Pińsk, Saturday 5 April, 1919

Summary

On the evening of the 5th of April, 1919, a drama took place in Pińsk, a small town in Polesie: 34 Jews were shot dead by the order of the commander of the local Polish military garrison, Major Alexander Narbut-Łuczyński. The event took place when a number of strangers were present in the town, so that the news arrived in Warsaw as early as 6 April and on 7 April a member of the Food Distributing Commission, an American citizen, B. Zuckerman, sent a report to the Jewish Parliamentary Club, published by the newspaper Hajnt. On 8 April Jewish deputies submitted a question in Parliament, based partly on this report. But, undoubtedly, their main source of information was the report of a delegate of the American Section to the Zionist Organization in Poland who was present in Pińsk on 5 April and could see at least some of what was happening there.

On 9 April, Warsaw newspapers brought out more or less comprehensive accounts, including information contained in the parliamentary question and an announcement of the official Polish Telegraphic Agency (PAT), the latter following the line taken in the statement of General Antoni Listowski, a superior of the commander of the Pińsk garrison. A Socialist newspaper, Robotnik, which put on its front page the account of the representative of the Zionist Organization, Szymon Rykwert, commented critically on the PAT announcement. The exec the events and justified Major A. J. Łuczyński's action.

As early as 8 April, General A. Listowski issued an order to Colonel Stefan Strzemieftski to open an investigation. It was probably at the request of a commission established for this purpose that Lieutenant Colonel Fronczak made under oath the statement, which was used later as · the principal justification for the executions ordered by Major Łuczyński. The commission conducted only a superficial investigation and concluded that Major Łuczyński's decisions were essentially right.