The Liberation of Murnau, Germany, April 29, 1945 (Video)

February 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment

A while ago I wrote a post on my grandfathers captivity as P.O.W.s in Germany and their eventual liberation by Patton’s 3rd Army. To the amazement of my father and I, another descendant of a Murna P.O.W. in Australia sent us a link to a YouTube video about Murnau. The video consists of film footage by the U.S. Army as they are liberating the town and P.O.W. camp in 1945. It’s possible that some of the photos that I’ve seen of the liberation were taken from this film or perhaps the cameraman also had a still camera, since some are from the same vantage point.

I already feel lucky to have seen photos of the liberation of Murnau and to have a fairly deep understanding of what my grandfathers went through. Seeing the film adds a brand new perspective on the event and a greater appreciation for what happened. For me it’s a priceless window into the past.

Filed Under: Poland, U.S. History, World War II, Youtube

Book Review: Forgotten Holocaust

January 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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Until I reached young adulthood, my knowledge of Poland’s history during World War II was minimal. While I had learned of Hitler’s genocide of the Jews of Europe, I knew nothing of the suffering of any other group. As a child I naively thought that the non-Jewish, civilian population largely managed to avoid the horrors of war. How wrong I was.

Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles under German Occupation, 1939-1944  by Richard Lukas is the best attempt so far to shed light on this lesser known part of history. The Poles were the first nation to feel the full brunt of Hitler’s maniacal plans. From the first day of the war civilians were targets of bombing, strafing and over 16,000 Poles were executed within several months. The Nazis carried out a systematic campaign, AB Aktion, against Poland’s intelligentsia in the first half of 1940, arresting tens of thousands and executing over 6,000 more individuals, burying their bodies in forest pits. Auschwitz, the most notorious Nazi enterprise, began as a concentration camp for Polish “political prisoners”. Witold Pilecki, one of the bravest individuals of World War II, volunteered to be arrested during one of Warsaw’s random street roundups, and taken as a prisoner to Auschwitz to report to the Polish Home Army on conditions in the camp. Surviving for nearly three years before escaping, Pilecki sent the first reports of Hitler’s evolving Holocaust and the accelerating elimination of Europe’s Jews.

Forgotten Holocaust not only illuminates the Nazi policy of extermination in Poland, but describes the armed resistance of the Polish people. A multitude of underground, military organizations formed before the September Campaign ended, and coalesced within several years to form the Armia Krajowa (Home Army), composed of several hundred thousand sworn soldiers. The AK carried out sabotage against the Nazis throughout the war, bombing train tracks and destroying communication lines, they collected and transmitted military intelligence to the Allies and carried out executions of traitors and Nazi collaborators.

Poland was the only country in Europe where assisting and hiding Jews was punishable by death. Unsurprisingly, some Poles betrayed their Jewish neighbors as an act of self-preservation, anti-semitic hate or perhaps a mixture of both. The Home Army however decreed that such acts were capital offenses, and carried out death sentences on those who informed on Jews. Civilian authorities in occupied Poland organized Żegota, an organization dedicated to rescuing Jews (particularly children) by transferring them to safe houses and falsifying their identities, all at the risk of torture and execution at the hands of the Nazis.

Having just marked Holocaust Remembrance Day, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army on January 27, 1945, it’s time to revisit the meaning of the Holocaust for all of Europe’s peoples. As Norman Davies aptly states in the foreword to the book, “…no one can analyze the fate of one ethnic community in occupied Poland without referring to the fates of other…readers should receive a comprehensive picture of occupied Poland, so that each and every one of the separate but interlinked tragedies can be fully understood. Luka’s book marks an important step in that direction.”

Richard Lukas has done a great service through his book, not only filling a glaring void in World War II scholarship, but by giving us a window through which to better see and understand the greatest period of suffering in modern history. Though challenging to experience, the powerful emotions of revulsion, indignation, empathy and understanding are the vehicles by which we come to know the truth.

Forgotten Holocaust on Amazon

Filed Under: Poland, World War II Tagged With: ,

World War II Propaganda Posters from the Hoover Archives

November 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The latest issue of the Hoover Digest (the Hoover Institution’s quarterly publication) recently went on line. Every issue usually has an article that archives/history-related and this issue has one by yours truly titled “Mightier Than Swords“.

