Leonard Piontek--Polish Football Player a POW in the USA?

[dusty_shelf]

Picked up a postcard and lettersheet for a German POW held at the camp in Clinton, Mississippi. I did a Google search of the name, Leonhard Piontek, and came up with a number of potential matches to a famed Polish football (soccer) player. What I could find of his background, it appears he was from the same region of Poland. There is a difference in the spelling of the first name. Is this the same man? Is there anything in his writings that offer a clue? Any help with the translations is greatly appreciated.

From Wikipedia:

Leonard Franciszek Piątek (born Leonard Franz Piontek, October 13, 1913 in Królewska Huta – July 1, 1967) was a Polish football player who played in the interwar period. A hard-working and ambitious forward, Piontek was the top scorer for Polish first division vice-champions AKS Chorzów in 1937 and went on to lead the league the following season with 21 goals.

He represented Poland on the country's national side in 16 games from 1937 to 1939, scoring 11 goals. He scored twice in Poland's 4:0 win over Yugoslavia in a World Cup qualifier and took part in the legendary 1938 FIFA World Cup match against Brazil in (Strasbourg, France on June 5, 1938 (5:6 Brazil). Piontek also scored a goal in the last international match played in Poland before the outbreak of World War II, a 4:2 victory over Hungary on August 27, 1939.

Piontek signed the Volksliste (German Nationality List) after the Nazi invasion of Poland which allowed him to continue his footballing career. His club AKS Chorzów was now playing as Germania Königshütte and with Piontek as their key player the team dominated the first division Gauliga Schlesien – part of the German football league system – throughout the early 1940s far outperforming state-supported rivals 1. FC Katowice.[1]

After World War II, Piontek had changed his last name to Piątek (a Polonized version). He played at AKS Chorzów until the end of 1947-season and moved to Pogoń Katowice and played there 1947-1950.

[GregSingh]

It's a quite common surname in the Silesia, so he may not be the same person.
These mail is addressed to Standorf near Gleiwitz, now called Stanica, 15km SW of Gliwice.

[GregSingh]

A postcard from Leonhard to his brother Hyazinth:

Mein lieber Bruder!
Recht vielen Dank für Deine lieben Zeilen vom Juli. Endlich
nach langer Zeit wieder ein paar Heimatgrüsse. Ich
freute mich sehr. Die Todesnachricht, über Omas
"scheiden" hat mich, wie wohl euch alle tiefst ergriffen.
Ich danke Ihnen oft. Leider habe ich den Brief von Mutti
noch nicht erhalten.- Wie geht es euch allen. Ich bin
Gott sei Dank noch gesund. Der Herbst kommt ins
Land. Im Rosenkranzmonat herzliche Grüsse. Leonhard.

[Gorque]

Rosenkranzmonat? Das habe ich niemals gehört.

Can someone be so kind as to enlighten as to what time of year a Rosenkranz month occurs?

[Gorque]

Was this the same Gleiwitz in which the the "incident" took place that started mankind's second attempt at mass extinction?

[GregSingh]

Rosenkranzmonat? Das habe ich niemals gehört.
Can someone be so kind as to enlighten as to what time of year a Rosenkranz month occurs?

October is traditionally a month of Rosary prayers in Catholic Church.
See here: Der Rosenkranzmonat Oktober

Was this the same Gleiwitz in which the the "incident" took place

Yes, it was.

[Gorque]

Hi GregSingh:

Thank you for the answer to both of my queries.

[history1]

[...] Die Todesnachricht, über Omas
"scheiden" hat mich, wie wohl euch alle tiefst ergriffen.
Ich danke Ihnen oft.[...]

Last sentence should read " Ich [ge-]denke ihrer oft."

[history1]

Picked up a postcard and lettersheet for a German POW held at the camp in Clinton, Mississippi. I did a Google search of the name, Leonhard Piontek, [...] a famed Polish football (soccer) player. What I could find of his background, it appears he was from the same region of Poland. There is a difference in the spelling of the first name. Is this the same man?

Yes.

Is there anything in his writings that offer a clue?

Yes, "Germana" on the top of the letter which should read "Germania". Germania Königshütte or in Polish "Germania Królewska Huta" what was his team:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germania_ ... h%C3%BCtte

Piontek standing fourth from the right side.

Leonard Franciszek Piątek (born Leonard Franz Piontek, October 13, 1913 in Królewska Huta – [...]
Piontek signed the Volksliste (German Nationality List) after the Nazi invasion of Poland which allowed him to continue his footballing career.[...]
After World War II, Piontek had changed his last name to Piątek (a Polonized version). [...]

I highly doubt the story that he was born as Leonhard Piontek and not as Leonard Piątek. The "-ion-" is a typical attempt to transcribe the Polish letter "ią", though not totally correct.
And signing the Volksliste only to continue his soccer career was likely his post war excuse and retrieval when he returned to Poland and adopted his old Polish name again. Otherwise he would have gotten very different as we kn ow from the expelled Germans from Silesia.
On thing I also noticed, in the letter from 17th oct, he wrote " in a couply days I will again finish another year of life, that is noteworthy as the wikipedia site state his DOB as "oct 13th".

[dusty_shelf]

The notation on the letter and postcard reads "German A." It denotes the POW was in the German Army (A). This notation was required on all POW correspondence as part of the censoring process.

[GregSingh]

According to Austrian newspapers from that period: http://anno.onb.ac.at/ Piontek played in Ostmark Gauliga 1944/45 season in FC Wien, scoring three goals. Gauliga Oberschlesien 1944/45 was cancelled, because Soviets were too close.
So he could not be a POW in US at the same time.

To be sure you may try to find Piontek (footballer) birth certificate from Königshütte, check his parents names and compare against those in Leonhard letter to his parents.

[history1]

Thanks, Dusty, for explaining the "GERMANA", sadly the writer was too lazy to use a dot after the "A" and a space between "German" and "A" what caused my error.