Stanislaw K. Smardz, a leader in the post-war Polish émigré community of Massachusetts and especially the city of Haverhill, died April 1 at the age of 99. He lived a long and fruitful life, but like most Europeans of his generation, he was irrevocably shaped by the events of World War II, which forever altered his future.  He was born of Polish parents on Sept. 18, 1919, in Recklinghausen, Germany, where his father had found work in the civil service at a time when Poland was partitioned among Germany, Russia and Austria. Polish independence was formally declared later that same year, and the family soon moved to the town of Kolomyja, in eastern Poland, now part of Ukraine. Stan was a mechanical engineering student at the University of Lwow when World War II broke out in September 1939.  The Soviet Red Army marched into eastern Poland on Sept. 18, his 20 ^th birthday, and after living several months under occupation, he fled to France via Romania and Italy, to join a newly forming Polish army in exile. When that effort foundered for lack of funds and weapons, he made his way to Toulouse, where, with the help of the Polish consulate and the émigré community, he enrolled in the university to continue his studies.  This quiet period lasted until 1944, when he was rounded up in a Gestapo raid on his student residence and transported to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, and then to a series of smaller satellite camps, finally ending up in the Harzungen camp in central Germany. After the Allies entered Germany in 1945, the Nazi guards marched the prisoners out of the camp and abandoned them in a field in the middle of the night.  Picked up on the road by an American convoy, Stan was taken to a field hospital, where he met his future wife, Krystyna Szyszkowska, a Polish national who had been taken into forced labor in Germany after the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Unwilling to return to a Poland now under Communist rule, the couple spent five years in German DP camps before receiving political asylum and emigrating to the United States in 1950 and settling in Haverhill with their three small children (a fourth was born in America) and the possessions that fit in a single wooden trunk. Stan worked a series of menial jobs while learning English at night and taking correspondence courses in radio and television repair.  Eventually, he took the civil service exam and landed a position as a Draftsman with the Portsmouth Naval Ship Yard, where he worked for more than 25 years.

Surpassing his professional accomplishments was his devotion to the homeland he'd been forced to leave behind and which he longed to see free again.  A Polish patriot to the core, he worked tirelessly to preserve and promote the Polish language, culture, history and traditions among the Polish families that in the mid-20 ^th century clustered in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Haverhill, worshiping at St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church on High Street and socializing at the old Polish Home on Washington Street.  A gifted though largely untrained musician, he was the long time director of the St. Michael's choir, and composed or arranged much of the music the group performed at various holiday and celebrations, as well as at annual Polish choir conventions held throughout the state for many decades.  There was rarely an evening in the Smardz home when he wasn't seated at the piano, working out the chords for his latest folk song medley.  He organized countless festivities marking Polish holidays and special occasions.  For many years, he taught Polish and music lessons to the parish children.  For his work with the Polish and Polish-American community, he received numerous awards and commendations from state and local government, including from the governor, as well as from national Polish-American organizations, such as the Polish National Alliance and Polish American Congress. Beyond his musical skills, he spoke five languages and  was a talented artist, illustrator, writer and speaker, an avid gardener, an amateur bookbinder and car mechanic, a stamp collector, and a fervent believer in the benefits of daily exercise, especially walking.

He is predeceased by his wife, Krystyna M. (Szyszkowska) Smardz, who died in 1977. He is survived by his children Anna Schultz and husband Skip, of Haymarket, Va.; Christopher Smardz and wife Alesia, of Haverhill; Zofia Smardz and husband Anson Franklin, of Washington, DC; and Elizabeth Smardz and husband Charles Smith, of Newton, NH; seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend his Life Celebration to be held on Sunday, April 7, 2019 from 3 to 7 p.m. at Berube-Comeau Funeral Home, 47 Broadway, Haverhill, MA .   His funeral will be held on Monday at 9 a.m. from the funeral home with a Mass of Chrisitan Burial at 10 a.m. in All  Saints Church, 120 Bellevue Avenue, Haverhill. Burial will take place at a later date in Our Lady of Czestochowa Cemetery in Doylestown, PA. To send a message of condolence to the family please visit www.berubecomeau.com