By Cindy K. Stewart
Germany and the Soviet Union defeated and divided Poland between them in September of 1939. The Soviets quickly arrested and deported University professors, police officers, border guards, lawyers, doctors, pastors, priests, physicians, engineers, journalists, pilots, teachers, landowners, writers, chaplains, civic leaders, and any other person deemed a threat to the establishment of a communist society. The Soviets arrested anyone wearing a uniform, even boy scouts!
The fascinating story of Mietek Rymaszewski begins
in the small town of Malkowicze in Soviet-occupied Eastern Poland during the
winter of 1940. Mietek belonged to a youth cadet organization but had been too
young to fight at the outbreak of WWII. After a number of families from his
town were deported to Siberia in February, word came of his own impending
arrest due to his youth organization ties.
Germany and the Soviet Union defeated and divided Poland between them in September of 1939. The Soviets quickly arrested and deported University professors, police officers, border guards, lawyers, doctors, pastors, priests, physicians, engineers, journalists, pilots, teachers, landowners, writers, chaplains, civic leaders, and any other person deemed a threat to the establishment of a communist society. The Soviets arrested anyone wearing a uniform, even boy scouts!
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A column of arrested Polish police officers, civilian public servants and other
"enemies of the people," being escorted by the Red Army in "liberated" Eastern
Poland in September 1939. From the Soviet Cinema Newsreel.
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| Mietek in 1943 |
Mietek packed underwear, food, and a little
money, bade farewell to his mother and younger brother and left during the
night with two female school friends. He never returned to Malkowicze. The
train ride toward the border was interrupted twice by NKVD (secret police)
passenger checks. At the first check he was questioned about the contents of
the suitcase he carried for one of his friends. He replied that he was taking
the items to his sister at college, and the NKVD let him pass. The two girls
said they were traveling to college, and they were allowed through. At the next
passenger check, Mietek and his friends moved to a group that had already been processed,
avoiding another search. The threesome arrived safely in the city of Łomża,
near the border between Soviet occupied Poland and East Prussia (Germany).
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| German-Soviet Occupation of Poland in 1939 |
Mietek and his companions went to a prearranged address where they waited for an opportunity to cross into German-controlled territory. The moon was full and the nights were too light to avoid detection in the open, flat country covered with deep snow. Growing impatient, Mietek left with a guide who took him to within three kilometers of the border. Before parting, Mietek questioned his guide thoroughly about nearby villages, landmarks, woodlands, and the best places to cross the border. Later when he was intercepted by a Russian soldier, he posed as a local citizen, accurately describing the area. The soldier let him pass, but Mietek returned to Łomża because of the impossibility of successfully crossing the border. The Russian patrols were too active at the time.
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| Łomża, Poland |
Mietek’s two schoolmates sold some of their
jewelry and returned home, but the jewelry dealer sold out the owner of the
house and the other potential escapees. The NKVD surrounded the house, arrested
everyone, and took them to the NKVD station in an old seminary. The officers plied
the prisoners with questions. Who were they? Where were they from? And what
they were doing in Lomza? The prisoners were put in separate cellars at the old
seminary so they couldn’t talk with one another but not before Mietek let his
companions know he had changed his name. He was determined to protect his
mother.
Fifty men shared the cellar with Mietek,
including smugglers from Warsaw who bragged about their exploits. They
described their route in detail, and Mietek memorized everything he heard. Since
the penalty for those coming into the Soviet occupied section of Poland was
less severe than for those caught escaping, Mietek prepared his story. When he
was questioned, he said he had come from Warsaw and was headed to Bialystok
(about 80 km/50 miles away) to find his uncle. He described his journey,
including a detour at the river Narew where the bridge had been blown up. He
had crossed an improvised bridge and took another train.
When Mietek’s interrogators asked him how he had
crossed the border (from German-occupied territory into Russian-occupied
territory), he claimed he didn’t know he’d crossed the border. The NKVD
believed him. An army officer came in to report the arrival of new captives, and
the NKVD berated the officer for not having stopped Mietek at the crossing.
Mietek's interrogation lasted for several weeks,
and the NKVD officers used a variety of methods to coerce confessions from the
prisoners for whatever they were accused of committing—usually spying. The
prisoners were forced to sit on a small stool with sharp edges and corners,
which cut into their spines. The NKVD used special handcuffs, tightening them
until the prisoners’ hands turned blue, causing pain and then numbness. They
stood the prisoners against a wall and pointed a gun to their heads. Another
interrogator would enter and gently question the prisoners and then pretend
that he was going to shoot them also. Prisoners were pulled in for questioning
at two o’clock in the morning, submitted to a volley of rapid-fire questions,
and suffer if their answers were inconsistent.
A well-known engineer in
Mietek’s cellar was accused of spying, and the NKVD tortured him for hours at a
time. He would come back covered in bruises, bleeding, and unable to walk.
Someone scratched a hole in the wall, allowing
communication with the women prisoners in the next cellar. The women collected
a matchbox full of lice, and when an inspector visited, they complained about
the conditions. The inspector said the lice problem was their own fault, so they
threw their collection at him, and he raced out of the cellar.
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| Łomża Prison |
Mietek was transferred to the Łomża Prison and
later taken with hundreds of other prisoners to the railway station and
loaded into cattle trucks. Destination – Siberia.
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| Soviet Deportation Cattle Truck |
Come back on the first of
next month to read about Mietek's continuing story.
***
Source:
CindyStewart, a high school teacher, church pianist, and inspirational historical
fiction author, was the historical category winner for ACFW’s 2014 First Impressions writing contest, a
2014 Bronze medalist in My Book Therapy’s Frasier
contest, and tied for second place in the 2015 South Carolina ACFW First Five Pages contest. Cindy is
passionate about revealing God’s handiwork in history. She resides in North
Georgia with her college sweetheart and husband of thirty-four years and enjoys
visiting with her married daughter, son-in-law, and three adorable
grandchildren. She’s currently writing a fiction series set in WWII Europe.
