Katyn/Starobielsk family survivors in Oz Australia?

I am researching Katyn as my Grandfather was killed at Starobielsk/Kharkov. Been a long 10 year journey to make progress but finally visited Katyn museum in 2007 and finally verified his name. As his wife disappeared literally to Australia no connection was made till l, from this side of the family at least..

Now I wonder are there many survivors' families here in Melbourne and Australia that are interested in talking to me....willing to compare notes ..?
dzięki

my grandfather was killled in Miednoje. He is on Katyn list.
in 9/11/2009 he was awarded post-mortem higher rank of major. He was kapitan in 2 baon saperow.
Basia from Perth

My grandmother was in Starobielsk briefly after leaving another camp on the way to yet another, around the time of the Katyn massacre.

I'm in Melbourne and, like you, my Grandfather was murdered by the NKVD in 1940. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Polish Army and is listed on the Ukraine Katyn list. I have only recently started on my information-seeking journey and would be happy if you would contact me.

hello, my name is Wanda ... i live in England ... my father was a survivor of Starobielsk and, l too have been researching my family history.

I visited the Katyn museum in Warsaw Poland.

I have been trying to compile a list of the 79 survivors of Starobielsk but I have only managed to list a few, and unfortunately they are no longer alive now.

Sadly my father is no longer alive. He died in 1976.

I have collected a lot of information during the course of my research, as I am sure you have.

If there is anything in particular that you are searching for, please let me know. Good luck with your family-history.

I look forward to hearing from you, even though Australia is so far away, internet makes communication so easy.

Miss Wanda Machnicka

Hi, I don't live in Australia (england) but i have been searching for information about my dad, he died aged 102 in 2006. Below is the information i recieved from the Kresy-Siberia website, it may be worth you getting in contact with them for more information. Anna

browse or search through our messages archive and visit the links at Kresy-Siberia.org

RUDY Konstanty son Jana born 1905 (in documents 1906)
was a farmer and was arrested at Kostopol na Wolyniu on 17/18th September 1939.
Taken to a camp at Chalychowka and then to Antopol in Rowne and finally to Babin. He was interned and sent to Koziolszczyzna in Poltawa; Proskorov, Jarmoliniec and finally was at Starobielsk near Charkow; there worked at a quarry and in construction of roads. (All in his records).

Was 'amnestied' on 24th August 1941 and moved to Tockoje to join Anders Army where he was ' strzelec'.

Hi, I am in Sydney Australia and have just started researching the murder of my grandfather. He was killed in the Katyn Massacres but he was on the "Ukraine list" which I am finding hard to unravel. It appears his body is at the mass grave in Bykovnia but I don't know if that's where he was executed. I would love to talk/compare notes - I don't speak Polish which is making the process harder. Thank you.

there is an official report, in english, which lists the steps taken by the german authorities, after the discovery at katyn.

i know because i read it a week or two ago. but of course, i've lost the link.

you could also watch the film 'Katyn'. one doesn't need to speak Polish to know/see what took place.

not all of those found at katyn were reinterred there. this is regardless of what any report says to the contrary.

Thank you Wroclaw. There is a huge amount of information regarding the Katyn, Starobielsk and Mednoye but the Ukraine list (and also Belurusian list) is much less documented because Russia still has those files classified and will not release them. Would love any help / info from members on the Ukraine list. This appears to be a "civilian prisoner list" as opposed to the POW camps for officers etc. However my grandfather was a policeman so it is a bit of a mystery why he isn't on the Mednoye list (over 6,000 policemen). Anna

This email is for Miss Wanda Machnicka. The Katyn Massacre is relatively unknown here in America. I have been aware of it for the last year and want to visit the various sites to pay honor to these brave men (and, I presume, women). I am leaving next month (November, 2012) to do just that. I am very familiar with the massacre which occurred just outside Smolensk, but I am unfamiliar with what part the Kharkov and Starobielsk camps played in this tragedy. I would love to communicate with you before my trip. My name is Bart McLendon and perhaps the best way to reach me is at "mavrik75230 at yahoo dot com". I appreciate any help you can give me.

Sorry, my grandfather was one of the lucky ones that survived being a P.O.W. whereas the commissioned officers were executed. A draft letter that my grandfather had typed in regards to applying for pension mentions that he was by Czortkow Sept. 1939 when he was captured and may have been interned as a P.O.W. at Starobielsk. Part of my problem is that the military archives are claiming that they are unable to find his service records. Has anybody else had any luck in obtaining military records of family members? My grandfather served in the 1st Signals Regiment in September 1939. Does this ring a bell with anyone else? Thanks. I am hoping there might be records of the prisoners from this camp.

To Wroclaw

I found a report in English that talks about the Katyn Forest Massacre. It can be found at archive.org/details/katynforestmassa06unit. It says it is part 6 and I have been unable to retrieve parts 5 and 7 so far. Maybe someone else will have better luck in checking for those 2 parts. From the information on the frontispiece does not indicate it as being German this was published in the U.S. in 1952 by the Government Printing Office. This report makes reference to exhibits 32 and 33 presented to the committee by the Polish Government in exile.

I had some time after I left the previous message to experiment in order to see if there was a way of checking for other parts. I was unable to get part 2 since it was not digitized and uploaded in a pdf format. I did have luck in getting parts 1,3,4,5,6, and 7. that seems to be it on that topic for this since I tried to see if there was an 8 or 9 but nothing came up and it wasn't indicated on part 7. In the last third of part 3 you will find a list of names for the 3 camps. So I hope that will help. I did get in touch with the Boston Public Library about part 2 and was told they have not been able to get around to digitizing the film that it is on. I will try and find out how much it will cost to either duplicate the film and mail it or get them to print it out for me. Best guess it will be about 150 pages in all so I am not sure how much they will charge for the print out. I will let everyone know when I find out.

Okay, here is the one website that I found reports of the hearings on the Katyn forest Massacre. It is: archive.org/details/Katyn forest massa01unit. Substitute 3,4,5,6, or 7 in place of 1 in order to find 6 out of the 7 sections. I got a message from the Boston Public Library in regards to the missing part 2 and they referred me to the website catalog] catalog. hathitrust. org/Records/000595698. broken link?

On this 2nd website I was able to download part 2 1 page at a time since I didn't have the ability to download the whole report because of some technicality. Now I have all 7 parts that I am aware of and now am in the process of printing it out. As nice as it is to have it in electronic format, I kind of like the paper version since I don't have to lug around the computer or need access to it in order to read. Also, I find it easier to make notations when and where necessary if there is something I want to follow up on. But if someone is unable to access either website, let me know and maybe something can be worked out that I could email what I have.

to the mod watching this, I was able to find the site again despite the mix up in the previous posting. But when I was able to get back onto the website, I had some problems in trying to locate the files that I mentioned. Since I was lucky enough to download all 7 parts, albeit from 2 different locations, if someone is interested, they can ask.