Radomsko, 26 August 1989.
“Zorza” Weekly Editorial Office
Mokotowska Street 43
00-551 Warsaw
Concerning: missing persons list
We are putting forth our father, brother, and husband, who had lived in Radomsko before the war, to be included in the list of the murdered in the USSR land.
Edward Olbrychowski, son of Józef and Rozalia, born in 1895 (we don’t recall the day and month) in Borowno near Częstochowa, had served in the State Police before the war [for] around 16 years. He was a police sergeant commander’s deputy in Gomunice near Radomsko, and lately, before September 1939, he was a secretary at the State Police station in Radomsko.
Description
In the initial days of September 1939, he withdrew along with the Polish formations. Around 4 September, I saw him for the last time. I never received any news on his fate. In summer 1940, I received the first message which said that my husband was alive and staying near Ładoga Lake from a former policeman, my husband’s colleague, who returned to Radomsko. Policeman Majzner swore he was with my husband in a temporary camp – as I said above – near the lake of Ładoga. Ex-policeman Majzer said that he got through to the country only because he was ill and the NKVD handed him to the Germans and that way he returned to Radomsko. Presently he is dead.
I need to mention my husband was a volunteer in the General Haller’s group in 1920 on the Bolshevik front line, receiving two military crosses (I don’t recall the type and class). I’m not in possession of them, because I lost them in the period of the Second World War.
Even Polish communists in Radomsko would say he was a good man. In 1945, and then twice following that, I addressed the Polish Red Cross in Warsaw and Moscow, in the search of my husband, knowing he was on the USSR territory in these years. I received an answer from the Soviet embassy in Warsaw, that my husband died in 1944, but they didn’t say where. Now I know that he was probably murdered in 1940, not in 1944. Based on that, with difficulties, after two years of efforts, that is around 1949, I received a pension.
I need to say that my husband’s brother, Bolesław, fought on the Polish front line in 1939, then in France in 1940 (he was wounded), and toward the end of war in the I Armored Division of General Maczek (communications). He returned to Poland in 1947. He’s alive. He was harassed. [Our?] older son, Witold, took part in Warsaw Uprising, and after its fall stayed in the camp in Czechoslovakia and was released there. He is alive. I am presently 90 years old ([born in] 1899).
I kindly request the Editorial Office of “Zorza” Weekly to use my statements, which are truthful, or to publish them, should the editors consider it relevant.
I am sending a photograph of my husband from 1938 to be used by the Honorable Editors.
I am only in possession of issue 34 of your [weekly] from 20 August 1989, with a continuation of the list of the murdered people from the Ostashkov camp. I’m not in possession of [previous issues]. Maybe the surname is already listed in your weekly, which I’m not aware of. Please verify this. If the name is already there, please inform me.
With respect to the Editorial Team of “Zorza” Weekly
Radomsko, 15 October 1989.
“Zorza” Weekly Editorial Office
Mokotowska Street 43
00-551 Warsaw
Concerning: missing persons list
In the letter addressed to the Editors of “Zorza” Weekly from 26 August 1989 by my sister- in-law Waleria Olbrychowska and her daughter Wiesława Górka-Olbrychowska, there were some inaccuracies. Allow me to correct them:
| 1. | My brother Edward Olbrychowski, son of Józef and Rozalia, was born in 1894 in Borowno near Częstochowa, not in 1895, as they stated. |
| 2. | The conversation with former policeman Majzner, who returned to Radomsko after being handed to the Germans by the NKVD, took place in my presence after the liberation, that is in 1947. He told me the following: he was along with my brother and policemen from the police station in Radomsko in a temporary camp north of Moscow, in Ostashkov. There was a rumor in the camp that they were going to be deported near the Ladoga Lake, and not as they [Waleria and Wiesława] wrote, that he actually was in the temporary camp near Ladoga Lake. I confirm he was a Haller’s man on the Bolshevik front line in 1920, which he was awarded military medals for. |
| 3. | In the years 1940-1941, I was staying in Great Britain. After the Katyn massacre was revealed in 1943, I searched for my brother in the II Corp [Polish] of General Władysław Anders, whose search offices were at that time placed in Persia. I received two replies, that [my brother] is not listed in their formations, and he had not arrived from Russia. In England, I spoke with Major Sergeant Jakubowski from Voivodeship Police Command in Nowogródek, who told me he spoke with the policemen from Radomsko, who were there along with their superior. He [Jakubowski?] made it out of Ostashkov, as he wasn’t recognized by the NKVD as a policeman. He was staying there as a civilian. In November 1939, he was handed over to Germans in Brześć-on-the-Bug in exchange for German communists. He escaped the Germans and managed to get through to England in some way. After the war, he left for Canada. I didn’t stay in contact with him. |
| 4. | After the liberation, I talked with reserve Lt. Edmund Półrola from Radomsko, who had met Cpt. Zalewski and others from Radomko before Moscow, including my brother Edward. In no. 1685/38 from 17 September 1989, under the number 2200, listed is major constable Jan Wojtkowski of the State Police from the District Headquarter in Radomsko. My brother was a commander’s deputy in Gomunice near Radomsko, and right before the war he was a secretary in the State Police station in Radomsko, so they knew each other well. And it appears from the information above, that my brother was in Ostashkov together with his colleagues. Where he was murdered, we don’t know. I think he needs to be qualified as a member of the Ostashkov group. |
About myself.
I was on three front lines of the Second World War. Chronologically: Poland 1939, Soviets (short bondage), whom I ran away from outside Tarnopol, by a small river (Zbrucz); I made it to Romania and was interned there. I escaped from Romania. I got through to Beirut. Then from Beirut to France in 1940. I was wounded there. Then it was England 1940-1944. Then the Normandy landings with General Maczek’s I Armored Division.
I ceased to fight in the war, like all soldiers, on 8 May 1945. I returned to the country in June 1947. Because of all of this, I couldn’t find work in the 50s. I was being harassed. I have Polish, French, and English decorations. I hold a status of disabled of the I group.
I’m 83 years old and [my] health condition [is] good.
With words of respect to the Honorable Editors and Mr. engineer Jędrzej Tucholski,
a collector of that history.
[PS.] I attach the copy of the letter sent to your Office by my sister-in-law and her daughter on 26 August 1989.
Late news: under the number 2698 in the issue 1689/42 from 15 October 1989, there is the surname of the murdered victim.
Thank you all so much