NKVD - POSTCARD FROM THE CAMP FOR POLISH OFFICERS 1940

NKVD - POSTCARD FROM THE CAMP FOR POLISH OFFICERS 1940
A postcard from the camp for Polish officers - Starobielsk 1940.

Starobelsk - a city in Ukraine, in the Luhansk region, on the Aidar River. From September 1939 to May 1940, the camp of Polish officers taken prisoner in September 1939 was located here in the former monastery buildings. Defenders of Lviv constituted half of the soldiers imprisoned in the camp in Starobelsk.
The first transport of prisoners arrived in Starobielsk on September 28, 1939. Until mid-November, 11,262 prisoners were brought. The number of prisoners of war and the number of people constantly changed. Privates and non-commissioned officers were released, simultaneously bringing small groups of officers from other camps.
In the Starobelsk camp, 9 generals, 55 colonels, 127 lieutenant colonels, 230 majors, approx. 1,000 captains and captain, approx. 2,450 lieutenants and second lieutenants, as well as approx. 50 civilians, were imprisoned.
On March 5, 1940, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the VKP issued an order to murder prisoners of war from all special NKVD camps.Based on the relevant order of On April 1, 1940, the "unloading" of the Starobelsk camp began.
Prisoners of war from Starobielsk, after a personal search, were taken by train to the southern railway station in Kharkiv, from where they were transported by cars to the NKVD prison. Transports from the camp numbered about 100-200 people. In prison, during the second search, their luggage, rubles and seat belts were taken away. After being temporarily imprisoned in a prison cell, the prisoners were called one by one to the corridor and led to another cell, where the Encourageists sitting at the table checked their personal data according to the list. At a given sign, or after the words - you can go - the prisoner's hands were immediately tied behind his back and brought to the basement. There, in one of the rooms, a trained NKVD activist fired a pistol at the prisoner's neck. The corpse was taken outside, and then the next prisoner was called, who was on his way to the place of execution. Immediately, at night, the bodies of the murdered Polish prisoners of war were loaded into a truck and transported to prepared pits in the Forest Park near Kharkiv.

A few days before his death, the card was sent to his wife by the adjutant of the commander of the 27th King Stefan Batory Cavalry Regiment - Rotmistrz (Captain) Wacław Skrodzki.