Wacław Felczak was born in Kraków on the 29th of May 1916. He studied history at the University of Poznań, where he got interested in the history of Polish-Hungarian relations and founded the student Circle of Friends of Hungary. 

According to historian Elżbieta Orman, this history professor “was surrounded by an aura of heroic legend and mystery and an expert on the modern history of Hungary and Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy”.

Between 1941 and 1942, Poland was being destroyed from both sides by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. This is when Wacław Felczak established a communication relay, which until the spring of 1944 allowed for regular transfers of mail and letters between Warsaw and Budapest. 

Each of the five sections of the relay was operated by a person with relative freedom of movement along the assigned section of the route. Felczak himself, having Hungarian papers and speaking Hungarian fluently, served the Budapest-Kosice section.

Such an occupation was highly risky given the invaders forces’ efforts to neutralise any independent communication between different populations. 

It happened that Felczak travelled several dozen kilometres in one day while injured, which tells a lot about his character and determination to serve his country.  

In July 1945, as an emissary, he went across the „green border” to London to present to the authorities of the Commonwealth in London the motives and circumstances of the liquidation of the Polish Underground State.

After a lengthy investigation in 1948, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Released from prison after eight years – in October 1956, he started a new life – as a scientist, working for the Institute of History of the Jagiellonian University.

Felczak was also an influential person in Hungary, where he gave numerous lectures in several prestigious universities during the following decades. His knowledge of history and his passion for politics made him a key figure in the democratic opposition under communism. 

In the late 1980s, he played the role of a mentor for several young politicians who were to become the leaders of Hungary’s largest political party, Fidesz.

After a long illness, Wacław Felczak died on the 23rd of October 1993. He was buried in the „Pęksowy Brzyzek” cemetery in Zakopane.

This article has been sponsored by the Wacław Felczak Institute of Polish-Hungarian Cooperation.

Image: Professor Felczak’s collection

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen