Michał Jastrzębski

Data enginseer. Navigator of metabolic pathways. Druid of circle of spores. CTO @CaravelBio. Curiosity drives the cat. He/him

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@kwuchu Man, I'm envious. My car is giving me grief right now. 2 weeks of constant transmission drama

[Mykhailo Rohoza @MykhailoRohoza]

For nearly six years in German prisoner-of-war camps, he did not utter a single word in German.

And this despite the fact that he was born in Germany, grew up in a German-speaking environment, and served in the Imperial German Navy.

His name was Józef Unrug.

His story is one of the most remarkable examples of loyalty to one's country during World War II.

Unrug was born in 1884 in Brandenburg an der Havel, in Prussia, to a family of both Polish and German heritage. German was his native language. He graduated from prestigious naval academies of the German Empire and served as a naval officer during World War I, commanding submarines.

But after the war, his life took a different course.

In 1918, after more than a century of partition, Poland regained its independence. It was then that Unrug made the decision that would define the rest of his life.

He left the German Navy and joined the newly created Polish Navy.

In fact, he became one of the founders of Poland's naval forces, which had to be built almost from scratch. Unrug not only served the new state but also supported the development of the navy with his own money.

In 1925, he became commander of the Polish Navy.

When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Unrug was responsible for the defense of the Polish coast and the Hel Peninsula. Despite overwhelming enemy superiority, his forces resisted for more than a month.

Only on October 2, 1939, was he forced to surrender.

Years of captivity followed.

The Germans held him in several officer prisoner-of-war camps, including Oflag II-C Woldenberg, Colditz Castle, and Oflag VII-A Murnau. They knew his background well, including his service in the German Navy and his German roots.

For that reason, they repeatedly tried to persuade him to cooperate.

Former colleagues offered him privileges, special treatment, and high-ranking positions.

Unrug always refused.

Then came the episode that made him a legend.

During one visit, his cousin, German General Walter von Unruh, addressed him in German. It seemed perfectly natural: two relatives who had grown up in the same culture and spoken the same language all their lives.

But Unrug replied in French.

When asked why, he gave the answer that became famous:

"On September 1, 1939, I forgot the German language."

From that moment on, he adhered to this principle until the end of the war.

Unrug understood German perfectly, but he demanded an interpreter for all official conversations. He answered German officers only in Polish or French.

It was not a question of language.

It was a matter of principle.

After the invasion of Poland, he refused to use the language of the state that had occupied his country.

His resistance was not armed.

It was expressed through discipline, consistency, and unwavering loyalty to his convictions—day after day, year after year, throughout nearly six years of captivity.

In 1945, the Murnau camp was liberated by American forces.

But the end of the war did not mean a return home.

Poland had fallen under a communist regime dependent on Moscow, and the admiral chose to remain in exile.

He lived in the United Kingdom, Morocco, and France, leading a modest life far from fame and high office.

Józef Unrug died in 1973.

Before his death, he expressed one final wish: to be buried in a free Poland alongside his sailors.

His wish was fulfilled only 45 years later.

In 2018, the admiral's remains were ceremonially reburied in his homeland.

For years, Józef Unrug refused to speak a language he knew perfectly.

For many, it was a symbolic gesture.

For him, it was a matter of honor, dignity, and loyalty to the country he had consciously chosen as his homeland.

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@aronchick @adamhjk This is the reason I love the "maturin" crate in rust. It lets you write python modules. You can optimize what needs to be optimal, and stick to python for the rest

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@SexyLikeMeiosis @DanielleFong Are we the ants here?

[whimsy lohan (in NYC) @SexyLikeMeiosis]

@DanielleFong it was written specifically by the spiders from children of time

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@SexyLikeMeiosis @DanielleFong Installing ant shaped back doors

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@ATinyGreenCell Reading this while replaying Zerg campaign of StarCraft is :chef-kiss:

[Sebastian S. Cocioba🪄🌷 @ATinyGreenCell]

SPLICECRAFT v1.0 IS LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Open your terminal and type in "pipx install splicecraft" if you want to try it out, then spam "splicecraft update" often as I push updates frequently. A labor of love for the community I adore. Enjoy! 💚

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@kwuchu One of the reasons I moved to biology after GitHub. We'll win over it someday, we're closer than ever.

[whimsy lohan (in NYC) @SexyLikeMeiosis]

excellent

[Malika 🧬 @malikules]

the true high agency triangle

[whimsy lohan (in NYC) @SexyLikeMeiosis]

Climate activists have spent decades shutting down nuclear, blocking clean energy transmission, and trying to ban research on cooling the planet... but the movement that wins the next century will be led by the people doing the work, not those protesting it. New essay out today👇

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@kwuchu It's a bit quiet now, ngl. Did you play expedition 33?

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@SynBio1 Startup idea: Western blot certification service

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

I'm never leaving PNW

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@p_maverick_b First contact will be run with ALSA

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@ATinyGreenCell @mkoeris DNA scarcity hurts us much more than these windmills would. We could be engineering enzymes to make fossil fuels obsolete, but it's super expensive due to DNA costs. If we were worried about bioweapons, we'd have robust infection management in place, and COVID proved otherwise.

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

@neuroblossom @SynBio1 Actually, there's one gene that could be fixed in cats that would extend their lives a lot. Look up AIM protein. It's mutated and responsible for kidney disease in cats

[Michał Jastrzębski @_inc0_]

https://t.co/m5PPgv4ieQ we're working on something cool!

[Micah Olivas @MicahOlivas1]

To learn more, check out our preprint here!

https://t.co/PlPmCyQJFF