The Polish officers murdered in Katyn left their unique testimonies. Their notes, kept on every scrap of paper available, make up a moving picture of camp life. What were the thoughts, plans and dreams of the prisoners, unaware of their fate?
On April 13, 1943, the German Information Office announced the discovery of mass graves of Polish officers near Smolensk. Soon afterwards, exhumations began in the Katyn forest. The works under the supervision of the Wehrmacht were carried out by the PCK Technical Commission and an international commission. Many personal belongings, photographs and diaries were found in the coats and uniforms of the murdered soldiers. In total, over three thousand items of this type were excavated. They were packed in crates and transported to the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensics in Krakow.
The conservation and processing of all the finds was carried out by a team led by Dr. Jan Zygmunt Robl. The task faced by the team seemed to be overwhelming. How to read their contents from dirty, damaged and rotten documents? Gradually, however, the painstaking work, involving, among other things, many hours of bathing paper in chemicals, began to bear fruit. Poles created an accurate description of all documents and made copies of them.
Unfortunately, the original records of those murdered in Katyn, found during the exhumation in the spring of 1943, have not survived.
Unfortunately, the originals of the artifacts taken from Katyn have not survived. In August 1944, the Germans took the valuable chests with the reports and took them to Silesia, and then further west. In Radebeul near Dresden, all the materials were probably burned.
What's in the diaries?
We know that 22 diaries were found with the bodies of the killed Poles. Four copies were made in Krakow. In May 1944, during Operation "Most", the Second Home Army, through Lieutenant Colonel Roman Rutkowski, handed them over to the Polish government in London. Not all were delivered. Ultimately, only 15 newspapers were included in the Study of Underground Poland in London. Five more remain in the country. Could there be even more of them? This is what historian Jędrzej Tucholski claimed, suggesting that there could be as many as 39 of them.
The copies we have at our disposal, at least in part, compensate for the loss of the original diaries. Thanks to them, we can find out what the camp life in Kozelsk was like, what were the prisoners' dreams, their fears, and even what they dreamed about. On their basis, it is also possible to reconstruct the last days before the execution.
The most important thing in his notes is the longing for his loved ones. The prisoners worried about their wives and children. They also wrote about the latest news from the front. They wrote down everything they could and had at their disposal. These were calendars, notebooks, loose sheets. Every scrap of paper was eagerly used.
First moments in Kozielsk
The officers wrote down their impressions from the moment they arrived at the camp. Reserve Major Stefan Pieńkowski went to Kozielsk on November 3, 1939. This is how he reported his first moments:
Kozelsk is a town in the Smolensk region. Arrival at 12 o'clock. 7 km on foot. Big camp. After registration and the bathhouse, go to the 2nd part of the camp. Great hall, noise, electr. In the evening, transfer to a better room as a professor with the officers. staff. Good conditions. Dr. Zieliński is sick. I live with 3rd gen.
In turn, major Tomasz Siwicki the day before, on November 2, noted:
(…) 12 o'clock (24) The train stops at some station. We wait quite a long time, and finally they tell us to get ready to get off. So we are at our destination - we drove not far, but it is not known [where we are] and it is impossible to find out from anyone. It's completely dark, cold and muddy. It takes hours to unload, set it up, check it, count it and finally we go along the long column. After two hours of walking, we are getting closer to our destination. You can see the buildings lit by electricity. It turns out that this is Kozielsk.
What was the registration in the camp like? “This time a woman is signing us up. Staff polite and polite - nice change, a few individuals speak Polish, there are piles of prisoners next to them "- we learn from the major's memoirs.
Major Stefan Pieńkowski, who died in Katyn, was a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the Jagiellonian University.
The military officer also tells in detail what happened next:
From here around 10.15 we go to the bath and to the monastery for permanent stay. They say that the conditions there are tolerable - it is warm and that they are good to eat. The bath is terrible, we undress outside, and it's cold. We give clothes for disinfection. It is difficult to wash, it is tight and there is no water. It's hard to imagine anything worse. The bath is over and they lead us to some building, it is huge and full of [people] (…) such 500 houses us. Hustle and bustle, stuffiness, but it's warm - that's very important. My locum on the 3rd floor is a bunk. We receive mattresses and blankets, something that makes us amazed and delighted. In 7 weeks it will be the first time to sleep on the mattress. The bones won't hurt anymore.
Food, or rather the permanent lack of it, was a constant topic in the notes left by prisoners. "I have interesting dreams, some banquets with decent food, and this is because of hunger, uniform nutrition:a bowl for breakfast and black bread, millet porridge for lunch or pearl barley as a soup and tea for dinner," wrote Second Lieutenant Dobiesław Jakubowicz on October 16. He also complained about the poor food.
“We get bread for the day. They gave sugar for 10 days, but in 3 days you will eat it, and then I drink bitter tea. Yes, Marysia, she is in captivity here, ”he reported. "They feed worse and worse (...) constantly pea soup, rare lura, twice a day, I can't eat it anymore, I get sick" - admitted major Siwicki in January 1940.
Perhaps as many as 39 diaries were recovered from the death pits in Katyn.
