Letter from Minsk 27 November 1996

30 November 2017

My father Bolesław Borkowski, son of Bronisław, born 1920 in Krejwańce, Oszmiana county, deserted from the Communist army on 13 January 1945, before the scheduled military oath, which took place on 14 January 1945 in Rzeszów. This is a response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus to the diplomatic note of the Polish Embassy in Minsk no. 31-D-259-96 on 5 September 1996.

In a trial conducted by the NKVD War Tribunal in Brześć (Brest) from 7 to 9 June 1945 he was convicted on the basis of articles 80 and 91 of the Penal Code of the Belarussian Soviet Republic to 10 years imprisonment in a hard labor camp.

The second page of the letter contains information that on 22 December 1995 the Supreme Court of Belarus considered the rehabilitation of Bolesław Borkowski and others tried by the NKVD War Tribunal. The rehabilitation has been denied and the original NKVD sentence was upheld.

This is a very significant statement, because it validates the Communist narrative as the official state narrative of Belarus. While Polish state organs are less keen on proclaiming allegiance to the Communist narrative so openly, they do it in a de facto manner in their day-to-day activities.

Boleslaw Borkowski, NKVD War Tribunal in Brześć 1945, fight for independence of Poland
First page of the letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus 27 November 1996

 

Boleslaw Borkowski, NKVD War Tribunal 1945, fight for independence of Poland
Second page of the letter from Belarus Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Polish version