They gained money for their favorite pastimes - alcohol and gambling - thanks to blackmail, robbery and murder. Their cooperation with the NKVD in the east led to the arrest of a number of high-ranking Home Army officers. They went to the capital as Gestapo agents. What did they manage to do?
The activity of the criminal tandem of two Edwardów:Gola and Metzger began and reached its greatest momentum in Lviv. Szajka, who later operated in Kraków and Warsaw, turned out to be extremely dangerous because it combined banditry with politics and could very realistically harm the entire Home Army.
Officially, both men were counterintelligence officers of the Lviv Area, reporting directly to Major Emil Macieliński "Kornel", while informally cooperating first with the NKVD, and later with the Gestapo. It has never been proven, but it was they were suspected of handing over Gen. Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski and Gen. Leopold Okulicki to the NKVD.
Lviv beginnings
The lives of Gola and Metzger had been intertwined from an early age. As teenagers, they both graduated from the Cadet Corps in Lviv, both of them also initially pursued a military career in the navy, while Metzger - a graduate of the Aviation Cadet School in Dęblin - was incorporated into the Naval Observation Squadron as a second lieutenant. And while his career was quite calm, Gola showed a truly adventurous temperament.
Gola and Metzger were suspected of, inter alia, handing over General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski to the NKVD.
In 1928, he was disciplinarily discharged from the navy for starting an argument in one of the Danish ports. He flew from the engineering school for officers for insulting an officer, and from the Tax Office in Drohobycz - where he finally found employment - for "bad behavior outside the service".
They both met again in Lviv, where they were thrown by their fate after the defeat of the September campaign. From that moment on, they were inseparable, which was undoubtedly helped by two common passions - alcohol and gambling, as well as a common problem - the permanent lack of money for their implementation.
The agent activity of Gola and Metzger, which they soon successfully combined with gangster activity, began in the NKVD prison, where they ended up as members of the ZWZ. We do not know what happened behind the bars, but both colleagues from the Lviv underground and modern historians do not believe in the version spread at the time about their daring escape and agree that they both were simply released after signing consent to cooperate with the Russians.
Bandit deal
Metzger - apparently more credible - was still active in the conspiracy structures, but Gola was sidelined. It was at this point that the espionage-crime game began. Metzger, who was active in the organization, provided information about potential victims, and then, together with Gola, blackmailed the suspects, threatening to expose them. As Stefan Ryś "Józef" later reported:
Due to the lack of livelihood and loss of trust, he started [Gola - ed. aut.] bandit activity. He dealt with assaults, murders, blackmail, and also collaborated with the NKVD until the German troops entered Lviv. The handing over to the Bolsheviks of Lt. L. Okulicki, "Mrówka" and other people came entirely thanks to "Kulas" (Edward Gola) and "Ketling" (Edward Metzger).
"Kulas" had his seat in Zosia Winiarska's apartment, where he met with the so-called decisive five. "Ketling", who, using his position as an intelligence officer in the "Kornel" organization, "assigned work" to "Kulas" and shared with him information obtained from the "Kornel" organization, for which he participated in the profits, was not one of her. After some time, "Ketling" completely transferred to the service of "Kulas" and took a direct part in the attacks of bandit gangs.
Gola and Metzger started their activities in war-torn Lviv.
Leonard Zbyszyński "Garbus" adds a few new details to this painting:
During his stay in Lviv, "Kulik" learned that "Kulas" and his people were involved in the robberies there and worked for the NKVD (...). "Kulas" handed over to the NKVD Fr. Wrzoska, Maj. Z. Dobrowolski, some colonel from the ZWZ, 4 officers sent from the ZWZ from Warsaw. Moreover, he was supposed to kill a platoon man and drown his body in a well.
It is worth explaining that "Kulas" is one of the numerous pseudonyms of Gola (he also used such names as:"Andrzej Azurewicz", "Antoni Rudy", "Andrzej"), while Metzger appears in sources as "Ketling", "Hasling", "Edzio "," EII ". All this nomenclature chaos, certainly caused consciously, caused a lot of confusion when the duo moved from Lviv to Warsaw.
While still in Lviv, apart from espionage and extorting money with blackmail, Gola and Metzger were engaged in common banditry - attacks, robberies and murders. We do not know the number of their victims, and information about this activity can only be obtained from the testimony of witnesses . For example, Leonard Zbyszyński "Lalka", cooperating with Gola, who already in Warsaw included in his report:
I would like to mention that »Andrzej« in a fit of good humor told us about his exploits in Lviv, how they murdered spies and how satisfied they were throwing them into the water. »Rudy«, his attacks on private apartments of Jews, looting and murders.
Gola and Metzger collaborated with the NKVD, handing over many Polish officers to the Soviets.
The charm of this story is the fact that "Andrzej" and "Rudy" are of course the nicknames of one person - Goli. Regardless of this, however, the fault of the group of "Kulas" - "Ketling" must have been completely obvious to his contemporaries, and the evidence was so strong that a little later Bernard Zakrzewski "Oskar" - the head of the counterintelligence of the 2nd Division of the ZWZ General Headquarters - described it very bluntly:
In 1940 and in the first months of 1941 in Lviv, belonging to Polish underground organizations, under the guise of independence work, they conducted bandit activities consisting in robbing money and murdering people.
