Concerning: the call to complete the Katyń list (“Zorza” Weekly no. 17 from 23 April 1989)
Questionnaire
1. [Personal data:]
| – | Names: Bolesław Karol, |
| – | Surname: Marszałek, |
| – | Parents’ names: Józef, Anna Górka |
| – | Residence: Grabiny near Dębica |
| – | Date and place of birth: 2 October 1906, Kawęczyn Debicki, Ropczyce district |
| – | Latest living address: Jarosław, Konarskiego Street 10 |
| – | The camp where he was interned: Starobilsk, Kozelsk. |
2. Civil data:
| – | Education: secondary school |
| – | Gen. Kazimierz Fabrycy’s Cadet School for Non-commissioned Officers in the years 1931-1934, |
| – | Workplace address: Jarosław, 3rd Infantry Legions Regiment, |
| – | Position: commander of the 4th Company. |
3. Military data:
–Rank: lieutenant,
–Military service status: career officer.
| 4. | Doesn’t concern. |
| 5. | When and where he got into custody: in 1939, he was a career officer in the 3rd Infantry Legions Regiment as a commander of the 4th Company. On 5 September 1939, he wrote a letter from Przemyśl to his daughter Tatiana (born 9 July 1937). According to the account of Piotr Lisak, who lives today, on 10 September 1939 he was staying at the Auxiliary Center in Jarosław, where he met Lt. Marszałek on the square in front of the headquarter. He told Mr. Lisak to go to the mail post of the “M” Battalion commander. Details are given by Mr. Lisak in the “Events description”, which he handed over to the Board of the ZBoWiD [Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy] Unit in Rzeszów. According to his account, they were in Złoczów together with Lt. Marszałek, and then in Tarnopol. Mr. Lisak was deported to Podwołoczyska. It’s unknown where they had been taking the officers. In the family documents, there’s an envelope without a postmark on it, on the reverse of which there is the following address: Bolesław MarszałekStarobielsk CCCP Rosja mailbox 15. |
| 6. | Information obtained from other sources: in a newspaper (probably “Goniec Krakowski” from 1943), which was published during the occupation, there’s a following mention: “Unrecognized Polish Armed Forces officer, wearing only a sweatshirt, address found – Krystek Balbina, Dębica, Świętosławy Street 31 (presently Olechowskiego Street 43)”. It’s the address of Bolesław Marszałek’s sister. The note was issued in connection to the Katyń graves identification. The newspaper should be found in the archives of the occupational press. There is a man called Jan Rak living in Grabiny (no. 116) near Dębica, a friend from the Bolesław Marszałek’s youth, who was the first to inform the Marszałek family after reading the information in the paper. |
| 7. | Photocopies of documents: |
| – | photographs of Bolesław Marszałek (no. 1), |
| – | photographs of Bolesław Marszałek (no. 2, from 24 October 1934 [?]), |
| – | confirmation of citizenship – Ropczyce district office, L: IV.46/30, |
| – | [confirmation of] being nominated lieutenant – a letter of 17 March 1938, |
| – | a letter to daughter, Tatiana, from 5 September 1939, |
| – | “Description of events” by Piotr Lisak, |
| – | an envelope with address: Starobilsk, mailbox 15. |
| – | visiting cards with the latest place of address, |
| – | poem in memory of my father, Lt. Bolesław Marszałek, by Jadwiga Kupiszewska entitled “The Last Letter”. |
8. Degree of kinship:
a. Wife
| – | Name: Stefania |
| – | Surname: Marszałek née Dodolak, |
| – | Born 23 December 1913 in Rzeszów, |
| – | Presently: Gumiewska (retired), |
| – | Address: Pułaskiego Street 7, flat 282, 35-011 Rzeszów, |
| – | Home number: 53-651. |
| b. | Daughters: Tatiana Pęczarska née Marszałek |
| – | Born 9 July 1937 in Rzeszów, Master of Biology, |
| – | Resident: Piastów Street 5, flat 91, 35-077 Rzeszów, |
| – | Employer: Municipal Hospital in Rzeszów’. |
Jadwiga Kupiszewska née Marszałek,
| – | Born 8 January 1940 in Rzeszów, Master of Biology, |
| – | Resident: Zofii Chrzanowskiej Street 14, flat 3, 35-050 Rzeszów |
| – | Home number: 422-28, |
| – | Occupation: Voivodeship Hospital Complex in Rzeszów. [tel.:] 374-21, extension 259. |
Please send the correspondence using the address of my daughter Jadwiga Kupiszewska.
