10 Zlotys Józef Kuraś “Ogień”

Józef Kuraś "Ogień" led an anti-communist partisan unit in the Podhale region of southern Poland after World War II, fighting both German occupiers and later Soviet-backed forces. His story remained officially suppressed under the Polish People's Republic for decades — commemorating him on state coinage would have been unthinkable before 1989. Whether he is remembered as a resistance hero or condemned for alleged atrocities against civilians and Jews during the war remains genuinely contested among Polish historians, making this issue among the more politically charged in the National Bank of Poland's modern commemorative program.