Stanley D. Jaworski

Stanley Dubik Jaworski, Sr. (ca. 1914 – September 7, 2007) was a Polish prisoner of war in World War II, a team member in the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, a speaker of eight languages, and an author who advocated automobile safety and American citizenship for immigrants.

The Polish-born Jaworski attended universities across Europe and hence learned multiple languages. He was a sprinter on the Polish team, but did not compete in the 1936 Summer Olympics, best remembered for the strong performance of the American sprinter Jesse Owens. Jaworski was a first lieutenant in the Polish Army, when war broke out in 1939. He was captured and spent more than four years in POW camp Oflag VII-A Murnau in Germany. Jaworski escaped when United States tanks and troops forced German soldiers to abandon the camp.

He then joined the Seventh Infantry of the United States Army and became the interpreter and liaison officer between the American and the Polish armies. He was later the deputy director and repatriation officer of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in Munich. He married the former Helen Zilka, who was then assigned to UNRA in Augsburg.

Jaworski moved to Chicago in 1948, became an American citizen, and from 1960 to 1985, operated a driver's education school in Northwest Chicago. He specialized in assisting foreigners in obtaining their licenses. An advocate of auto safety, Jaworksi wrote Drive Your Car Safely, which was published in Polish and Spanish as well as English. His book Land of the Free helps immigrants learn the path to American citizenship. He was also a watercolor artist.

Jaworski died at his home in Clarendon Hills, Illinois. In addition to his wife Helen, Jaworski was survived by his daughter, Julianne J. Smith and husband, Jim, of Lubbock; two sons from Chicago, Stanley Jaworski, Jr., and wife, Mary, and Allan J. Jaworski; four grandchildren, and one great-grandson.