Anastazja Kulinska nee Krupenia

300 Sqn RAF Faldingworth, waitress, Officers Mess.

6 July 1946 AC2 Anastazja Kulinska 300 Sqn RAF Faldingworth. Murdered by her husband
Rifleman Damian Kulinski at RAF Faldingworth. Shot twice in the back of the head after writing to him asking for a divorce. Kulinski then shot himself. She is buried at Newark Cemetery; he is buried at Market Rasen Cemetery (The only Polish grave in the small CWGC plot there).

The inquest at Market Rasen on 12 August 1946, five weeks after the tragedy, focused largely on letters written by the couple. Damian, Rifleman 16th Lwowski Rifle Battalion, Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade, Polish II Corps which suffered heavy losses, especially at the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944

–had written:
“The time has come for a settlement and the only thing left is one life together or one grave
together. Therefore, please choose for yourself. For myself, I am not making up and for life together and love as one should as man and wife. Therefore, I recommend that we shake hands. I offer you from my side nothing bad and hope that you will be a good wife.”

Anastazja replied:
“Do not think there is someone else. It is sufficient that I do not love you. I do not forget your heavy hands. Do you remember when you wanted to throw me into the river? You will remember in the train you raised your hand and God would not let you do it.”

She went on to make it clear that she wanted a divorce; she wanted to be independent.

Anastazja had also written to ‘a man described as a friend’, saying:
“When I receive a letter from you and read it, I feel that I am near you and feel that I am pressing myself to you. I feel your lips so desiring against mine… I cannot forget you.”

The Coroner, Captain R. H. Helmer, made no attempt to identify the writer. This became even more surprising when it was revealed that he had sent her an equally ardent reply:

“I am waiting for the moment I can see you. You should have received four letters last week.”

Flight Lieutenant Edward F. Johnson of RAF Dunholme Lodge, who translated the letters from Polish for the inquest, added: “There are some endearments which cannot be translated.”

A friend of Anastazja’s, Leonarda Kornilowicz, also a member of the WAAS, said Anastazja had been friendly with a sergeant two years earlier, but he went away a fairly long time ago and the husband did not seem to have any cause for jealousy.
Leonarda added: “When Anastazja learned that her husband had come to the camp, she seemedquite merry. She said, ‘I will tell him off and get it over once and for all’.” And off she went to see him for the first time since they fled Poland.

When Anastazja had not returned by midnight, her fellow WAAS’s were so concerned that they persuaded an NCO to telephone the station police and ask for an immediate search to be made for her. The police refused to do anything until morning. At 6am, the WAAS’s themselves began a search–and WAAF Nedzik found both bodies near the pumping station.

Professor James M. Webster, forensic pathologist from Birmingham University who carried out the post mortem examinations, said Anastazja had been shot twice from the back. The shot that killed Damian had been fired “an appreciable time later”. Damian had gripped the gun so tightly that a distinct imprint of the handle had been left on his sweaty hand.

The coroner, Captain R. H. Helmer, asked: “You are perfectly satisfied that this man shot himself and that nobody else shot him?” Prof.Webster: “Yes.”

Coroner Helmer described Damian’s letter as “a most material piece of evidence” – and was
intrigued by the correspondence between Anastazja and her mystery man.

In his summing-up of the evidence to the jury, he mused:
“Whoever this boyfriend was, he was obviously much more than an acquaintance. There was a great deal of almost more than affection between them. Had the husband got to know something of this? He might or might not. There is not sufficient evidence to tell. It is for the jury to decide whether there was terrible dispute between them. You have heard that two shots were fired close together and one shot fired some time afterwards. The man was found gripping the revolver with a tightness sufficient to impress the outline upon his hand. Was there a battle royal between them? Did she madden him to such a degree that he lost control? Are these the actions of a man who lost control or did the man realise what he was doing? If he did realise what he was doing, he was guilty of murder.”

The jury agreed. They returned verdicts that Damian murdered Anastazja and then committed suicide “while the balance of his mind was disturbed”.