1LT Władysław Mikulski, Polish citizen, was the son of Michał Mikulski and Rozalia Mikulska née Koperska. He was born in Trzemeszno. During World War I, when Poland was still occupied by its neighbours Russia, Prussia and Austria-Hungary and had no official army of its own, many Polish men were forced to serve in the armies of the occupiers. One of them was Mikulski who had to serve in the German army in 1915–18. However, with Poland regaining independence in November 1918, the Polish Army was also formed. Mikulski joined it quite soon, in 1919 and was assigned to the office or "intendentura" in Poznań. He was appointed lieutenant with seniority on 1 June 1919 and assigned to the District Officer Staff No. 7. He fought in the Polish defensive war against the Soviet-Bolshevik aggression of 1919-1920 in the ranks of the Third Army, in General Rybak's Group, in the 1st Mountain Division and the 5th Army as an economic officer. He was in the reserve from 1922.

Mikulski had an M.A. in law. He worked as a bank clerk.

THE KATYN MASSACRE

1LT Władysław Mikulski is one of the nearly 22,000 Polish military officers and policemen and intelligentsia reserve officers taken captive by the Soviet Union after its attack on Poland on 17 September 1939, made prisoners of war and then murdered in cold blood in April and May 1940 by the NKVD in a planned holocaust known collectively as the Katyn Massacre. According to the resolution of the Polish Lower House of Parliament or Sejm the Katyn Massacre has the hallmarks of genocide and is qualified as: A war crime; a crime against humanity; a crime against peace; a communist crime.

The Polish prisoners were held in three main camps by the NKVD:

1. in Kozielsk

2. in Ostaszków

3. in Starobielsk

in the Soviet Union.

Each of these places is related to a place of murder and a place of hiding the bodies mass graves.

1. The PoWs from Kozielsk were taken to a recreational centre of the NKVD in the Katyń forest near Smolensk and murdered there. Their bodies were hidden in mass graves in the Katyń forest – on findagrave: Katyn Forest Massacre Site of 1940. They numbered ca 4,400 people.

2. The PoWs held in Ostaszków were murdered in at the District Directorate of the NKVD in Kalinin (nowadays Tver). Their bodies were hidden in mass graves in the Mednoye – on findagrave: Mednoye Polish War Cemetery. They numbered ca 6,300 people.

3. The PoWs. held in Starobielsk were murdered at the District Directorate of the NKVD in Kharkov. Their bodies were hidden in mass graves in Piatikhatki near Kharkov - on findagrave: Kharkov Polish War Cemetery. They numbered ca 3,800 people.

Another place of execution and burial was Kiev. They numbered 3,435 people.

In all, the NKVD executed almost half the Polish officer corps.

All victims were shot in the head or neck from behind.

REFERENCES

For the list of "The Victims of the Katyń Massacre who were Murdered in Kharkov", see:

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofiary_zbrodni_katyńskiej_–_zamordowani_w_Charkowie

For the biogram, see:

http://ksiegicmentarne.muzeumkatynskie.pl/wpis/6483

For the biogram and the list see:

Jędrzej Tucholski (ed.). Charków. Księga Cmentarna Polskiego Cmentarza Wojennego (Kharkov. The Cemetery List of the Polish War Cemetery). Warszawa, 2003. ISBN 83-916663-5-2

https://katyn.miejscapamieci.gov.pl/media/download_gallery/Charkow.pdf

For a broader description of how the unmarked burial site was discovered by children what they found there, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piatykhatky,_Kharkiv_Oblast

For the honours prison guard Mitrofan Vasilievich Syromiatnikov received from Beria for his part in murdering the Polish officers, see:

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitrofan_Syromiatnikow

For a description of the life of the Polish prisoners at the Starobielsk Camp see:

Czapski Józef. "Wspomnienia starobielskie" (in Polish); for a French translation see: Souvenirs de Starobielsk. Gustaw Herling-Grudziński. Les Éditions Noir sur Blanc. Montricher 1987

For a short documentary on the holocaust of the Polish officers and its historical background and its cover-up see:

"Katyn - WWII's Forgotten Massacre" by Mark Felton, 2021:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2djnWw751s

Written by Ivonna Nowicka, 2024,

In memory of my relative, Władysław Filar (Memorial ID: 233907771)