The letters show a sense of hopelessness along with the prolonged stay in the camp. “Hopeless - I went to bed after breakfast. I got up in an even worse mood. Damn it would take it all - sit back and waste right here. Damn it all, wrote Jakubowicz in November, in the second month of his imprisonment. Siwicki expressed himself in a similar tone:
We live in the "Circus" - 500 people crowded like herring on 3 floors of bunks. Life-threatening climbing and descending, nothing is done. Quarrels and quarrels on the agenda. There is nowhere to spare, nowhere to sit, nothing to read, play, etc. We spend day after day waiting, nagging at everything. Again, long tails as long as sea snakes to eat, to water, to a latrine, to a shop.
The prisoners killed the camp boredom with the help of various games. The stakes were different - Jakubowicz, for example, playing "in chemin de gare with dominoes ”he won 11 turns of a machorka. The second lieutenant also mentioned the organization of spiritualist sessions:"(...) I asked about myself and you (about my wife - ed.) And the ghost told me that you are at your uncles'. In turn, several other diaries contain records of bridge games.
Personal belongings found on those murdered in Katyn.
Thanks to the notes, you can also learn about the peculiar names that prisoners gave to the barracks where they were kept. The "retirement home" was inhabited by the majors, and the colonels lived in "Bristol". The others occupied, inter alia, "Indian Tomb", "Circus", "Monkey Grove" and "Hotel under the lice".
"Our holiday is more than modest. I wash the underwear "
Prisoners also described how the Independence Day was celebrated in the camp on November 11. "We celebrated them modestly," reported Jakubowicz. “Our holiday is more than modest. I'm washing the underwear. Again, there are rumors about the doctors leaving for this turn, ”echoed Stefan Pieńkowski.
The Christmas holidays spent in Kozelsk were slightly better. “The Eve (former term for Christmas Eve - ed.) Was very solemn in our room - 15 gentlemen. The bed and the table were covered with a sheet - a tiny Christmas tree, a homemade wafer and hay "- described Jakubowicz.
Thanks to him, we also know what the officer's feast looked like:"Sharing a wafer, sandwiches, a thimble of vodka, sandwiches with chopped herring, potato, tea, fried fish, porridge with jelly, apples, Christmas carols by a lit Christmas tree." Tomasz Siwicki, in turn, wrote that prisoners of war "were forbidden to gather carols and gather":
He came to us From (...) uch. Wyp (...), Szurlej, Pisarski for dinner - they brought herrings with onions and 3/4 (...) I cooked black coffee. We spent the time until 1 o'clock while smoking the last "Seagull". Instead of Christmas trees, twigs are stuck on poles. Candles were burning here and there, and wafers made by prisoners of flour circulated (thin gray pancakes). On the one hand, there was liveliness, on the other, deep reflection and even tears.
The article was inspired by the book by Maria Nurowska entitled "Diary found in Katyn" (Prószyński i S-ka 2018).
These were one of the few tolerable moments in captivity, because winter in Kozelsk was not the mildest. January particularly took its toll on the prisoners. The temperatures dropped to several dozen degrees below zero! "45 stop. it's a nasty frost again, 'noted Jakubowicz. Major Kazimierz Szczekowski said:“A new wave of frost has come - again 45 °. It's hard to breathe in the air, but we'll survive that too. ”
The last moments. "We were brought [us] to the forest somewhere"
Officers also devoted a lot of space to the action commenced in April to remove groups of prisoners from the camp. "Bath. Suddenly a group of 74 was dispatched from various barracks. They talk about separate, outgoing camps. A new party started around 400. Supposedly (…) General excitement, ”reported Pieńkowski on 3 April. On the same day, Szczekowski wrote:“the bomb has finally burst. Today, the first transport of about 100 people left - of different origins, ages and origins, where it is not known. "
The last entries were made during transport. On April 9, Second Lieutenant Wacław Kruk noted:
(...) 14.30. We drive to Smolensk. For now, we are standing at the freight station. (…) It is evening, we passed Smolensk and reached the Gniezdowo station. It looks as if we were to get off here because there are many military men. In any case, they have literally given us nothing to eat so far. Since yesterday's breakfast we have been living with a portion of bread and a modest dose of water.
Postcard taken from one of the death pits in Katyn.
Officers left Kozielsk unaware of the impending tragedy. Lieutenant Colonel Adam Solski was deported on April 9. "Five in the morning. The day began especially from dawn. Departure by a prison-ambulance in cells (terrible!). We were brought [us] to the forest somewhere; something like a summer resort. A detailed revision here. The watch, which was 6.30 am (8.30 am), was taken from [me]. I was asked about the wedding ring (...). The rubles were taken, the main belt, the pocket knife (…) ”- he said.
“This afternoon I was taken - after a search - in a car to a railway siding - to prison cars - a compartment of 15 people behind bars,” Jakubowicz reported on April 21. The next day, he wrote:“At 1.30 hours. the train started, 12 hours Smolensk ". This is where his journal ends.
Inspiration:
This article was inspired by Maria Nurowska's book, Diary found in Katyn , Prószyński i S-ka 2018.