Public execution of prisoners of the Pawiak prison in Warsaw (1942)

Execution in Rembertów / Warsaw

Public execution of prisoners of the Pawiak prison in Warsaw (1942) was a crime committed by the German occupiers as part of repressive measures taken after the Polish Home Army soldiers' attack on the Warsaw railway junction. On October 16th, 1942, fifty prisoners of Pawiak were hanged in five places on the outskirts of Warsaw. It was the first public execution carried out by the Germans in the Nazi-occupied capital. Fifty convicts were hanged at dawn. From the evidence submitted by witnesses of executions it appears, that prisoners were brought in heavy goods vehicles to the gallows prepared in advance from telegraph poles. Halters were put on the necks of the convicts standing on transport boxes and then the vehicles left. In each of the places of execution there were two gallows. They were set up in the five points on the outskirts of Warsaw and in the suburban area - but always near the railway tracks:

- next to the level crossing, at Mszczonowska Street, Wola District;

- close to the Szczęśliwce Depot;

- in Toruńska Street (on the corner of Wysockiego Street), on Pelcowizna;

- next to the train station in Rembertów;

- close to the tracks of the railway in Marki;

On October 16th, notices appeared on the walls of  Warsaw, signed by dr Ludwig Hahn - SD and the police security commander for the Warsaw District. The notices reported that "fifty communists" had been hanged in retaliation for blowing up the railway tracks near the town.

Public execution made a big impression on the inhabitants of Warsaw. Crowds of people gathered under the gallows. Many of them tried to verify whether there weren't any of their relatives or friends among the victims. In the evening the convicts' bodies were removed from the gallows. At night Germans secretly buried the twenty bodies of those executed  on the "Skra" pitch, and the remaining bodies - on the nearby Jewish cemetery, at Okopowa Street. 

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Markowa massacre

On 24 March 1944 Germans executed Wiktoria and Józef Ulma together with their 6 children as well as 8 Jews who were being hidden at their home.

The Ulmas are recognized as Rightous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem Institute and their life sacrifice serves as the leading story at the Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews During World War II.

"At the onset of World War II, Józef Ulma (born in 1900) was a prominent citizen in the village of Markowa: a librarian, a photographer, active in social life and the local Catholic Youth Association. He was an educated fruit grower and a bee-keeper. His wife Wiktoria (born Wiktoria Niemczak in 1912), was a homemaker. The Ulmas had six children: Stanisława, age 8, Barbara, age 7, Władysław, age 6, Franciszek, age 4, Antoni, age 3 and Maria, age 2. Another child was due to be born just days after the family's summary execution on 24 March 1944.

In the summer and autumn of 1942, the German Nazi police deported several Jewish families of Markowa to their deaths as part of the German Final solution to the Jewish question. Only those who were hidden in Polish peasants' homes survived. Eight Jews found shelter with the Ulmas: six members of the Szall (Szali) family from Łańcut including father, mother and four sons, as well as the two daughters of Chaim Goldman, Golda and Layka. Józef Ulma put all eight Jews in the attic. They learned to help him with supplementary jobs while in hiding, to ease the incurred expenses.

In the early morning hours of 24 March 1944 a patrol of German police from Łańcut under Lieutenant Eilert Dieken came to the Ulmas' house which was on the outskirts of the village. They were informed ahead of time about the Jews in hiding by Włodzimierz Leś – a member of the Polish Blue Police – who was Ukrainian himself and who knew the Szall family from Łańcut and who took over their property there. The Germans surrounded the house and caught all eight Jews belonging to the Szall and Goldman families. They shot them in the back of the head according to eyewitness Edward Nawojski and others, who were ordered to look at the executions. Then the German gendarmes killed the pregnant Wiktoria and her husband, so that the villagers would see what punishment awaited them for hiding Jews. The six children began to scream at the sight of their parents' bodies. After consulting with his superior, 23-year-old Jan Kokott, a Czech Volksdeutscher from Sudetenland serving with the German police, shot three or four of the Polish children while other Polish children were murdered by the remaining gendarmes. Within several minutes 17 people were killed.

