The So-Called Waryński Park Finally Bears Its Proper Name – Scoutmaster Hubert Bonin

The ceremony took place on Sunday, November 11. It began with a solemn scout assembly beneath the Monument to Fighting Poland (the defensive walls on Kubika Street), during which, among others, Bolesławiec Mayor Piotr Roman addressed those present. The head of the City of Ceramics emphasized that the park, which had only unofficially been known as Ludwik Waryński’s park, would finally have its proper name.

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The scouts then marched to the park named after Scoutmaster H. Bonin on Tyrankiewiczów Street, where a commemorative plaque dedicated to the scoutmaster was unveiled.

There was no shortage of emotion and reflection. H. Bonin’s son, Przemysław, thanked, among others, Zdzisław Abramowicz, whom he called “the project’s guardian angel.” Izabela Dolecka, the granddaughter of the scoutmaster honored today, said that the park was the best place to commemorate a man who loved nature and people.

We have repeatedly reported in our pages that the park on Tyrankiewiczów Street would be named after Scoutmaster Hubert Bonin. Let us recall the matter. The justification for the resolution adopted by the Bolesławiec City Council reads as follows:

The Command of the Bolesławiec District of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, named after the Gray Ranks, submitted a request to the Bolesławiec City Council to name the park located between Parkowa, Podgórna and H.W. Tyrankiewiczów streets after SCOUTMASTER HUBERT BONIN. The request received a positive opinion from the Infrastructure and Construction Committee of the Bolesławiec City Council.

Scoutmaster Hubert Bonin was born on September 13, 1912, in Bydgoszcz. In 1929, he graduated from the Commercial School and then continued his education at a druggist and chemical school. That same year, he joined the 7th Bydgoszcz Scout Troop named after Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, making a pledge to which he remained faithful throughout his life.

In 1934–1935, he completed his compulsory military service (because of his profession, he was assigned to the medical company of the Military Hospital in Toruń), and later worked at a Bydgoszcz drugstore while also leading his home scout troop.

In 1938, the troop under his leadership received the Banner’s Master Scout Troop diploma. In March 1939, he was appointed to the rank of assistant scoutmaster.

From September 1, 1939, he fought in the ranks of the “Pomorze” Army. As a soldier, he was taken prisoner by the Germans and held in prisoner-of-war camps in Łowicz and later in Łódź.

Released from the camp, he returned to Bydgoszcz, where on May 19, 1940, after taking an oath, he became a member of the Gray Ranks and the Union of Armed Struggle. From March 1943, he was forced to work at a plant producing explosives. This was punishment for his entire family’s refusal to sign the Volksliste.

He passed information about the factory to the underground resistance, as a result of which it was blown up in August 1943 as part of sabotage activities.

On August 8, 1944, he and his brother were arrested. During the investigation, both were tortured by the Bydgoszcz Gestapo, and a month later they were placed in Stutthoff concentration camp. During the final period of the war, while the camp was being evacuated, he and other prisoners were placed below deck on a barge that was to be sunk in the Baltic Sea. His brother met that fate, but he managed to survive.

He continued the evacuation on foot, in a column of emaciated prisoners, until the day of liberation.

After convalescing and staying in a transit camp until November 1945, he returned to Bydgoszcz. On February 17, 1946, he arrived in Bolesławiec with his future wife, Jadwiga. On April 1, 1946, he opened a drugstore there, and soon afterward founded the first scout troop in Bolesławiec. The troop founded by Brother Bonin chose Prince Józef Poniatowski as its patron.

Unfortunately, the patron’s identity proved ideologically too unacceptable to the political authorities in the new postwar reality. Hubert Bonin was therefore emphatically and unequivocally told that the patron had to be changed to Gustaw Morcinek.

Agreeing to the change did not protect the troop leader from being quickly removed from work with young people. In any case, he did not see himself in the Scout Organization operating within the Union of Polish Youth. The organization imitated the Soviet pioneer movement and used symbols foreign to Polish scouting, and he did not want to submit to that indoctrination.

Brother Bonin returned to leading his beloved “One” only after Stalin’s death and the subsequent political and social changes, which led to the National Congress of Scout Activists being held in Łódź in December 1956. The congress restored a substantial part of the scouting program, as well as traditional scout badges and symbols.

Prewar instructors were also permitted to have official contact with young people. He was a delegate to scout congresses.

Until 1978, he worked at the Bolesławiec Vials and Ampoules Factory “Polfa,” after which he retired. As soon as circumstances became favorable, he returned to active instructional work, organizing camps for the 1st Bolesławiec Scout Troop even in the 1990s and independently leading the unit.

Many older residents of Bolesławiec clearly remember the troop’s parade marches, which always preceded its outings for camps and hikes. During Easter, the properly uniformed scouts also stood an honor guard at the Lord’s Tomb. Scoutmaster Hubert Bonin held various positions in the district, even serving as deputy commander of the entire ZHP organizational unit.

He always devoted himself to the city’s social affairs, especially scouting. As a former member of the Gray Ranks, a soldier of the September Campaign and the Home Army, he was always ready to serve Poland with his knowledge, experience and commitment. He was a great and, at the same time, exceptionally modest man.

By Resolution No. XLIII/430/05 of December 28, 2005, the Bolesławiec City Council made Hubert Bonin an honorary citizen of the city of Bolesławiec.

Hubert Bonin died on March 26, 2008.

(Prepared on the basis of the Bolesławiec Yearbook).

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