One of my favorite parts of my job at Hoover is creating annual museum exhibits, thus my article focuses on the latest exhibit that openend earlier this year on World War II propaganda posters. It was hard to choose several dozen posters out of a collection of over 100,000 in the archives, but I think I did alright. Propaganda posters were used to demonize the “enemy” to legitimize their destruction and the Nazis and Soviets used this approach to the extreme. Check out the article to see a great selection of posters.

It’s interesting to reflect on how technology has changed the mediums by which political and social messages (also forms of propaganda) are conveyed. The recent presidential election is a good example of how digital media has dramatically surpassed print and perhaps even broadcast media in popularity. Outside of lawn signs, buttons and billboards, I don’t know that U.S. politicians use printed messages to any great extent. A news article or video clip shared on social media or a simple Tweet can potentially reach millions of voters making the advantage obvious. The downside of course is that a candidate’s gaffe, an embarrassing story or evidence of a “flip-flop” on a position can spread just as quickly. However, throughout my travels in Eastern Europe in recent years I still see that political posters are still a popular way to campaign. My speculation is that social media and perhaps just basic internet connectivity is less advanced than in the west, particularly for older voters, necessitating traditional forms of visual publicity. This will change slowly but surely as communication technology becomes more widespread.

Though the messages depicted in this exhibition may appear blunt and crude to modern sensibilities, the underlying principle of conveying information succinctly endures and propaganda is still a powerful tool used by virtually every organization in the planet. The negative connotation for the term emerged during World War I, but broadcasting messages, truthful, biased or dishonest, never went away. To put it in modern terms, one mans “propaganda” is another mans “marketing.”

If you’re near Stanford University between now and early February, 2013, check out the exhibit right next to the Hoover Tower. The Herbert Hoover Exhibit Pavilion is open 11am-4pm, Tuesday-Saturday, with free admission. On Saturdays parking is also free at Stanford. If you’re interested, I’ll be happy to give you a personal tour in the second half of January or early February, once I’m back from Poland.

Check out the article and let me know what you think of the posters!

Filed Under: Archives, Nick, U.S. History, World War II Tagged With: , , , ,

Unlocking Andrzej Pomian’s London Archive

October 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last week I had the privilege of participating in a conference titled “Documents of the Polish Underground State 1939-1945″ organized by the Central Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw. My presentation was on the Andrzej Pomian papers, which I organized and that were recently added to the Hoover Archives. The conference was held in the historic PAST building, which was captured in a fierce battle by the Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. I was somewhat nervous to give my talk, since it was in Polish and I’d never spoken before an audience like this. As usual my worries were unfounded and my presentation was well received. I met a number of interesting historians and archivists, nearly 30 of whom also spoke during the two-day conference. Below is the translation of my presentation. Let me know what you think.

The PAST building (site of the conference) in downtown Warsaw

Andrzej Pomian, who died four years ago in Washington D.C. at the age of ninety-seven, was a Polish journalist and author who spent many years working for Radio Free Europe. During World War II, he was a member of the Bureau of Information and Propaganda of the Home Army, the largest underground organization in Nazi-occupied Europe. Evacuated from Poland in April 1944, in one of the most spectacular flight operations of the war, Pomian worked in the Polish government-in-exile in London for the next ten years, before moving to the United States. He brought with him to the U.S. a large metal trunk filled with notes, documents, underground publications, and reports on the activities of the Home Army. These documents, untouched for more than fifty years, in accordance with Pomian’s wishes, were sent to the Hoover Institution Archives as a large addition to a small set of Pomian’s papers given earlier.

Andrzej Pomian, the name adopted during the war, was born in 1911 as Bohdan Sałaciński in the Polish village of Black Ostrów in Podolia, which became part of the Soviet Union after 1920. Escaping from the Soviets, the family moved to Warsaw, where  Bohdan became a student, completing his legal studies at the University of Warsaw in 1932, where he remained as a lecturer. From the beginning of the German occupation, Pomian was involved in underground work. He taught law at the underground university and worked in various units of the resistance, eventually working in the Bureau of Information and Propaganda, which coordinated the work of intelligence and underground newspapers, broadcast underground radio programs, and operated photographic and film units.

