“Missing in the USSR”
Response to a questionnaire received at the editorial office of “Zorza”
| 1. | Franciszek Młudzik, born on 5 October 1892 in Solec-on-Vistula (in the former Iłża district). |
| 2. | Reserve lieutenant (allocation: 4th Infantry Regiment of the Legions, specialty: heavy machine gun platoon commander), conscripted 30 August 1939, with an order to report in Jędrzejów. He was assigned to a headquarter of a camp for German POWs. Taken into custody by the Soviet army on 17 September 1939 near Tarnopol. In the camp in Podwołoczyska, his former students met him – Józef Olech and Józef Gałęziowski from Piórków, and Ludwik Sitarski from Piotrów. In the period between January and April 1940, we received three letters from Kozelsk from my father (it appeared from the letters that he was initially staying in the camp in Starobilsk, from where he was moved to Kozelsk). The last letter from Kozelsk reached us in April 1940. |
| 3. | Reportedly, he was included in the list of officers exhumed in Katyń; we heard that from our friends, but we haven’t stumbled upon such information in the papers ourselves. Father’s surname (mistakenly spelled Młodzik instead of Młodzik) is listed in the London article by Adam Moszyński “ Lista katyńska. |
Jeńcy obozów Kozielsk, Ostaszków, Starobielsk ” [“Katyń list. Prisoners of camps Kozelsk, Ostashkov, Starobilsk”] (London, 1949 and 1974) – in the first edition on the page 115, in the second edition – p. 129: “Młodzik Franciszek, lieutenant, 1892, son of Marcin and Feliksa, (LZK)”.
My father’s surname was also given with a mistaken spelling (Franciszek Młodzik) in the subsequent (14th) part of Polish POWs interned in 1939 “Missing in the USSR” printed in “Zorza” in issue 18/89 from 30 April 1989.
| 4. | The last letter from my father was sent from Kozelsk in April 1940. |
| 5. | Civilian information: teacher, director of three-class public primary school in Piórków, Opatów district, Kielce Voivodeship (and resident there too). |
| 6. | Reporting: Mieczysław Młudzik, resident in Warsaw. |
Mieczysław Młudzik.
(biography)
Franciszek Młudzik, son of Marcin and Feliksa, was born on 5 October 1892 in Solec-on- Vistula, in Iłża district, Radom region. His parents, small farmers (1.5 morgen of land), had four children – two sons and two daughters (Franciszek was their youngest). Both sons, Eugeniusz and Franciszek, became teachers.
Franciszek gained basic education in the Exercise School by the Teacher Seminary in Solec, secondary education – in Teacher Seminary in Solec, which he graduated from in 1912. From 1 December 1912 until 15 November 19139 he worked as a public school teacher in Dębno village, Lasocin commune, Opatów district.
On 15 November 1939, he was conscripted into military service in the Russian army. After the outbreak of the I World War he was directed to the I Moscow School of Ensigns [Praoporszczyks], on 23 April 1915 promoted to a praporszczyk (ensign), and two days later assigned on active duty as a commander of the 5th Company of 322nd Soligalich [Soligacki] Infantry Regiment. He took part in the fights near Hrubieszów, and then near Koprzywnica (on the bug), where he was wounded on 23 July 1915. From 25 July until 20 August 1915 he was under treatment in Kiev. After returning to the front, on 30 September 1915 in the battle on the Serwecz River (west of Mir, in Minsk Governorate), he was injured and taken into German custody. Until 1 May he stayed in POW camp for Polish officers in Neustadt (Südharz).
Thanks to efforts of his and his brother, a director of public school in Połaniec, he was reclaimed from bondage by the school authorities (Education Department of the Kingdom of Poland). On 1 May 1918, he returned to the country and was nominated a teacher of a four-class male school in Opatów by the school district inspector Mr. Jan Skowroński. On 1 September 1918, he was transferred to a one-class school in Piorków, Opatów district, at his own request.
On 29 October 1918, he entered a marriage with Krystyna Anna Derlikowska, 23 years old, a teacher at public school in Dębno, Lasocin commune. They had to acquire a permit for marriage from the school inspector, the condition being a request to leave the job by Krystyna Derlikowska.
Krystyna Anna Derlikowska was the second wife of Franciszek Młudzik. They had four sons (Mieczysław, Zbigniew, Tadeusz, and Witold Henryk). The first wife – Maria Pastwianka, whom he married in 1912 – was evacuated into Russia after the war outbreak in 1914 along with the daughter Uszula. They both died deep in Russia.
From 20 July until 1 January 1921, Franciszek Młudzik served as a volunteer in the Polish Armed Forces, in the rank of ensign. He took part in the Polish-Bolshevik war as a commander of the 4th Company of 39th [Infantry] Regiment of Lwów Riflemen. On 1 January 1921 – transferred to reserve – he returned to his teaching job in Piórków. On 27 December 1921, he was promoted to the rank of reserve lieutenant of the Polish Armed Forces.
Until the war outbreak in September 1939, he was performing his duties as a primary school principal in Piórków (two-class from 1923, and three-class from 1936).
He worked voluntarily in the local Stefczyk’s credit union as the president of the board and accountant, in the Voluntary Fire Service, in the Circle of PBPSP Association (Supporting Development of Public Primary Schools), in the Riflemen Association, in the Polish Teachers Union, and other social organizations. He actively cooperated with the local Circle of Rural Youth “Wici” (Jan Kaczor, among others, mentions it in his “Memoir of a folk starost”).
On 30 August 1939, he received a draft card to 4th Infantry Regiment of the Legions as a reserve lieutenant with a specialty in commanding a heavy machine gun platoon. After the Soviet army entered on 17 September, he was taken prisoner (he was seen in the POW camp in Podwołczyska). He stayed in camps for interned Polish officers in Starobilsk and Kozelsk. He sent three letters from Kozelsk (the last one in April 1940).
He died in Katyń. In the London publication by Adam Moszyński, “Katyń list. Prisoners of camps Kozelsk, Ostashkov, Starobilsk” (London, 1949 and 1974) there is the following entry on the page 115 of the first edition, or page 129 in the second edition: “Młodzik Franciszek, Lt., 1892, son of Marcin and Feliksa, (LZK)”. Change in the surname spelling (Młodzik instead of Młudzik) might be a printing mistake or there might be another reason for it unknown to me. Correct spelling: Młudzik Franciszek. Other information – accordingly to the birth certificate.