Poraj, 26 July 1989
Barbara Polakowska
[…]
Dear Sir Jędrzej Tucholski,
In response to the appeal to complete the Katyń list, I would like to add some information concerning Tomasz Matyjaszczyk [(T.M.)], whose surname was featured on the list of the victims published in the “Zorza” weekly on 24 April 1989: “2,814… reservist Tomasz Matyjaszczyk, no. 1751”
In the 1930s Tomasz Matyjaszczyk was a teacher at the elementary school in Kuźnica Duża, commune of Poraj, district of Zawiercie, Kielce Voivodeship (now: Częstochowa Voivodeship).
I received the information from T.M.’s school friend and from his female colleague, a retired teacher from the same school.
Tomasz Matyjaszczyk was from the town of Gidle, Częstochowa Voivodeship. Born in 1909, he graduated from the men’s vocational school for teachers in Częstochowa in 1933, and started working as a teacher at an elementary school in Kuźnica Duża [sic!], commune of Poraj. He worked there until 1939, and was mobilized in the summer.
He was very diligent and dutiful in his pedagogical work in a rural area. He was very devoted to teaching – this is how he will be remembered.
He was a bachelor and did not start a family.
We learned here about his death in Katyń from the list published in the press during the occupation.
I am not related to T.M. I knew him because I come from a local family of teachers, and even though I was a schoolgirl in the 1930s, I was generally familiar with the local teachers.
I genuinely appreciate the efforts that you have undertaken in pursuit of this noble cause and wish you success in realizing all your goals and desires.
B. Polakowska
I submit the fragment of the list of the victims which features T.M.’s name.