The names of the other German executioners are also known due to their frequent presence in the village (Eilert Dieken, Michael Dziewulski and Erich Wilde). The village Vogt (Polish: Wójt) Teofil Kielar was ordered to bury the victims with the help of other witnesses. He asked the German commander whom he had known from prior inspections and food acquisitions, why the children were also killed. Dieken answered in German, "So that you would not have any problems with them." On 11 January 1945, in defiance of the German prohibition, relatives of the Ulmas exhumed the bodies to bury them in the cemetery, and found out that Wiktoria's seventh child was almost born in the grave pit of her parents."(1)

Image source: Internet

Read more at:

• https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/about-the-righteous.html
• http://muzeumulmow.pl/en

Pacification of Sochy, Lublin region

On 1st June 1943 at 5 a.m. German troops and aircrafts came into Sochy village (Lublin region) in order to leave no one alive. 88 houses are reported to be burnt and 183 persons executed.

Numbers may be much higher as there were left very few people to count the exact numer of the victims. Only one house was left standing. Mostly kids survived, whose eyes seem to explain the whole terror of what was done to them. It would have been great if they had received some good explanation why their families were shattered by the turmoils of the war. Why their little worlds got anihilated...

A precise and moving account of the events is given in the book by Anna Janko "Mała Zagłada" (not translated yet (eng. "An Unknown Anihilation"), whose mother (9 at the time) was one of the surviving kids.

Sochy are one of the four most affected villages in terms of German extermination policy. The other three are: Oradour-sur-Glane (Francja), Mazinote (Włochy) i Lidice (Czechy).

Read more:

• Anna Janko "Mała Zagłada", Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2015
• https://dorzeczy.pl/kraj/5371/Jas-nie-wybaczyl.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacification_actions_in_German-occupied_Poland
• https://www.polskieradio.pl/39/156/Artykul/871267,Niemcy-nie-mieli-litosci-podczas-pacyfikacji-Zamojszczyzny

Image Source: Internet

Śladów massacre

On 18 September 1939 Wehrmacht executed ca. 300 Poles (comprising 150 Polish POWs of the defeated armies "Poznań" and "Pomorze" groups), which is considered one of the biggest German war crimes during September Campaign in 1939.

Among the captured there were wounded, civilians and kids. Men in between 15-75 years old were the most numerous group, whereas 84 persons came from a nearby village. There are reports on many fugitives to have been also killed, although they happened to be there only by chance during those difficult days of wartime turmoil.

Most probably the crime has been committed by the 4th Panzer Division soldiers belonging to the XVI corps of the 10th Army.

Only 2 persons are said to have escaped: Stanisław Klejnowski i Alfred Kitliński, both residents of a nearby Tułowice village. In total 298 persons are confirmed to be executed and as for the motives of the crime local conflicts between German minority and Polish residents were exposed.

Image Source: Internet

Read more:

• Szymon Datner: Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu na jeńcach wojennych w II wojnie światowej. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, 1961, s. 53–56.
• Jan Jarecki: Walki kawalerii polskiej wrzesień 1939. Katowice: Towarzystwo miłośników Ziemi Pszczyńskiej, 1989, s. 83

Giełczyn Forest executions

In between 1939-1945 Germans executed ca. 12 000 people in Giełczyn Forest, Podlasie region.

Most of the victims (7 000) were Jews taken from the Łomża ghetto. Polish Red Cross found only 146 bodies during exhumations in 1958 as most of the human remains were burnt in 1944 when Germans were in retreat before Soviets.

Image source: Internet

Read more:
http://www.powiatlomzynski.pl/index.php?k=111

Szczebra executions, Suwałki, occupied Poland

In between 1941-1944 ca. 8000 people were executed in Szczebra village in Augustów region. Mainly Soviet POWs as well as Jews and Poles were killed in mass executions.

The first execution took place in June 1941 when a group of SS headed by a SS and Police colonel Werner Fromm killed Soviet POWs. The victims were brought to the execution site in 8 groups, each consisting of 100 people. All prisoners were executed at the verge of a long pit.

About 860 people are also reported to be executed in July 1942.

Due to the Red Army's advance in May 1944, Germans started to cover the tracks of their crimes (Aktion 1005 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderaktion_1005). Human remains were excavated by imprisoned Jews, burnt with the use of wood and oil and the ashes were dispersed over nearby fields.

Image source: https://kriegsverbrechen1939.blogspot.com/search/label/Szczebra

Read more:

Andrzej Makowski. Szczebra. Dzieje wsi od I wojny światowej do czasów współczesnych. „Rocznik Augustowsko-Suwalski”. 9, 2009. Suwałki: Augustowsko-Suwalskie Towarzystwo Naukowe. ISSN 1730-9875.