“Operation N“, an initiative of the Bureau, published documents in German, with the aim of weakening the morale of German soldiers and colonists in Poland. Several examples of magazines and proclamations created under Operation N are in Pomian’s collection. The Home Army was involved in sabotage, self-defense and retaliation against the Germans. It also provided the Allies with crucial information in the field of intelligence, monitoring the movement of troops in the east, and the development of the secret, German V-1 and V-2 rockets. The primary goal of the Home Army, however, was to prepare for the expected collaps of the Nazi occupation and the liberation of the country.

After the Allied landing in Italy and the encroachment of the Red Army into pre-war Polish territory, a national uprising was planned, with its center in Warsaw, for the second half of 1944. In connection with this plan, the Home Army and underground civil authorities ordered several officers, including Pomian, to report to Polish and British authorities in London to discuss the progress of preparations. These contacts were usually carried out by encrypted radio transmissions or by individual couriers, and emissaries but the importance of this mission required a different method.

At this time there were regular night flights from England and southern Italy with parachute drops of weapons, documents, money and agents into occupied Poland. A new joint Polish-British operation, “Wildhorn I” (Operation “Most [Bridge] I” in Polish) planned with the intention of landing a plane in occupied Poland, was carried out in the evening April 15, 1944. A Douglas Dakota aircraft, unarmed, but equipped with eight additional fuel tanks, left its base near Brindisi in southern Italy. Crossing the Balkans and Carpathian mountains en route to Poland, it landed in difficult conditions in a beet field near Lublin, southeast of Warsaw. The “runway” was marked by bonfires and protected by several forest units of the Home Army. Couriers and bags of dollars were unloaded and Pomian and other passengers, including Brigadier General Stanisław Tatar, came on board, barely avoiding an intense and bloody firefight between soldiers of the Home Army and Wehrmacht units. The return flight to Brindisi and then Gibraltar, brought Pomian to England twenty-four hours later.

The PAST building during the Warsaw Uprising, August, 1944

Pomian followed the tragic epilogue of the war in Poland from distant London. The Warsaw Uprising, lasting sixty-three days, failed due to lack of support from the Soviet Union – the Red Army that came a few weeks after the uprising started, stopped on the Vistula River, just across from burning Warsaw. Poland’s allies, the British and the Americans, could not do much to help, but they didn’t even protest the treacherous behavior of the Soviets. Among the tens of thousands killed, were most of Pomian’s colleagues and friends. Warsaw was virtually razed to the ground, and Poland became a Soviet dependency. Western powers not only failed to protest but in the following year withdrew recognition for their loyal, war-time ally. You can see that the Uprising dominated Pomian’s thoughts since the majority of his collection consists of documents related to the tragic event including: typescripts, manuscripts, poetry, newspapers and government documents.

During his ten years in London, Pomian continued working for the Polish government-in-exile, coordinating contacts and financial support for the anti-communist underground in the country and veterans of the Home Army. When, in 1955, he decided to move to the United States, he packed everything into a big trunk, apparently never opening it again, and deciding, shortly before his death, it would be best to pass it on to the archives of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California.

The Andrzej Pomian papers consist of twenty-two archival boxes. A significant portion of these materials are post-war newspaper clippings, newspapers and magazines, often commemorating consecutive anniversaries of the Warsaw Uprising. Documents relating to the activities of the Bureau of Information and Propaganda and underground resistance, can be found in the first six boxes.

This collection is now available to researchers. A complete inventory of the collection is almost complete. We are going to microfilm this collection and pass it on to the Central Archives of Modern Records as we recently handed over to the microfilmed collection of Jan Karski. If anyone is interested, I can give you the inventory in electronic form.

I also wanted to quickly show you some scans from this collection. Here are some examples of propaganda from “Operation N”. This cover suggests that it is an anti-Soviet brochure but all the text is devoted to the Nazi crimes in Poland. Several items from this collection are showcased in an exhibition of World War II propaganda currently on display at the Hoover Institution.

