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.
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