of “Anoda’s” life.

As he recalled, Rodowicz decided to jump out of the window very quickly, which made it impossible for him as an interrogator to react in any way. 

“Anoda” supposedly had no chance of survival, having fallen from the fourth floor onto the concrete pavement, and as a result of the impact he suffered a bleeding from the main artery.

Five days later, Jan Rodowicz’s body was secretly transported by the communist security service to a funeral home. 

He was buried in an anonymous grave at Powązki Cemetery. His parents were not notified of their son’s death until 1 March. 

They found out from the undertaker where his body was buried. After exhumation, the coffin was moved to the family grave at Stare Powązki. 

The symbolic grave of Jan Rodowicz “Anoda” is also located in the Łączka quarter of the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

Source: Polskie Radio, IPN

Photo: IPN colourised by X @MirekSzponar

Tomasz Modrzejewski