Sudden change of front
The end of the first chapter of the group's activity took place abruptly with the occupation of Lviv by the Germans. Mieczysław Dobrzański "Leon" mentioned that both Gola and Metzger planned to flee with the retreating Russians to Moscow, which, however, did not happen because of ... cowardice.
Mec Ger [Metzger - ed. aut.] is a cowardly individual - devoid of any moral and ethical scruples . With the outbreak of the German-Bolshevik war, Gola was ordered to flee with others in Soviet military disguise to Moscow.
After the capture of Lviv by the Germans, the agents planned an escape to Moscow in Soviet uniforms.
But on the site of his uniform - on the citadel - Mec Gera's courage at the last moment runs out and hides to the toilet. Goli's trip to Moscow has failed. Mec Ger from the Lviv area goes to Warsaw, where he is currently staying with his wife, suspected of collaborating with the Gestapo. There is also Gola and an old friendship is renewed between them.
It is not known how "Leon" knew such details as the information about "Ketling" hiding into the passage. It is worth adding, however, that he had a generally disastrous opinion about Metzger, he called him outright "a small creature, a man completely without character", so such details can be considered pure malice. Dobrzański also forgot to add that both gangsters went to Warsaw via Krakow, which is important because their cooperation with the Gestapo began there.
We do not know the details of taking it - whether they volunteered or were arrested and forced to collaborate as associates of the NKVD - nor do we know whether cooperation with the Germans meant the end of cooperation with the Russians for Gola and Metzger. It is only known that the Germans engaged them to create the so-called anti-Bolshevik legion and sent them to Warsaw with this mission.
The article is an excerpt from the book by Wojciech Lady "Bandyci z Armii Krajowej" , which was published by the Znak Horyzont publishing house.
In the capital, where their Lviv reputation has not yet reached, Gola and Metzger immediately joined the underground activities of the Security and Counterintelligence Department of the 2nd Division of the ZWZ KG. Here they did not allow themselves to make excesses as in their hometown, which does not mean that they stopped their spy and bandit activities. However, they became more cautious.
In order to secure themselves money for a riotous life, borrowed larger amounts from their co-workers, which they did not return, and threatened those asking for a refund with a denunciation . As for the conditions of the conspiracy, these were considerable amounts - a total of about PLN 13,000. They also created three committees associating wealthy aristocracy and supposedly financing the activities of the underground - in this way they obtained over PLN 25,000 and various trinkets, which they later sold at the famous Warsaw bazaar - Kercelak.
The investigation against Goli and Metzger had been going on in secret for some time. Informants from Lviv brought news to Warsaw about their cooperation with the NKVD and bandit pranks, people from Warsaw were sent to Lviv to verify these facts.
Agents sold some of their trinkets at the Kercelak market in Warsaw.
And it was not easy, because the Lviv superior of both suspects, Major "Kornel", was himself suspected of collaborating with the NKVD. After two months of research and consideration of the case, on November 20, 1941, Stefan Rowecki "Grot" approved the death sentences. Three. Also on "Kornel".
Sentence and execution
It is not known when exactly they were made, but it must have happened around December 17, 1941. The liquidation itself was one of the most daring actions of the famous 993 / W branch, namely two of its members:"Twarda" and "Repair".
Counterintelligence established that as part of their activities, "Kulas" and "Ketling" are trying to cash in a painting received from someone. "Twardy" and "Naprawa" were exhibited as an appraiser and buyer, and in this role they met Lviv gangsters in the "Mars" bar on Nowy Świat Street. After a short and - what is important - a conversation sprinkled with vodka, both with Gola went to his apartment at ul. Szara 13, where they were executed.
Tough then returned to Mars, where he told Metzger that the painting was genuine and that it was necessary to set a price. For this purpose, the men went to one of the numerous restaurants at ul. Marszałkowska, where they were supposed to be expected by Gola z "rawa ".
The death sentences for Gola and Metzger were approved by Stefan Rowecki "Grot".
Gola was absent for obvious reasons, and "Naprawa" was waiting for them somewhere at the intersection of ul. Krucza and Wspólna, and as soon as they appeared, he immediately fired at Metzger. But while it was a close-range shot, Metzger didn't die right away. Worse, after a while, a German gendarmerie patrol appeared nearby, lured by a boom, and headed towards the liquidators.
However, they showed exceptional fortitude - they took the staggering Metzger among them and, pretending to be a trio of drunks, continued towards the policemen. People who were stopped by a patrol were said to mumble so reliably and smelled so reliably with vodka that they let them go without any major problems.
They had left Metzger's body in the first gate. Nobody knows what happened to him.
Source:
The above text is an excerpt from Wojciech Lady's book. Bandits from the Home Army , Which was released by the Znak Horyzont publishing house.
The title, lead, illustrations with captions, information and explanations in square brackets, bolds and subtitles come from the editors. The text has undergone basic editorial work to introduce more frequent breakdown of paragraphs. To preserve the integrity of the text, footnotes in the book version have been removed.