Warsaw, Poland - Just a few days ago, we were informed by the Office of the President of Poland that our late Father, JERZY (JERY) DASTYCH received (posthumously) the ORDER OF POLAND RESTORED (POLONIA RESTITUTA), CAVALIER. The ceremony was held on May 12, 2009. At the same time similar Orders were given to activists of the Polish democratic and anti-communist opposition.
Our Father was far from politics but he was a very talented and merited man. Born to a German-Polish family in Pomerania, a graduate of the then Commercial Academy in Poznan (Western Poland), he survived WWII in Southern Poland, near Cracow, evicted from his home in Torun by the German Nazis. After the war, for some time, he was deputy general manager of the Gdansk Shipyard (being rebuilt) and director of Economic Schools in Torun, Gdansk and other towns. But his great love was always music. He could play many instruments and he studied music while working in music high schools as a music (accordion) teacher. He spent some time in West Germany in a known accordion factory (Hohner). After returning to Poland, he continued his music career as pedagogue, composer, orchestra director and author of books on music and construction of instruments. He could also play organ and often he played in churches. His pupilds from the Musical Academy in Katowice (Upper Silesia) and Opole (Lower Silesia) are known musicians now, scattered all over Poland and even in far countries, like Mexico. His texbooks and music pieces are still available and often auctioned on the Web.
But, first of all, Jery Dastych was a honest, hardworking and modest man, a good Father and Grandfather. He was also a practicioner of yoga for over 60 years and (in his youth) he practiced martial arts. He loved Nature and people and he was also a strong but tolerant religious believer (a Roman Catholic). We all miss him very much. Our Father died in Warsaw at the age of 86 on September 4, 1992. He is burried in a family grave in Torun, an ancient city in Northern Poland, known in the world as the birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus, the famous astronomer.
We are happy because of our late Father's high distinction by President of Poland (Lech Kaczynski) and we pray for peace of his soul.
David M. Dastych
(his only son, now almost 68)
David was a former Polish intelligence operative, who served in the 1960s-1980s and was a double agent for the CIA from 1973 until his arrest in 1987 by then-communist Poland on charges of espionage. Dastych was released from prison in 1990 after the fall of communism and in the years since has voluntarily helped Western intelligence services with tracking the nuclear proliferation black market in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. After a serious injury in 1994 confined him to a wheelchair, Dastych began a second career as an investigative journalist covering terrorism, intelligence and organized crime.
.jpg "ORDER OF POLAND RESTORED")
Warsaw, Poland - Just a few days ago, we were informed by the Office of the President of Poland that our late Father, JERZY (JERY) DASTYCH received (posthumously) the ORDER OF POLAND RESTORED (POLONIA RESTITUTA), CAVALIER. The ceremony was held on May 12, 2009. At the same time similar Orders were given to activists of the Polish democratic and anti-communist opposition.
