Kędzierzyn–Koźle, 5 May 1989
[…]
Catholic Family Weekly
“Zorza”
Mokotowska Street 43
00-551 Warsaw
Concerns: Captain Edward Dietrich, missing in the camp in Starobilsk, my father
Having read the [Catholic] Family Weekly “Zorza” and the list of persons reported missing, I would hereby like to submit photocopies of a part of my documents concerning my father, who was reported missing in the camp in Starobilsk. The originals are in my possession. Should anyone be interested, I will readily make them available.
Captain Edward Dietrich, born on 13 October 1900 in Częstochowa, son of Edward and Maria née Rudzka.
I have attached the following documents:
| 1. | Certificate of enlistment and service in the Polish Armed Forces |
| 2. | and two certificates confirming that in 1918 he had taken part in disarming Germans in the 9th district and 1st circuit in Częstochowa. |
| 3. | The course of his military service from 1 November 1918 to 15 March 1921, and the course of his military service in peacetime until 30 March 1928. His identity card from the 54. Infantry Regiment of the Borderland Rifles indicates that he remained in Tarnopol until 1933, serving with the rank of Lieutenant. It was determined on the basis of his identity card that he had served in the Border Security Corps in Zaleszczyki [in] the years 1933–1934. Thereafter he served with the 1. Podhale Rifles Regiment until the Second World War. When war broke out, he was the commander of an improvised battalion of the 1. Podhale Rifles Regiment (Nowy Sącz); this unit was destroyed in combat. He became commander of 2. Battalion with effect from 8 September 1939. Wounded in his right arm, he managed to reconstruct the 2. Battalion and steer it through to Lwów. After Lwów was occupied by the Red Army, he was hospitalized in the city, and subsequently transported to the hospital in Tarnopol. He and some other officers were removed from the hospital in Tarnopol and ordered to board a truck (without a canopy, even though it was snowing at the time) and squat in fours on the floor, with their hands on their heads. Father took a place in the last group of four, in order to look at his family (his wife and son) for as long as possible. From the time when he was deported to the USSR, we received the following correspondence. |
| 4. | The first letter was written while he was in a transport that had departed on 17 November 1939, [and father informed us] that they were leaving Wołoczyska and proceeding to Shepetivka. |
| 5. | He sent the following postcards from the camp in Starobilsk: date written down by father date of the post office stamp from on the postcard the camp in Starobilsk |
28 November 1939 7 December 1939
21 December 1939 20 January 1940
26 December 1939 25 January 1940
6 January 1940 25 January 1940
9 February 1940 17 February 1940
Following this date we received no more postcards.
6. We still received:
| a. | one telegram, dated 8 April 1940, and its contents [indicated] that father had received three telegrams from us (mother and me), |
| b. | another, dated 28 May, [with the information] that the telegram had been “handed over to the duty officer at the forced labor camp”. |
| 7. | Searches organized through the agency of the Polish Red Cross and the Society for Assistance to Poles turned up nothing. |
| 8. | On 5 October 1955 a death certificate was drawn up in Nowy Sącz, with the date of death being set forward therein as 9 May 1946 at 12.00 a.m. |
9. I am also sending two of father’s photographs.
If the above documents and photographs are not needed by anyone for the purpose of research, I would request that they be returned.
[…]
7 November 1939
Dearest!
I am in good health and feel quite well. Today we are departing from Wołoczyska to Shepetivka (a POW camp). I will write you from there. Tosia! Look after yourself and Dusia [?]. I will give you my address when we reach a more permanent location. I promise to write regularly [?] to Brzeżany, to the Fass family [?]. If the address is different, leave [illegible] there.
Dearest! I have a strong feeling that we will be reunited soon. Take [?] care [?].
I send you all my kisses. Write requests for my release frequently.
Edek