In 1939, they were just entering adulthood. Unfortunately, World War II did not give anyone any concessions. They fought in the conspiracy, but at some point they started to "crumble". They denounced their colleagues from the underground, condemning them to death. Can their actions be justified?
The first generation of the reborn Second Polish Republic was to live in a better world. While my grandparents fought unsuccessfully in the uprisings and their parents struggled with the tragedy of the Great War and the struggle for borders, the future looked much brighter for them.
Blanka Kaczorowska had dozens of Home Army activists on her conscience, whom she handed over to the Gestapo.
However, the young, hopeful people did not even reach the age of majority when again dangers loomed over their homeland . Part of the impulse of heart and patriotic duty "went to heaven in fours." Others have earned the name of informers and collaborators by their actions. An important place among the latter is occupied by Blanka Kaczorowska and Helena Mathea - the greatest traitors of occupied Poland.
A heart broken by war
Apparently, she was supposed to resemble Marlene Dietrich, although the preserved photos suggest that these rumors were rather exaggerated. It is not an exaggeration, however, that Blanka Kaczorowska is responsible for the exposure and death of several dozen members of the Home Army.
He was born in 1922 in Brest-Litovsk, today a border town in Belarus, then the capital of the newly created Polesie Province. When in the 1930s more political prisoners began to be transported there, the Kaczorowski family set off in the opposite direction. They settle down in Siedlce, where Blanka gets her high school diploma, and after the outbreak of the war, she employs a cleaner in a local German hospital. The workplace is not accidental. It is headed there by the Union for Armed Struggle (AK predecessor), for which information about patients is of great importance.
Her husband, Ludwik Kalkstein, persuaded Blanka to cooperate with the Gestapo.
The Nazi offensive on the Soviet Union is currently underway, and many wounded on the Eastern Front are sent to the facility in Siedlce. On the basis of documents and observations, Kaczorowska's task is to conclude when the clashes took place and what their consequences were - something significant in the situation of the German information monopoly. In addition, the agent gets to know one of the enemy pilots stationed at the local airport . As he notes in his latest book Wilczyce znad Wisły Jarosław Molenda:
Despite being infatuated with a handsome German, she passed on to her Home Army commanders the news from him about the armament of German troops at the Siedlce airport, as well as the frequency of Luftwaffe landings there. The proverbial icing on the cake was getting Hamburg's mobilization plans.
Acquaintance quickly turns into something more. The couple even begins preparations for the wedding. They are interrupted by the arrest of Blanka by the Gestapo. Finally, she manages to be released (perhaps through the intercession of her fiancé), but the young are not allowed to enjoy themselves, because the German is assigned to the eastern front, from which she will not return.
Faithful wife of Wallenrod
However, Kaczorowska cannot mourn her beloved for a long time, because an order comes from the headquarters to transfer him to the capital. In Warsaw, luck is more conducive to her - she achieves further successes and in 1941 she is awarded the Cross of Valor for intelligence activities. She works in the so-called "H" network under the command of Ludwik "Hanka" Kalkstein , with whom he becomes a wedding carpet shortly after.
In the spring of 1942, "Hanka" is captured by the Gestapo during a raid. It was unfortunate that when he ran out of the house he did not take with him neither a weapon nor the usual ampoule with poison. After being tortured in front of him, his father and sister were also allegedly subjected to torture, and he decides to cooperate with the Nazis. He gives himself to her conscientiously - what is more, he also encourages his partner to do so. First, however, the Germans simulate his execution, and Kalkstein changes his appearance and, under the assumed name of Konrad Stark, begins reporting as an agent of V-97.
Apparently, what ultimately convinces Blanka is the vision unfolded before her… revenge on Hitler. Kalkstein introduces her to his plan:he intends to lull the Nazis to get to the Fuhrer's quarters and assassinate him. He wants to be Wallenrod but needs his faithful Aldona to complete the plan . After all, he himself cannot steal important materials, because he was officially shot. The first task is simple:Kaczorowska is to issue her former Home Army network in Siedlce.
According to Molenda, as a result of her treason, at least 14 people were arrested. Five immediately hit the wall. It was also supposed to denounce about twenty officers and soldiers from the top management of the Home Army Headquarters. Although it has never been finally proven, it is possible that Blanka and her husband were also co-responsible for the unmasking of general Stefan "Grot" Rowecki.
The group of collaborators, in which Kalkstein's brother-in-law is still involved, cannot be worked out until 1944. In March, the Military Special Court sentenced all three to death. The Traitor, however, avoids punishment. She is saved by a (apparently) pregnancy belly . The sentence is postponed until the day of delivery. Meanwhile, Kaczorowska and Kalkstein escape. The shadow of justice gets to Blanka only after 10 years. She was detained in December 1952, and six months later she was sentenced to life in prison for collaborating with the Gestapo. Ultimately, however, he only spends 5 years behind bars.
