Antoni Guzy, also known as Anton Guzy, was born in Bielsko (formerly Bielitz) to a German mother and a Polish father. He trained and worked as a locksmith. In 1938, after losing his job, Guzy joined the Gewerkschaft Deutscher Arbeiter, an organization that facilitated employment opportunities in Germany. According to later investigations, this organization likely played a role in recruiting or influencing him to participate in sabotage activities on behalf of German interests.

By 1939, Europe was on the brink of war, and Poland was experiencing increasing political and military tension. Guzy’s motivations were never conclusively established. He later stated that he had not received payment for his actions and expressed remorse during interrogation. Available evidence suggests he may have been manipulated or used by German handlers, possibly without full knowledge of the timing or consequences of the bombing.

On the night of 28 August 1939, two days before the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Antoni Guzy carried out a bombing at Tarnów Główny railway station in Tarnów, Poland. At the time, Tarnów was a city of approximately 40,000 residents and a major railway junction connecting Kraków and Lwów, handling heavy civilian and military traffic.

Guzy traveled to Tarnów accompanied by a man identified as Neumann, believed to be affiliated with a German sabotage organization. He deposited two suitcases filled with explosives in the station’s luggage hall. The device was a time bomb, and there is evidence suggesting Guzy may not have known the precise moment it would detonate.

Shortly before the explosion, Guzy drank a beer at the station restaurant and walked around the premises. At 11:18 p.m., the bomb exploded in the station’s waiting hall, destroying roughly one‑third of the building. Fourteen people were killed instantly, and thirty‑eight others were injured. Eight additional victims later died from their injuries, bringing the total death toll to 22. The number of casualties would have been significantly higher had a passenger train from Kraków not arrived eight minutes late, and had a military transport not departed moments earlier.

Following the explosion, Guzy fled the scene with other panicked passengers. He was briefly stopped by railway police, questioned, and released. He was later detained again near the station after being identified as the individual who had abandoned the suitcases. During interrogation, Guzy expressed remorse and claimed he had acted under instruction, without payment.

Guzy’s ultimate fate remains unclear. A German investigation conducted in 1941 concluded that he was shot and killed in early September 1939, before German forces reached the area. No definitive documentation has been found to confirm this conclusion.

The Tarnów train station bombing is regarded as one of the earliest acts of sabotage preceding World War II. Some historians believe it was intended to provoke anti‑German sentiment in Poland and contribute to the broader campaign of destabilization that culminated in the Nazi invasion, alongside other false‑flag operations such as the Gleiwitz incident.