Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Opole, Opole Voivodeship, Poland
About Szymon Koszyk
- Szymon Koszyk (July 3, 1891, Opole – August 11, 1972, Opole) was a Polish writer, national and social activist.
- He finished Teachers' Seminary in Prószków.
- He collaborated with Gazeta Opolska and Der Weisse Adler.
- He was conscripted to the German army in 1914, he fought in the Battle of Verdun and was severely wounded.
- In 1918 he deserted from the German Army and hid in Tarnów.
- There he formed a battalion of Polish soldiers and with its help he captured local Austrian garrison.
- In 1919 he returned to Opole and was sent by the local Poles to the Paris peace conference to represent Polish interests in Silesia.
- On May 3, 1920 he organised a march in Opole to commemorate the anniversary of adoption of the first Polish and second worldwide Constitution (the Constitution of May 3, 1791).
- The march was disrupted by local German militias who attacked Polish demonstrants.From August 1920 to February 1921 he was the local commander of the Polish Military Organisation.
- In the III Silesian Uprising he commanded first Opole battalion.
- In 1923 he was arrested in Frankfurt am Main accused of espionage.
- After 3 years he was released thanks to intervention of the Nuncio.
- He returned to Upper Silesia and began working in Katowice in Voivodship office.
- He wrote for the local newspapers including: Tygodnik Ilustrowany, Zwrot and Polonia.
- In 1938 he was awarded by the Polish Literature Academy with a golden Laurus. During World War II he hid himself in Kresy and later in Kraków.
- After the war he was the mayor of Glucholazy.
- After that, in 1947, he returned to Opole and again started to work in the press.
- He was one of the founders of the Opole city archives.
- He was a member of Zwiazek Literatów Polskich, Silesian Institute, ZBoWiD and PTTK.
- Since 1957 retired.
- He died in 1972 in his hometown.
- One of the streets in Opole bears his name.
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