“The Red Terror”

I’d like to add that Andrzej Pomian’s later work is well documented in the collection of the Polish station of Radio Free Europe. The corporate and broadcast records of RFE are housed at the Hoover Institution. Most of our collections on World War II were microfilmed, transferred to Poland, digitized and made available online. The best guide to our Polish collections is the book by Professor (and Poland’s Director of National Archives) Władyslaw Stępniak, Polish Archival Materials in the Collections of Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Thank you very much.

Warsaw, Poland October 24, 2012

Recommended:

-“Operation Wildhorn”, The Daring Flight into Nazi-Occupied Poland

-The End of the Warsaw Uprising, October 2, 1944

Filed Under: Nick, Poland, Translations, World War II Tagged With: , , ,

“Operation Wildhorn”, The Daring Flight into Nazi-Occupied Poland

October 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Next week I’ll be making a presentation on the Andrzej Pomian papers, held at the Hoover Archives, at the conference on “Documents of the Polish Underground State, 1939-1945″ at the Central Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw.

Andrzej Pomian was one of the directors of the the Home Army’s Bureau of Information and Propaganda. In 1944, the decision was made to extract Pomian along with other high-ranking members of the underground in a daring mission into occupied Poland.

On the night of April 15, 1944, an unarmed, Douglas Dakota aircraft, modified with 8 auxiliary fuel tanks, took off from its base near Brindisi, Italy. The plane flew over the Balkans and Carpathian mountains into Poland where it landed in a beetroot field 22 miles from Lublin, south-east of the capital, Warsaw and 800 miles inside of enemy-occupied territory.

The field had been marked by bonfires and guarded by soldiers from the Home Army who had lost dozens of men in a bloody, 40-hour firefight with Nazi troops to secure the site. In a period of 6-10 minutes the aircraft was unloaded of its cargo of passengers, documents and bags of U.S. dollars meant for the underground resistance, and five high-ranking passengers boarded the plane for the return flight. One of the departing passengers handed the pilots a bottle of scotch in gratitude. Despite the wet and uneven condition of the field, the plane was able to take off, making the return flight to Brindisi. Within 24 hours the passengers, via Gibraltar, would safely arrive in London.

Planning for the operation had started in early 1943, but competition over aircraft and unfavorable weather and logistics put off the mission until 1944. The “Wildhorn” or “Most” (“Bridge”) operation was of great importance to the Polish underground and the Government-in-Exile, based in London. In January 1944 the Soviet Red Army had entered pre-war Polish territory. Within months of the operation the Home Army would begin operation “Burza” (“Tempest”) by attacking German forces as they retreated from the Soviet advance. The culmination of “Burza” was the Warsaw Uprising which was meant to liberate the capital from the Nazis, but ended in tragedy.

The passengers who were evacuated from Poland along with Pomian included: General Stanisław Tatar, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Home Army, the Head of Courier Operations and several government delegates. These individuals were to brief the Government-in-Exile on the situation in Poland in advance of the resistance operations planned for the coming months.

The success of the first “Wildhorn” mission led to two more such operations, the last of which (“Operation Wildhorn III“), just a week before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, successfully retrieved a disassembled V-2 rocket which had been recovered by the Home Army.

For more detailed information on the “Wildhorn” missions, in addition to commemoration ceremonies held in 2008, check out these links:

-Operation Wildhorn (Operation Mosty or Bridges)

-Operation Wildhorn

Filed Under: Poland, World War II Tagged With: ,

The End of the Warsaw Uprising, October 2, 1944

October 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

“Each Round, One German”

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the end of the Warsaw Uprising. The failed attempt by the Polish Home Army to wrest control of the capital from the Nazis before the arrival of the Red Army. Though the goal of the uprising was left unrealized, the memory of the epic struggle permeates Warsaw to this day. The murder of 200,000 civilians and the deliberate leveling of most of the city were devastating to Poland. One laudable aspect of the Uprising was the determination of the Polish people to be free from tyranny even against overwhelming odds. It was perhaps the defining episode in Poland’s national martyrology.

Home Army soldiers marching under a Polish flag (illegal under the Nazi occupation) on the first day of the Warsaw Uprising

The Warsaw Uprising was an element of Operation Tempest, the Home Army’s plan to take control of Polish cities from the Nazis in advance of the Red Army’s arrival. The Uprising was originally planned to last only a few days, by which time key positions were to have been captured and the victorious Poles could welcome the advancing Red Army from a position of strength, rather than allowing the Soviet forces to seize control of Warsaw and impose Communist rule.