Description of events:
In response to an ordinance by the ZBoWiD Unit Board, I report the following:
| a. | I was born on 5 February 1917 in Rzeszów to my father Maciej and my mother Maria, resident in Rzeszów at Lwowska Street 62; currently in the rank of a reserve lieutenant and the chairman of the ZBoWiD circle by the Egg and Poultry Enterprises [Zakłady Jajczarsko-Drobiarskie] in Rzeszów. |
| b. | When I was 15 years old, I joined a three-year [program] at a Non-Commissioned Officers School for Underage Students in Nisko-on-the-San, and after graduating I was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Legions Regiment in Jarosław. I stayed in that regiment in the rank of corporal until the outbreak of the war. |
| c. | On 3 September, I left from Jarosław to the front line by a [military] transport. On 5 September, or maybe 6 September (I don’t recall the date exactly), near Ćmiełow station, the transport [column] was assaulted by five German aircraft and completely shattered despite anti-aircraft defenses. I was a commander of one of the anti-aircraft posts in that transport. Among the troops operating it, the ammunition man and I were the only ones to survive. After the Germans flew away, we helped the medics to carry the wounded out of the smashed wagons, and then, having been supplied with weapons and ammunition, I resolved to return to the Auxiliary Center in Jarosław with a group of six soldiers. Except for me, Cpt. Pietrzak and Platoon Commander Stadnik returned to Jarosław. It was on 10 September at sunrise. |
| d. | After checking in with the adjutant of the battalion, Lt. Marszałek, and reporting on the course of events, I was incorporated into to the commanding body of the “M” battalion. The commander of the Battalion was Cpt. Józef Matheis. I learned that the Battalion’s task was to defend the outskirts of Jarosław from the west facing Przeworsk, and from the south facing Pruchnik. On the same day, in the hours before noon, I took part in a reckon of the commanding body to the Pawłosiów farm, where according to a report by our post located in the foreground, enemy forces of about 1 squad had been spotted in the area. Approaching the park, we forced the startled enemy to withdraw by firing and shouting “ Hooray”. Amid the turmoil caused by surprising them, we took over one of their motorbikes. On the same day (10 September) I also took part in a counter attack in the evening hours. Under the cover of the night, our troops withdrew behind the San River, occupying a defensive position at the second stage east of Koniaczów. After this regrouping, I took a firing position on the right wing of Cpt. Pietrzak’s shooting company, along with the soldiers assigned to me from the post of the battalion commander. The fight in this section of the San River defense was carried out both in the morning and afternoon hours, followed by the retreat of the first and second stage. At that time, I was slightly wounded below my knee by a grenade fragment, and after removing the protruding fragment and bandaging my leg, I continued to retreat. I received an order from Cpt. Pietrzak to make contact with the command which was to be withdrawn along the Oleszyce-Lubaczów-Rawa Ruska line. Walking along that line, I took a detour [through] Żólkiew, then Złoczów, until I finally reached Tarnopol. The combat trail ended for me on 18 September 1939 in Myczkowce, where I was disarmed by USSR troops and then transported to the prison in Tarnopol, from where [I was] deported to Podwołoczyska, then via Kiev, Briansk, Moscow, [and then] to Gorki. I was transferred from this place along with other fellow prisoners in the process of prisoner exchange in Brześć-on-the-Bug to the German units in that same year, and after a brief stay at the rallying point in Terespol, [I was] deported deep into German territory to Stalag XIII A in Nuremberg, where on 21 November 1939 I had been registered under number “29 503”. After a two-year bondage, I managed to escape and return to the country on 9 February 1941.Piotr Lisak |
Opinion by the commander of Battalion “M”
I declare that the above description of events concerning two days of fights, that is 10 and 11 September 1939, is in accordance with the facts.
I would like to add that then-Corporal Piotr Lisak was recognized as a courageous and energetic commander of the minor units. His ardor and quick reactions allowed him to take control of the changing situation. He also acted bravely during the counter-attack during the evening hours, as well as in the counter-attack in the morning of 11 [September] and the delaying operations in the afternoon hours.
Józef Matheis,
Battalion “M” Commander
Opinion by the commander of the defense unit “Jarosław” Lt. Colonel Jan Wójcik
I’ve known reserve Lieutenant Piotr Lisak since the time of his military service in the 3rd Infantry Legions Regiment in Jarosław in the years 1937-1939, as well as his military actions in September 1939 within my unit during the fights near Jarosław. I confirm the authenticity of the military operations mentioned above. I would like to note the fighting achievements, courage, recklessness, and quick orientation concluded with a success in battle. I stress the great willingness to keep fighting, even despite an inflicted wound, he was still taking part in the uneven fight against Germans.
Jan Wójcik,
Retired Colonel,
Commander of the Defense Unit “Jarosław”
Przemyśl, 5 September 1939
Bolesław Marszałek
Starobilsk
CCCP (Russia)
mailbox 15
My dearest daughter!
Daddy can’t bid farewell to you, because the Fatherland is in need. I love you more than life; I will be a better father to you when I come back.
Please, say prayers in the morning and in the evening, I will think about you too.
Your Daddy