W. Hryniewicz-Bakierowski: Short Biography

From the family line Hryniewicz-Bakierowski, Wacław, son of Kazimierz (1880-1939) and Lidja, neé Bieloglazov-Popov (1884-1979), was born in Jekaterynburg, Russia, on 9 December 1915. In 1922 the family returned via Charbin and Vladivostok to Poland, where his father re-established the residence of the family. Wacław was studying law when World War II started. He became active in the Polish Home Army (narrowly escaping execution more than once), took part in the Warsaw Insurrection in 1944, and from 1944 to 1945 was a prisoner of war in Germany.

After the liberation, he worked as Transport Officer in a Polish unit attached to the British Army of the Rhine until his emigration to the United States in 1952. (He ultimately attained the military rank of Brigadier General of the Polish Army.) During this sojourn, he married the former Lisaweta Albrecht (born 1923, Ückermünde, Germany) in Hamburg, 1950; their son Wacław Kazimierz was born in Chicago in 1954. He became a U.S. citizen in 1957, ultimately settling in Holland, Michigan, where he and his wife live to this day. He worked as an insurance underwriter during his first two decades in the United States, and held several offices in the Polish Government in Exile for several years following 1976, including Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of the Treasury.

He has been awarded with the Cross of the White Eagle, Virtuti Militari, The Great Cordon of Polonia Restituta, Cross of Valour, Golden Cross of Merit with Swords, and other decorations. He is a member of high standing in several chivalric lodges, including the Royal Knights of Justice, the Sovereign Military Order of St. John of Jerusalem - Knights of Malta, the Sovereign and Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, and the Knightly Association of St. George the Martyr.

Since the Second World War, and even more now in retirement, he is devoting his life fighting for Freedom for Poland. Over the years he has written hundreds of newspaper articles on political subjects. He has issued four books in Polish in recent years, which include a book of poetry and another focused upon his foremost hobby, hunting (he is also a fisherman). A representative number of these works, in both English and Polish, will ultimately be made available for perusal through this Web site.

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