Aleksander Omilianowicz: Materiały do dziejów okupacji hitlerowskiej i ruchu oporu na Pojezierzu Augustowskim. W: Studia i materiały do dziejów Pojezierza Augustowskiego. Białystok: Białostockie Towarzystwo Naukowe, 1967, s. 545-605, seria: Prace Białostockiego Towarzystwa Naukowego.

Zambrów massacre

At night of 13/14 September 1939 Germans killed about 200 Polish prisoners of war who were gathered at a garrison's court in Zambrów. Before the night fell all prisoners were asked to remain seated. In case someone stood up, they would shoot, as was said. There were about 4000 detained Poles at the square when suddenly horses rushed into the crowd. Not to be overridden, POWs jumped to their feet and Germans opened the fire. 200 Poles are reported to be killed and 100 were wounded. Witnesses declared that the horses might have been irritated by the searchlights and got into a panic.

Read more:

• Jochen Böhler: Najazd 1939. Niemcy przeciw Polsce. Kraków: Wydawnictwo "Znak", 2011. ISBN 978-83-240-1808-6.
• Szymon Datner: Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu na jeńcach wojennych w II wojnie światowej. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, 1961.

Majdan Wielki Massacre

40 Polish soldiers were executed by Wehrmacht on 20 September 1939 in Majdan Wielki, Lublin region, Poland. The victims were prisoners of war captured by the German side.

The execution is said to be preceded by an event in which during a skirmish a Wehrmacht soldier was deadly wounded in his head which resulted in loosing his eyes (as eyes left the eye sockets). When his body was found, his colleagues thought he was mutilated on purpose by Poles. As a result a revenge on captured Polish soldiers was organized. The next day a group of 45 Polish POWs was brought to the site of the skirmish where Wehrmacht’s soldiers started to torture Poles with their belts and butts. Then execution followed and only 3 POWs are reported to have saved their lives in a nearby barn where they headed after the execution.

On 22 April 1940 German authorities and Polish Red Cross undertook an exhumation and 42 bodies were found and buried in a common grave at the Majdan Wielki cemetery.

Read more:

• Jochen Böhler: Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu w Polsce. Kraków: Wydawnictwo „Znak”, 2009, s. 183. ISBN 978-83-240-1225-1.
• Szymon Datner: Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu na jeńcach wojennych w II wojnie światowej. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo MON, 1961, s. 57–58.

Mass executions in Rybieniec forest near Klamry village, Chełmno, Poland

Between 12 October and 11 November 1939 German Selbstschutz killed 2000 Poles and 14 Jews, mostly elite members from the Chełmno region. A typical event which was meticulously planned within the frames of Inteligenzaktion by Germans in invaded Poland during WWII.

Wehrmacht took over Chełmno on 6 September 1939 and right away local Selbstschutz members became overactive. Selbstschutz was a paramilitary organisation constituted of members of local German minority who lived in the pre war Polish territory. Lots of Poles were arrested as they were representatives of local political, economic and intelectual elites. Personal resentments were also a decisive factor.

The list of the murdered comprises teachers from: Bartlew, Bieńkówka, Brzozów, Czarża, Dorposz Szlachecki, Drzonów, Unisław, Starogród, Różnów, Pniewity, Watorowa, Kłodawo, Lisewo, Malankowa, Mozgowiny and Nowa Wieś Chełmińska. Clerks, engeniers from Chełmno; catholic priests from Wielkie Czyste, Wabcz, Sarnów and Chełmno. Only in the Chełmno district (powiat Chełmno) 21 teachers were killed.

Due to the Red Army's advance in the second half of 1944, Germans commenced covering their tracks. Mass graves were opened and human remains were burned by a group of Jewish prisoners who were executed right away when they finished the job. After the war remains of 111 persons were found during exhumations. Wilhelm Papke, the leader of the local Selbstschutz in Klamry village was sentenced to a life sentence by an East Germany court in 1965.

Image source: Internet

Read more:

• Maria Wardzyńska: Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion. Warszawa: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2009, s. 165. ISBN 978-83-7629-063-8.
• Andrzej Gąsiorowski: Zbrodnia w Piaśnicy na tle innych miejsc kaźni na terenie okupowanej Polski, w: Piaśnica oskarża (red. Stanisław Janke). Wejherowo: Urząd Gminy Wejherowo, 2009, s. 14. ISBN 978-83-926619-1-7.

Wehrmacht's war crime in Urycz

Little known but still terrible due to its size. On 22 September 1939 Wehrmacht burned alive in a barn 73 Polish prisoners of war in the village of Urycz, near Przemyśl, Poland. Victims belonged to the 4th Podhale Rifles Infantry Regiment, defeated after heavy fighting in mid-September along the San river line.

