Teacher
He was born on April 9, 1911 in Godula (currently a district of Ruda Śląska). After graduating from the State Male Teacher Training College in Tarnowskie Góry, he worked in elementary schools in Pawłów (currently a district of Zabrze) and Nowa Wieś (currently Wirek – a district of Ruda Śląska).
His great passion was music, in the years 1934–1936 he was the conductor of the “Lutnia” choir in Pawłów. This oldest Polish choir in the Zabrze area, established on March 19, 1919, was not spared persecution by the German authorities during the turbulent period of the Silesian Uprisings and the plebiscite. It was not until Pawłów, together with part of Upper Silesia, was annexed to Poland in 1922 that the “Lutnia” choir was able to develop a wider activity.
After the outbreak of World War II, Leon Janista lost his job and was supported by his parents. In April 1940, he was arrested by the Germans in his family home. After his arrest, he was taken to the Dachau concentration camp, from where he was sent to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. There, he was sent to work in the Wiener Graben quarries. I remember that he recalled his dreams saying: I dreamed of stones again – said his daughter Felicja. After eleven months in the camp, he was released and returned to Godula. In March 1941, my mother saw him during mass in the church. At first, she could not recognize him, although he was sitting in a pew with his loved ones. He was completely exhausted, swollen, and could barely move on crutches.
When he regained his health, in May 1942, he married Hildegard Krompiec, a teacher from Ruda-Chebzie. In the same year, he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht and sent to serve as a writer in German-occupied France. In July 1943, already in his absence, his daughter Felicja was born. After deserting from the Wehrmacht, Leon Janista initially made it to Switzerland and then to the Polish Armed Forces, and the end of the war found him in Great Britain. There he also met his brother Ryszard, who passed on information about Leon’s fate to the family.
After the war ended, my father did not want to return to Poland and made efforts to bring his wife and daughter to England. However, under the influence of her mother, who categorically declared that she would not let her daughter and granddaughter go, she decided to stay in Poland. It was then that my father decided to return to Poland. After his return in late autumn 1946, he told me how much he feared the submarine journey from England to France. I remember that for a long time after the war, an officer of the communist secret service would come to our house and talk to my father about something. These visits were very unpleasant for us, my mother and I had to maintain complete silence during that time. This officer, as I heard from my parents, threatened my father with a gun many times – recalled his daughter Felicja.
In the post-war years, Leon Janista and his family moved to Zalesie Śląskie in the Opole region, where he worked as a teacher. From February to September 1952, his wife was the head of the Public Elementary School, and then Leon Janista became its head. He died in 1986.
From top: the teaching staff of the Elementary School in Pawłów, visible among others Leon Janista (standing third from the left); students of class VIIa of the Elementary School in Pawłów in the school year 1937/38 with their teacher Leon Janista; portrait photograph of Leon Janista, 1930s. Below: Leon Janista (on the right) as a student of the 4th course of the Male Teachers’ Seminary