thumb|Jan Karcz military portrait
Jan Karcz (16 October 1892, in Modlica near Kraków – 25 January 1943, in Auschwitz) was a Polish Army colonel, posthumously promoted to the rank of a brigadier general.
During the Second World War he was imprisoned and murdered in the Birkenau concentration camp, of Nazi Germany.
Early life
Karcz was born in Modlnica on October 16, 1892, the son of Bartłomiej, a farmer, and Marianna Wojdył.
In 1912, after passing the baccalaureate in Krakow, he began his studies at the faculty of road and bridge construction at Lviv Polytechnic.
From September 1921 to July 1922 Karcz attended a course for squadron commanders at the Central Cavalry School of Grudziądz, after completing which he was promoted to major and became commander of a reserve squadron and then deputy commander of the 1 Pułk Szwoleżerów Józefa Piłsudskiego. In October 1931 Karcz became head of the cavalry department of the Ministry of Military Affairs in Warsaw.
Awards
- Virtuti Militari, Silver Medal
- Cross of Valour, four times
- Polonia Restituta, Officer Cross
- Cross of Merit, Golden Cross
- Order of the Star of Romania, Officer Cross
- Latvian Commemorative Medal