Russia Drowned 2,000 Polish Officers at Sea
By David Floyd
Evidence of how the Soviets disposed of some of the 14,000 Polish officers and men who disappeared in Russia in 1940 has just come to light in London in the papers of a Polish officer who served in Russia. It reveals that 2,000 officers were taken to the far north of Russia and drowned in the Barents Sea. More than 4,000 of the Poles are known to have been executed at Katyn in May and June, 1940. But the fate of more than 10,000 who had been held in camps at Ostashkov and Starobielsk has never been firmly established. But now L. Michel, who now lives in west London, has produced the text of a message from one of the victims which was found floating in a bottle by a Norwegian fisherman in Kirkenes in 1940. The fisherman handed the bottle over to the commander of the German unit in Kirkenes, who sent it to German headquarters in Oslo. There it was translated from Polish by a Pole serving in the German army, a Sgt. Kempa. Kempa was later taken prisoner by the British. The letter, signed by Lt. Leonard Kordecki, read as follows:
"I am writing in terrible distress and in haste and in the last hour of my life and that of my colleagues. "I hope that some day this will reach the conscience of the world and will tell of our martyrdom.
"We have been sailing for four days now in an old Soviet barge northward in the direction of the Barents Sea. We are being towed by a Soviet naval ves- sel, the Zarya Vostoka. The holds and deck are crowded with our officers. There is nowhere even to lie down. I think there are about 2,000 Polish offi- cers aboard.
"On May 7, 1940, we were disembarked from two trains of cattle-cars- in Archangel harbor and forcefully embarked on this leaky barge. Since then we have received no food or water. "On every side you can hear the screams of the sick and dying. The Soviet guards push us about, strike us with their rifles and curse us, but they ignore our appeals for water. "We are sailing through a rough and icy sea. All the prisoners are frozen and resigned to their fate.
"This morning the Soviet ship heaved to and sent its lifeboats to our barge. All the guards were taken aboard and sailed away. "The next minute gunfire from the ship shattered the barge and wounded and killed many officers. The last judgment is approaching. A second salvo has hit the barge. We are sinking."
At this point, according to the letter, the chaplain, also a prisoner, came forward and prayed and blessed the victims. "I am putting this letter into a bottle and throwing it into the sea. Maybe the good Lord will carry it to safety and tell the world of our terrible fate. Farewell — and bless my wife and children."
The letter and the report attached to it were sent to the high command of the German Wehrmacht in Berlin. Sgt. Kempa also reported the incident to the British authorities after he was taken prisoner.
END
By DAVID FLOYD
1978, Daily Telegraph, London
