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Błażej Stolarski (1880–1939)

We’re in the park-like grounds of the cemetery in the Berlin district of Marzahn. Following the main avenue, we reach the memorial stone to the victims of fascism on the right. Here, we turn westwards, towards urn area 9 U. At the corner of the first intersecting avenue, on the right-hand side, the rows of war graves begin. There are many more of them elsewhere in the cemetery. However, we are particularly interested in section 3 U, where simple stone panels inform us that this is the final resting place of the victims of the Second World War. We know nothing about them; only their surnames (and, very occasionally, their first names) attest to their country of origin. Most of the people buried here – as far as we can guess – are Slavs: Belarusians, Czechs, Poles and Ukrainians. One stone bears the name “Błażej Stolarski”, and below that, the dates of birth and death. The mandatory dates, 1939–1945, tell us that the person buried here was a victim of the Second World War. Although the panel is significantly newer than the others, it looks exactly like them.

The simple gravesite gives no hint of the life story, successes and defeats of one of the greatest campaigners for farmers’ rights in the Second Polish Republic. Neither do we learn of the tragedy that occurred during the first few months of the war that has still not been fully explained even today. It is a story that until recently was known only to his closest family members and a small group of students and academics. There was also no knowledge of the circumstances of his death in October 1939 and place of burial until the Berlin researcher Klaus Leutner, a close friend to Poland, began to take an interest in Błażej Stolarski, the mayor of Będków.

Public Domain, prepared for publication by Marian Stefanowski.

September 1939

On 2 September 1939, Stolarski was returning to his home village of Sługocice after attending the final meeting of the Senate of the Second Polish Republic. Eight days later, he was arrested and taken away by the Gestapo. There, the trail goes cold. There was talk of concentration camps (not yet of “death”), and of his having been thrown out of an aeroplane in an uninhabited area. In 2018, to mark the 100th anniversary of the recovery of Polish independence, a number of well-intentioned people, both Germans and Poles, succeeded in finding out at least something more about the circumstances surrounding the death of this extraordinary man.

What happened between 10 September and 21 October, the date of the tragic death of Błażej Stolarski? We know only that on 15 September, he was taken from Berlin to Opole (Oppeln), where he was handed over to the state secret police, the Gestapo.[4]

The excerpt from the files of the Reich Security Head Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt; RSHA) shows that Stolarski believed in the possibility of a rebirth of an independent Poland, since he emphasised this several times during his interrogations.[5] As a result, he was of no use to the Germans as part of a potential collaborative government such as those created later in Norway (under Quisling) and France (the Vichy government). The Gestapo therefore decided to hand the prisoner over to their office in Opole. It is thought that at that time, the Nazis were planning to create a “collection concentration camp” for Polish intellectuals near the city.[6] In the interim, Hitler’s plans for the extermination of the “Polish leadership and intelligentsia classes” in the territories occupied by the Wehrmacht had already been made known; since 1 September, they had been put into action as part of “Operation Tannenberg” (Unternehmen Tannenberg) and the “Intelligentsia” campaign (Intelligenzaktion). From May 1939, proscription lists were produced of Poles who were regarded as being a particular danger to the Third Reich. This “Special Prosecution Book – Poland” (Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen) contained the names of over 61,000 Polish citizens, including politicians, members of the clergy, academics and artists, as well as election activists and insurgents from Greater Poland and Silesia. After 1 September 1939, a second proscription list was produced containing the names of over 21,000 individuals. Historians calculate that these two campaigns against the elite of the Second Polish Republic (from September 1939 to May 1940) probably led to the deaths of up to 100,000 people. Of these, between 40,000 and 50,000 were shot. The rest died in concentration camps. The campaign was designed to “cleanse” the Polish territories, with the exception of the General Government, which had in the meantime been incorporated into the Third Reich, and as preparation for population resettlements to the territory between the Weichsel and Bug rivers. Was Stolarski arrested as part of this campaign, or was he seized after being denounced by Germans, as is claimed by one of his sons?[7] It is likely that we will never know the answer.

The next unsolved mystery in relation to Stolarski’s death is a statement by the Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs, von Ribbentrop. It is said that at a conference in Ilnau (now Jełowa) on 9 September 1939[8], he attempted to persuade Hitler to found a Polish “rump state” which would be entirely subordinate to the German Reich. This information came from the notes made by Lieutenant Colonel Lahousen, adjutant to the Chief of the military intelligence service (the Abwehr) Wilhelm Canaris. Within such a frame of reference, it is easy to explain why Stolarski was treated in the way he was by the occupying power.

In the weeks that followed, from 15 September to 21 October, Błażej Stolarski was held in a prison cell in Opole and for a short time at the Berlin headquarters of the Gestapo. His incarceration in Berlin might at least explain why his body was found near Groß Köris, less than 50 km from the capital, on the edge of the Berlin–Wrocław (Breslau) motorway.

The death certificate issued by the registry office in Groß Köris on 26 October 1939 states the date and time of death as being 21/10/1939 at 1.30 pm.[9] The exact cause of death is also recorded: “Shot to the head” (“Kopfschuss”). The precise personal details relating to the senator (date and place of birth, last address of residence in Poland, profession) indicate that he had his identity documents with him when he was murdered.

[4] Excerpt from the files of the Reich Security Head Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt; RSHA), Sign. R58/1082, (see image below).

[5] Op. cit.

[6] Op. cit.

[7] In: Paweł Perzyna, “Błażej Stolarski 1880–1939. “Biografia społecznika, działacza gospodarczego i polityka”, Łódź–Warsaw 2017, 480 pages with a photo supplement of 16 pages. From the series: “Biblioteka Oddziału Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w Łodzi”, Vol. XLIII, ISBN 978-83-8098-244-4.

[8] https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konferencja_w_Je%C5%82owej

[9] Notarised death certificate issued under the name “Blasius” Stolarski, dated 26/10/1939, Sign. S 10 (21/1939). Published with the kind permission of the district archive in Luckau.