Unbeknownst to the Home Army leadership, German troops were preparing to reinforce their positions in Warsaw in the face of the Soviet advance, rather than retreating which as they had been expected to. Also, faulty intelligence indicated that the Red Army was only a matter of kilometers from Warsaw. While advance units of the Red Army had made it within several dozen kilometers of the capital, they were repelled by a German counteroffensive and it wasn’t until early September, a month after the Uprising started, that the Red Army would reach the Praga district of Warsaw on the east bank of the Vistula River.

Despite the later-than-anticipated arrival of the Red Army, in early September they were in position to provide critical assistance to the insurgents of Warsaw. Stalin’s plan however was to subject Poland to Soviet imperialism, so the Nazis were allowed to quell the uprising with little interference. Even the heroic attempts of Allied pilots to drop supplies into Warsaw were hampered when Stalin denied their planes the ability to land in Soviet airfields just east of Warsaw, instead forcing them to make the precarious round trip back to Italy over mostly enemy-occupied territory.

The Warsaw Uprising lasted for an unthinkable 63 days, during which 40,000 Home Army soldiers, only about 10% of which were well-equipped, resisted their heavily-armed German opponent who wielded close air support, artillery and tanks. The zeal of the insurgents and the anticipation of a quick end to the fighting led to the rapid depletion of ammunition reserves. Once it became apparent that the battle would continue for some time, orders were given to save ammunition wherever possible. The poster above “Each Round, One German” stressed the importance of making every shot count.

Two years ago I had the great honor to serve as a volunteer at the Warsaw Uprising Museum. The 5 weeks that I spent there were an eye-opening experience and a first-hand introduction to World War II history in Poland to which I had only begun to take an interest. For anyone planning a visit to Warsaw, I consider the Warsaw Uprising Museum to be the number one destination in the city. The Old Town is of course scenic and the Łazienki Park is beautiful, but the Warsaw Uprising Museum gives non-Poles a glimpse into the psyche of the nation, the horrors it endured and the determination made against all odds to fight for freedom. It’s a type of pure resolve to battle against tyranny that I would liken to the Revolutionary War in American history. Though the Warsaw Uprising failed in 1944, the fighting spirit it exemplified would lead the way to Poland’s freedom decades later.

Filed Under: Poland, World War II Tagged With: , , ,

iPhone Video Recording for YouTube

September 29, 2012 by 2 Comments

The last two posts on ResearchTeacher.com have been videos that I’ve uploaded to my YouTube channel. It came as a surprise to me when I learned that YouTube was the second largest search engine in the world (and owned by the largest, Google), so it makes sense to create video content.

Recording technology has rapidly advanced in the past several years, to the point where I was able to easily record the two videos with my iPhone camera and a few peripherals.

I use the iPhone 4S, which, from what I’ve read, has virtually the same video recording capabilities as the newly released iPhone 5. Both phones can record in 1080p HD (high definition) quality. The iPhone 4 records in 720p HD. The iPhone 3GS can also record video, albeit in 480p SD (standard definition).

The four peripherals that I use are:

-The Xshot Tripod Adapter: This special case comes with two tripod adapters that allow you to mount your iPhone in either landscape or portrait mode. The case fits either the iPhone 4 or 4S and also comes with a ”mini” tripod with flexible legs that I use for my microphone stand. As a matter of convenience and because I like the case, I keep it on my iPhone, rather than removing it in between recording sessions.

-Ravelli 49″ Light Weight Aluminum Tripod: This is a very inexpensive tripod that’s suitable for my recording needs. It’s sturdy for such a lightweight tripod, but I wouldn’t recommend it for heavier, DSLR cameras. For my iPhone and small camcorders, it work great. One tradeoff that I made with this tripod is its 49″ maximum height. This is about 12-20″ shorter than the height of tripods that are slightly more expensive, but the advantage is that the minimum height is 22″, making it suitable for table-top video recording, while other tripods are 30″+ at their minimum, too high for face-level recording. The Ravelli also comes with a “mini” tripod.

