Łódź, 13 April 1989
Editorial Office of the “Zorza” weekly
Warsaw, Mokotowska Street 43
to Engineer Jędrzej Tucholski
I am writing in response to the appeal to complete the Katyń list. I submit the data in accordance with the questionnaire published in the press.
| 1. | Władysław Piasecki, son of Stanisław and Zofia, née Kanicka, born on 6 April 1914 in Łódź (the Chojny district of Łódź), the last place of residence: Łódź, Lenartowicza Street 13, place of interment: Kozelsk near Smolensk. |
| 2. | Data concerning education and employment: higher education, an official, studied at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the Free Polish University – branch in Łódź, transcript no. 327 (in my possession), place of work: Treasury Office in Łódź, post: inspector [?] – a white-collar worker, workplace identity card no. 1719 (in my possession). |
| 3. | Data concerning military service: second lieutenant of the infantry officer corps, commission no. 2806/1937, service branch: military engineering, military status: officer of the reserve; member of the Union of the Reserve Officers of the Polish Republic – near Łódź, the last assignment: unknown, the post/function: unknown, on 3 September 1939 he departed from home, in the morning of 4 September 1939 he had already left the barracks in Łódź, wounded in 1939 – we do not know. |
| 4. | Not applicable. |
| 5. | When and where he was captured: according to oral reports, he participated in the defence |
of Warsaw – he was captured by the Russians near Równe (former Łuck Voivodeship).
[Hand-written note: Gienek Oryński was mentioned in the letter to the family].
6. Which camp were the letters sent from: attached you will find a photocopy of a fragment of the envelope and the only letter we received from the camp in Kozelsk, dated 21 November 1939. The letter is very personal, but may shed light on some issues. I submit the following clarifications to the letter: Halinka – my brother Władysław’s fiancée, née Konopka, permanently residing in Łódź. Their wedding was to take place on Christmas Day in 1939; Edzio – Władysław’s brother, yours truly, nine years younger than Władysław. Our mother and Halina started the search via the Polish Red Cross in January 1945. At the beginning of the 1950s, we were searching via European posts of the [International] Red Cross – Geneva, Paris. They informed us that my brother’s name was not on any list. The Moscow [Red] Crescent also replied that the person we were searching for was not featured on any of the lists. During the occupation I read the list of the people murdered in Katyń published in the German magazine “Ostdeutscher Beobachter”. My brother was probably on the list: “captain W……aw Piasecki”. Some letters in his first name were replaced with dots. He was listed as a captain, but on the day when he was called up he held the rank of second lieutenant. Apparently one German magazine published the letters from Halina Konopka found in the uncovered pits which I have mentioned (information from a third party).7. Attachments:
| a) | Władysław’s birth certificate (a photocopy), |
| b) | letter from Kozelsk with a piece of envelope (a photocopy), |
| c) | commission (a photocopy) no. 2806/1937, |
| d) | and five photographs: Władysław in 1937/1938 and four photographs of my brother in military uniform of the Officer Cadet School in Modlin; in group photographs Władysław is marked with the symbol “x”. |
8. Submitted by: the brother of the murder victim.