Identity Price
The representative of the same generation (born in 1922) is Helena Mathea, whose history served as an inspiration for the script of the film "I will stand guard on my guard" directed by Kazimierz Kutz. He comes from Ligota - today one of the districts of Katowice, but at the beginning of the interwar period a separate town with a more complicated status. During the 3rd Silesian Uprising, intense fights took place here, and in the plebiscite nearly three-quarters of the inhabitants voted for belonging to Poland.
Their moral authority, Bishop Stanisław Adamski, persuaded the Silesians to sign the Volkslist.
It can be assumed that - in such a pro-Polish environment - young Helena receives patriotic upbringing . Her father, Stefan, works on the railroad and is a veteran of the uprisings, while uncle Karol is a distinguished national activist, priest and member of the Silesian Parliament. No wonder then that after the outbreak of the war, the girl quickly becomes involved in the underground and under the pseudonym "Julka" she acts as a courier of the Silesian branch of the Polish Armed Forces.
At the same time, however, her family is entered on the Volkslist, although as Molenda explains in his book, it is motivated by pure pragmatism and the desire to recover the confiscated house . What's more, Stefan Mathea receives the lowest IV category, which means that even in the eyes of the occupant, he is considered polonized and faithful to the pre-war Polish authorities. Anyway, as Paweł Lisicki emphasizes, even the Bishop of Katowice, Stanisław Adamski, who was considered by the Silesians to be the main moral authority, called to declare "Germanness" at that time.
The real trial time comes for Helena in May 1940. As part of the investigation of the Polish underground, she is stopped by the Gestapo, but after a few weeks she is released. And after the holidays, a large-scale action to arrest members of the underground begins. Mathea is first suspected of being the source of the leak. The accusations are further substantiated by the fact that other detainees are not as lucky as "Julka" - after being imprisoned, they are quickly sent to camps or shot. The matter is serious as the Silesian ZWZ district is one of the strongest in the country at that time, with three times more members than the Warsaw area in 1940.
Bloody Julia
When, years later, a journalist from the Katowice-based Gazeta Wyborcza managed to reach Mathea, the woman will explain that the mysterious release was the merit of the criminal commissioner Paul Breuche. He was going to fall in love with the 18-year-old and use his influence to let her out and clean up the file.
In 1940, however, her colleagues from the underground do not want to believe in the help of the "good German". They add two or two and find that Helena is to blame - she was supposed to throw in the organization. An investigation is launched, as a result of which, in the fall of 1941, the Special Martial Court sentences Mathea to death. As in the case of Blanka Kaczorowska, the sentence is not carried out.
Bloody Julka reported on at least 10 underground activists. The list of her victims, however, can be much longer. (The photo comes from the book by Jakub Molenda "Wilczyce znad Wisły").
In retrospect, the situation seems even more complicated. Professor Zygmunt Woźniczka, a historian from the University of Silesia, notes that it is hard to believe that a young courier would have extensive knowledge necessary to expose the entire network. He suspects that, paradoxically rumors about Helena's guilt could have been spread by the Germans themselves in order to distract attention from the actual source of the leak. But was it really so?
An unequivocal answer to the question about the role of "Julka" did not come from the proceedings before the Institute of National Remembrance in Katowice. Molenda in the book "Wilczyce znad Wisły" cites a fragment of the decision to discontinue the investigation, in which prosecutor Ewa Koj from the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation wrote:
Based on the presented evidence , it can be categorically stated that Helena Mathea was not a Gestapo officer . On the other hand, the same evidence shows that she cooperated with the security police, but it is difficult to clearly indicate when she began to cooperate and how many members of the Polish Armed Forces she handed over to the Gestapo.
What about the alleged traitor herself? Faced with mounting accusations, Mathea leaves occupied Poland and moves first to Leipzig and then to Vienna, where she undertakes medical studies. After the war, for a year he even worked in a hospital in Katowice-Bogucice, but quickly, disguised as a nurse, left the country with a transport of the Red Cross. As it turns out - for the last time.
He goes to Austria, where he meets his future husband, Andrzej Służewski, a participant in the September campaign and the Battle of Tobruk. The couple settle down in London - and it is there that in 2006 Piotr Płatek finds Helena, reminding Polish courts of her existence. There is never, however, a fair trial. As it happened in the times of the People's Republic of Poland, also in the 2000s it is not possible to persuade Great Britain to extradite Mathea.