-Azden High-performance Stereo Condenser Microphone: The built-in, iPhone microphone is adequate for recording scenery and events where sound quality isn’t critically important. When recording interviews or videos like I’ve recently done, the iPhone’s mic isn’t sufficient. For this reason I selected the Azden microphone. The Azden is one of the best condenser microphones under $100. I’ve also used the Audio-Technica Lavalier Condenser Microphone, but I prefer the sound quality of the Azden for these videos. The Azden uses one AAA battery and it comes with an adapter to mount it to a camcorder. My preference is to keep it on a stand. The Azden microphone cord, along with the iPhone microphone adapter, extend about 2ft.

-iPhone 1/8 inch microphone adapter: The audio jack on the iPhone is meant to support audio output, namely headphones, so the microphone adapter from kVconnection is necessary to allow an audio input device, the microphone, to hook up to an iPhone. It’s flexible yet durable.

If you don’t have an iPhone, you can still create a similar setup with your smartphone or camcorder. There is a selection of tripod adapters designed for various smartphone shapes and sizes. I’m not familiar with Android phones, but you’ll also need an adapter to connect an external microphone to the audio jack. If you can’t find one, contact me and I’ll help you. Most camcorders have an external microphone input, so you won’t have to worry about an adapter.

Excluding the cost of the iPhone, this entire setup cost under $150. Of course you can spend more on a tripod, microphone and camera, but  that will depend on your needs. If you are recording oral histories with family members, community events, interviews for research projects, etc., this setup will cover all of your needs.

I don’t anticipate any major changes to my setup in the near future. I might eventually upgrade my microphone, but for now the Azden is serving me well. One change I’ll make is including another lamp for videos shot at night (like the Freedom Betrayed review) to improve the color, since the ambient light from the fixtures in the room is barely adequate. The iPhone 4S sports a great video camera that was even favorably comparedto the Canon 5D MKII (which costs nearly $2,000 for the camera body alone, excluding the lens).

What’s your video recording setup? Do you have any suggestions for mine?

Recommended:

-Herbert Hoover’s Freedom Betrayed, Video Review

-Welcome to Research Teacher on Youtube

Filed Under: Apple/Tech, Youtube Tagged With: ,

Herbert Hoover’s Freedom Betrayed, Video Review

September 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Read my complete review of Freedom Betrayed: part 1, part 2

Filed Under: Communism, Herbert Hoover, U.S. History, World War II, Youtube Tagged With: , , ,

Welcome to ResearchTeacher.com on Youtube

September 22, 2012 by 1 Comment

Filed Under: Nick, Youtube Tagged With: , ,

The Medallion in the Skull

September 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Remains unearthed at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw, August, 2012

Today is the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939. The Soviets cooperated with the Nazis to dismember Poland and enslave her people. As we now know, perhaps as many as 200,000 Poles living in the Soviet Union had already been murdered as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign, known as the Polish Operation of the NKVD, in 1937-1938. Nearly 22,000 Polish officers who had been captured by the Soviets in 1939, were executed by the NKVD in the spring of 1940, at Stalin’s orders. Hundreds of thousands of Poles were deported from eastern Poland, many thousands of whom died of starvation and exposure to the elements. Once the Red Army re-entered Poland in 1944 as an “ally” of the Western Powers, the arrests and executions of Poles continued, particularly of those who were members of the Polish Underground State. The occupation of Poland by the Soviet Union and the establishment of a Communist puppet state began a new chapter of darkness and repression, the wounds of which have yet to heal.

Below is the English translation of the article “Medalik w czaszce” (Medallion in the Skull) from the Rzeczpospolita (The Republic) newspaper published on September 6, 2012. It consists of an interview with Dr. Krzysztof Szwagrzyk, an IPN (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Institute of National Remeberance) historian who is leading exhumation work at Warsaw’s Powązki Cemetery, to recover the remains of some of Poland’s greatest heroes. The interview was conducted by Piotr Zychowicz.

Begin Translation:

What happened after 1944 in Poland was the final part of the work of the German and Soviet occupiers. The Communists finished off the Polish elite – assert’s an IPN historian in a conversation with Piotr Zychowicz.

How did the people die, whose bodies you are recovering at Powązki Cemetery ?

Two-thirds of the victim’s have been shot through the skull by bullet. The entrance cavity is on the back or side of their head. They were shot at close range with a pistol.

