Leon Uchwat, 96, a freedom fighter during political and violent struggles in Poland and a survivor of the Holocaust, died Monday, Oct. 16, in St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago of complications related to recent surgery. Mr. Uchwat, of the Lincoln Park neighborhood, “was a serious man who fought injustice all his life, and he maintained hope that Poland would be liberated,” said his son, Richard. One of eight children, he was raised in the small town of Przemysl and as a young man was politically active, fighting against a Russian takeover of Poland in 1917, said his son. In 1939, when the Nazis occupied Poland, he was captured and imprisoned in labor camps and eventually in the Auschwitz death camp, his son said. “My father was a great Polish patriot to live what he lived through and to have done what he did with his life,” said his son. After the camps were liberated, Mr. Uchwat stayed in an Austrian refugee camp for several years and moved to Chicago in 1951. In 1971 he moved to Austria but returned to Chicago in 1989. He also is survived by many nieces, nephews and cousins. Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. Thursday in F. J. Sikorski Funeral home, 3630 W. George St., Chicago. Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Friday in St. Hyacinth Church, 3636 W. Wolfram St.
