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.
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:
· 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
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