Anatol Firsowicz

Anatol Firsowicz (11 February 1956 – 12 November 2004), known as the Podlasie Strangler , was a Polish serial killer who strangled two teenage girls and one adult woman in Podlaskie Voivodeship from 1971 to 1977. Sentenced to 25 years imprisonment and 10 years deprivation of civil rights, he was released from prison and died a free man in 2004.

Early life Firsowicz was born on 11 February 1956, in Widowo, a village near Bielsk Podlaski. His father was an alcoholic who systematically abused other family members both physically and mentally, which greatly affected his son. Firsowicz was considered an introvert who shied away from his peers, was a poor student who had to repeat a class three times and eventually turned towards burglaries and thefts. At around this time, he became obsessed with sex.

Murders A month before his fifteenth birthday, on 9 January 1971, Firsowicz noticed 10-year-old Antonina Weremiejuk walking home from school. Intent on raping her, he caught up with the girl and asked Weremiejuk to accompany him on the pretence of showing her a hare he had caught in some snares. She accompanied by Firsowicz to some nearby fields, whereupon she was attacked by her companion. Weremiejuk defended herself fiercely, which caused Firsowicz to strangle her with a piece of wire, without raping her. He then buried her corpse under a hay barrack, with her body remaining undiscovered until his arrest. Olszowy attempted to run away, but Firsowicz caught up with her, dragged her to the nearby woods, tore off her blouse and then strangled her with it. He then buried the victim's corpse in a nearby forest, and two weeks later, someone left a letter at the local church, claiming to have found the girl's body. The letter described the exact location, after which the priest gave the letter to the police. While the prosecutor demanded that he be sentenced to death, the court took into account testimony from psychiatrists who proclaimed that at the time of the crimes, Firsowicz was mentally impaired and unable to control his behaviour. He served his sentence at a prison in Strzelce Opolskie, where he remained until 27 April 1994, when he was granted parole for good behaviour.

After leaving the penitentiary, Firsowicz returned to Widowo. Angered locals beat him up on several occasions, causing him to fear for his life up to the point of donning disguises and a fake beard while going shopping. Eventually, he moved to Warsaw, where he lived in relative obscurity. Firsowicz died from natural causes on 12 November 2004, and was buried in the Northern Communal Cemetery.