Unknown hero

By chance I came across a French book, “Le franciscain de Bourges” (The Franciscan of Bourges), written by Marc Toledano. These are memories of the resistance movement in France during World War II, on the basis of which the film was also made. The author and his brother were arrested in 1943, tortured in a prison in Bourges where the Franciscan friar German corporal Aloïs Stanke, known as "Brother Alfred", was active. The latter is a unique, bright figure, a man who helped the imprisoned in all possible ways under the Gestapo's nose (see: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alo%C3%AFs_Stanke). He was born in Danzig: his father's name was Stanicewski and he germanized his surname…

Alois Stanke - or rather the writer M. Toledano - mentions (p. 136) a German soldier of polish origins, supposed to be called 'Novack' who was assigned to the firing squad shoot Frenchman Girouille convicted of possessing a hunting rifle. He refused to carry out the order - and on May 11, 1942, he was shot together with the convicted Frenchman. I decided to check it out and find more information about it. It turned out that the Polish soldier forced into the German army had a different name: Paul NOVARA (or rather Paweł Nowara?). In the town of Fussy, about 9 km from Bourges, a square in front of the mayor's office was named after him...

On May 11, 1942, around 7:30 pm, passers-by in Bourges saw a moving truck with German soldiers and a battered (after torture) young Frenchman sitting on a coffin intended for him. It was Albert Girouille (a turner by profession) who was sentenced to death for not handing over his hunting weapons, etc. At the execution site, one of the twelve soldiers of the firing squad, a 27-year-old Silesian conscripted into the Wermacht ("Polish by origin" - as the French write about him), refused to carry out the order! He decided, understood that the scale of the crime had exceeded and that he could not participate in the killing of this man, practically his peer and father of 5 children. And that it's not enough just to miss, to shoot next to it. That he must give a clear, public expression of his opposition. Regardless of the consequences... The German platoon leader ordered him to stand beside the French convict and they were both shot together. This heroic man's name was Paul (Paweł?) Nowara -and he was born on November 24, 1916 in Kochłowice (Kochlowitz). Here is his photo: http://mariepierre86.m.a.pic.centerblog.net/o/Paul_Novara.jpg

He was initially buried next to the Frenchman:

https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/203121716/albert-girouille#view-photo=192705495

but finally rested at the German military cemetery in Dagneux (France) - here is a photo of his grave:

https://www.geneanet.org/cimetieres/view/4263986/persons/?individu_filter=NOWARA%2BPaul

Allegedly, the Departmental Archives of the IPN (Polish Institute of National Remembrance) in Katowice hold files (under the reference number IPN Ka 116/1467) concerning Mrs Nowara, the wife of Paweł Nowara (Paweł = Paul in polish), a Pole forcibly conscripted into the Wehrmacht. Maybe it's him? Just yesterday I sent them an e-mail with this question (and to some local journalists and the mayor of Kochłowice)… And I am eagerly waiting for a reply…