Apoloniusz Duszkiewicz was born on 17 November 1910 in Vilnius. In the interwar period, he served in the 19th Light Artillery Regiment. From September 1929 to June 1930, he attended the Artillery Reserve Officer Cadet School in Włodzimierz. During the German occupation of Poland, he was an officer of the "Solcza" Home Army unit commanded by Lieutenant Antoni Boryczko alias "Tońko" operating in the Vilnius region. He died on the night of 3-4 March 1944.
His remains were discovered in 2019 by the IPN’s Office of Search and Identification during works at the former cemetery in Miguny. Fragments of uniforms and military equipment, as well as personal items were found next to the remains. Genetic identification confirmed the soldier’s identity as Apoloniusz Duszkiewicz. An identification note confirming this fact was presented to Apoloniusz Duszkiewicz’s nephew Prof. Marian Dygo on 12 August 2021 at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.
The funeral ceremonies will began a Holy Mass (1:00 p.m.) in the church in Rudomin (Vilnius district).The funeral procession further headed to the Home Army soldiers' quarters in Piktokańce, where the remains of 2nd Lt. Apoloniusz Duszkiewicz will rest.
The organizers of the ceremony were Marijampolė County, the Institute of National Remembrance and the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of the authorities and state institutions of both countries, the family of Lt. Apoloniusz Duszkiewicz, local government authorities, scouts, schoolchildren and local residents. Military assistance was provided by the Representative Regiment from the Warsaw Garrison Command.
The Polish Parliament was represented by Małgorzata Gosiewska, Deputy Speaker of the Seym, and the Lithuanian Parliament was represented by Paulius Saudargas, Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania. On behalf of the Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Poland, Łukasz Kudlicki, the head of the Political Cabinet, attended the ceremony, while the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Lithuania was represented by Deputy Minister Žilvinas Tomkus. Łukasz Dryblak, a representative of the Polish National Security Office, was also present. The ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Vilnius, Urszula Doroszewska.
The funeral mass was presided over by Father Tomasz Trzaska (IPN), in concelebration with the local parish priest, Fr. Wiktor Bogdziewicz and Fr. Waldemar Skocznie from the Military Ordinariate of the Polish Army.
After the liturgy, the guests spoke. On behalf of the family, Prof. Marian Dygo, nephew of Lt. Duszkiewicz, addressed the participants.
Arunas Bubnys, director general of the Resistance and Research Centre of of Lithuania, who was present at the ceremony, in his speech referred to the memory of the victims of wars and totalitarian repressions.
Prof. Krzysztof Szwagrzyk, Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance, and acting Director of the IPN’s Office of Search and Identification said:
We return to the sites of battles, to the sites of torture and repression. We return to the sites of death to fulfill our national obligation to remember our deceased ancestors who had been murdered, martyred or missing.
Małgorzata Gosiewska, Deputy Speaker of the Seym, in her speech referred to the heroic sacrifice of Lt. Apoloniusz Duszkiewicz emphasizing his commitment to the fight for the independent existence of the Polish state. A letter to the participants of the ceremony was sent by the Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak. On his behalf, it was read out by Łukasz Kudlicki, the head of the Political Cabinet.