On 22 September 1939 a column of POWs stopped for a rest in Urycz (former Lviv district). POWs were divided into 2 groups. Those who claimed to be Ukrainians or Silesians were not subject to "further proceedings". The other group was closed in a barn where they were supposed to stay for a night rest. At 3 p.m. Germans closed the barn's door and used gasoline to set the building on fire using their hand grenades. Almost all detainees burnt alive, those who made attempts to escape were killed by machine guns. Three Polish POWs are reported to have survived as they were taken to hospital. One of them died of wounds shortly in Drohobycz. Those killed were not trying to escape and were not subject to any accusation after being seized by Germans.

The German Wehrmacht unit's soldiers who commited the crime were never found or identified not to mention being brought to justice. One of the witnesses Antoni Dobija declared that the action was led by a Wehrmacht's sergeant. Polish Institute for a National Rememberance found out that German soldiers who participated it the crime were assisted by a group of unidentified Ukrainian nationalists.

Read more:

·         Szymon Datner: Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu na jeńcach wojennych w II wojnie światowej. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo MON, 1961, s. 56–57. Śledztwa - S 17/05/Zn. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. [accessed on 1 April 2010]. Polska Akademia Nauk. Komisja Nauk Historycznych: Studia historyczne, Tomy 26–27. 1984, s. 143.

·         Jochen Böhler: Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu w Polsce. Kraków: Wydawnictwo "Znak", 2009, s. 184. ISBN 978-83-240-1225-1.

Palmiry. Warsaw's Katyń Forest

Germans used to have the same methods as Soviets when it came to eradicating Polish elites' members during World War II. Bringing detained to a secluded place, executing by machine guns, covering the mass graves with soil, planting trees. So that no one knows... However, the Truth is always triumphant. Sometimes it takes time but in the end it always wins.

The Palmiry Forest Massacre was a series of mass executions by German forces on members of Polish elites as well as prisoners of the Pawiak Prison in Warsaw (the prison which had the biggest numer of prisoners during WWII).

About 1700 persons are reported to be executed there. The best documented of these massacres took place on 20–21 June 1940, when 358 members of the Polish political, cultural and social elite were murdered in a single operation.

Among the executed were politicians: Maciej Rataj, Mieczysław Niedziałkowski and the winner of the 10,000 metres race at the 1932 Olympics Janusz Kusociński.

Mass graves were always dug a few days before the planned execution. Usually it was done by the Arbeitsdienst unit which was quartered in Łomna or by Hitlerjugend members who camped near Palmiry.

In most cases the graves were shaped like a ditch and were more than 30 metres (98 ft) long and 2.5–3 metres (8 ft 2 in–9 ft 10 in) deep. Sometimes, for smaller groups of convicts or for individual victims, irregularly shaped graves were prepared, similar to natural terrain landslides. Victims were transported to the place of execution by trucks. Usually they were brought from Pawiak prison, rarely from Mokotów Prison. SS soldiers tried to convince their victims that they are going to transfer them to another prison or to a concentration camp. For this reason, death transports were usually formed at dusk and prisoners were allowed to take their belongings with them. Sometimes before departure convicts received an additional food ration and they were given back their documents from the prison's depository. Initially, these methods were so effective that the prisoners were not aware of the fate awaiting them. Later, when the truth about what was happening in Palmiry spread through Warsaw, some victims tried to throw short letters or small belongings from the trucks, in hopes that in this way they would be able to inform their families about their fate. During postwar exhumation some bodies were found with a card reading "Executed in Palmiry", written by the victims shortly before their death.

Read more:

https://palmiry.muzeumwarszawy.pl/

·     Władysław Bartoszewski (1976). Palmiry (in Polish). Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza. 

·     Władysław Bartoszewski (1970). Warszawski pierścień śmierci 1939–1944 (in Polish). Warszawa: Interpress. 

·     Jochen Böhler; Klaus-Michael Mallmann; Jürgen Matthäus (2009). Einsatzgruppen w Polsce (in Polish). Warszawa: Bellona. ISBN 978-83-11-11588-0. 

·     Regina Domańska (1978). Pawiak – więzienie Gestapo. Kronika lat 1939–1944 (in Polish). Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza. 

·     Krzysztof Dunin-Wąsowicz (1984). Warszawa w latach 1939–1945 (in Polish). Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. ISBN 83-01-04207-9. 

·     Richard C. Lukas (2004). Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1350-2. Retrieved 2016-03-24.

Image source: Internet