Piotrków Trybunalski, 20 March 1989
“Zorza” Editorial Office
Mokotowska Street 43
00-551 Warsaw
Esteemed Sir!
In the edition of “Zorza” from 19 March 1989 you have published some basic questions regarding the Polish officers murdered in Katyn. I sent a detailed letter concerning the death of my Father, the late Wacław Pastwa, who was a Lieutenant of the Reserve, to the Editorial Office on 24 February. Nevertheless, acting in accordance with the wishes of the Editorial Office, I will try to resubmit the facts that are known to me.
| 1. | Wacław Pastwa, son of Roch, born in 1902 in Warsaw. |
| 2. | Warsaw, Żelaznej Bramy Square 8, flat 10 (his address in 1939!). |
| 3. | Secondary education, a draughtsman/graphic artist by profession; place of employment: Army Geographical Institute in Warsaw. |
| 4. | A Lieutenant of the Infantry (Reserve), I do not know the name of his regiment, called up in August 1939 and posted to Grodno. |
| 5. | He was captured by the Soviets near Tarnopol (in all probability, as the letter from Kozelsk seems to indicate). In September 1939, he was at the front line near Lwów. In Tarnopol, after my late Father’s unit was disarmed by the Soviets, he somehow met up with the administrator of the tenement house at Żelaznej Bramy Square, one Mr Hildesheim, who by complete chance in 1945, just after the War had ended, ran into me and my late Mother and confirmed that such a meeting had indeed taken place. Mr Hildesheim left for Israel; [he was] an elderly gentleman at the time, and is probably no longer alive. |
| 6. | The only letter (the original plus the original envelope with stamps) from Kozelsk, dated 29 November 1939, arrived in Warsaw at the address at which I lived with my Mother towards the end of December 1939. It is presently in my possession. |
| 7. | My data: […]. |
| 8. | I have attached the following to the letter: |
| a. | a [photo]copy of a letter sent by the Main Board of the Polish Red Cross in Warsaw, confirming that my Father figures in the so-called Katyn Lists under no. 0410; |
| b. | a [photo]copy of the original envelope in which the letter was sent from Kozelsk; |
| c. | documents concerning the person of my late Father were destroyed by fire – together with my parents’ flat – during the Warsaw Uprising; only a few photographs survived (they are in the possession of family members), of which I have attached the following: a copy of a group photograph taken at the Institute (Father is marked with a cross) by W. Pikiel – the photographer and illustrator of the Army Science and Publishing Institute in Warsaw in 1934/1935, and also a photograph of my late Father taken in 1937/1938; |
| d. | a photo[copy] of the decision of the Court in Piotrków Trybunalski, recognizing Wacław Pastwa, Lieutenant of the Reserve, as legally dead. |
Decision
On 15 February 1950 the Magistrates’ Court in Piotrków, with Judge J. Starosielec presiding, and with the participation of a reporter, J. Baszkowska, having heard on 15 February 1950 the case brought by Stanisława Pastwa for the recognition of Wacław Pastwa as deceased,
hereby decides
to recognize Wacław Pastwa, last resident in Warsaw, born in Warsaw on 17 September 1902, son of Roch and Eleonora née Stańczyk, husband of Stanisława Pastwa, resident in Piotrków Trybunalski, as officially deceased and assume as his date of death the day of 9 May 1946.
Substantiation
The applicant motioned for her husband, Wacław Pastwa, who became missing in action during military operations in 1939, [to be recognized] as deceased. Testimony provided by witnesses, that is by Stefania Jankowska and Halina Kułakowska, indicates that Wacław Pastwa took part in military operations against the Germans in 1939 as an Officer of the Reserve, and that following the cessation of said military operations he sent a communication from Kozelsk and thereafter figured in the list of those who went missing in Katyn, which was published in the press titles printed by the [German] occupier. Having given announcements pursuant to the procedure provided for under Articles 5 and 6 of the Decree of 29 August 1945 on the Recognition of Persons as Deceased, the Court has recognized the said as deceased, determining his date of death in accordance with the provisions of Articles 14 and 18 of Personal Law in connection with the provisions of Article XX of the regulations introducing Personal Law.