The Katyń method.

Yes, the Katyń method, moved to Polish soil after 1944. Likewise, the Bolshevik attitude towards the bodies of the murdered. In the Soviet Union it wasn’t sufficient to put a person to death, it followed to obliterate any trace of their burial place. So that no one could ever find the bodies and identify those tortured to death. That’s how criminals operate. And that’s how Polish Communists operated.

Segregating recovered skulls

Some of the bodies were supposedly covered with calcium oxide (“quicklime”).

We still don’t have the final results of chemical tests. Yet, I can confirm that in two of the burial pits we did find traces of the effects of chemical agents which led to the advanced disintegration of human remains. The torso of these skeletons – from the legs up to the skulls – is practically non-existent. Since we’re talking about, among other things, spines and pelvises, bone tissue, which in general is well-preserved, we suppose that these bodies were deliberately doused with a chemical substance.

How many bodies were you able to recover?

We found the remains of 116 people. 109 have been removed. With the rest there’s a problem since we’ve only reached fragments of the body – heads, arms or legs – the rest is located under sidewalks and paths. In other words, beyond the territory in which we have permission to dig. These bodies will be dealt with in the second stage of work.

What problems have you run into during the exhumations?

Six months ago we finished work in the Osobowice Cemetery in Wrocław. We were able to recover and remove many bodies of victims of Communist crimes. It seemed to us that we’d be able to utilize that experience in Warsaw. However, even though it’s the same period of Communist terror, the scale of difficulty of work at the “Meadow” at Powązki was far greater.

Why?

In Wrocław the prisoners, who were murdered in the prisons and detention centers of the UB (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, Department of Security), were written into the cemetery logbook. The field and grave number was noted. People were laid individually. In Warsaw there were three, four, six and even nine people in one burial pit. These pits were too small and people were piled up. Oftentimes, in order to fit the maximum number of bodies, the legs of one of the murdered victims were laid on the head of the next. People weren’t placed in graves, they were thrown in.

How do you know this?

This can be seen by the arrangement of the bodies. Legs, shoulders. Many people lay face down, or on their side. They were thrown down from a significant height. Straight from a horse-drawn wagon, and later from trucks. Often, feet and arms are still leaning on the side wall of the graves. It’s a dramatic sight. In between the bodies we found lumps of coal, which indicates that vehicles used to supply heating fuel transported the bodies. The most appalling thing though is whom they are laying with.

With whom?

The “Ł” quarter in the Powązki Cemetery, where we conducted surveys, was again designated for burials in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. It’s not a coincidence that the graves of many people engaged in the Communist terror were placed there. Ministry of Public Security personnel, military prosecutors, judges who handed down death sentences. After several decades, the criminals were buried next to their victims.

With whom specifically?

Julia Brystiger, chief of Department V of the MBP (Ministerstwo Bezpieczństwa Publicznego, Ministry of Public Security). Ilia Rubinow, the judge responsible for the murder of General Emil Fieldorf. Roman Kryże, a judge who had many death sentences  on his account. One could spend a long time listing others.

You’re saying that this isn’t a coincidence.

No, because the practice of burying those honored by the Communist authorities in areas earlier used to hide the victims of the Red Terror was likewise applied in many other places in the PRL (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, People’s Republic of Poland). Communists believed that their system would be eternal. Thus they believed that no-one would ever dig-up the graves of well-known Communists. This way the traces of the crime would vanish forever.

One of 116 sets of remains unearthed at the “Meadow” in Powązki Cemetery

Whose bodies are you recovering?

Until we have the results of DNA tests, we can’t say with certainty who we’ve succeeded in recovering. We know that General Emil Fieldorf, Captain Witold Pilecki, Major Zygmunt Szendzielarz “Łupaszka”, Colonel Hieronim Dekutowski “Zapora”, Lieutenant Colonel Stanisław Kasznica, the last commandant of the National Armed Forces, were buried at the Meadow. The most beautiful figures in our history. Over 20 knights of the Virtuti Militari, over a dozen combatants in the Warsaw Uprising, Cichociemni (“The Unseen and Silent”). The flower of the nation. What happened after 1944 was the final part of the tragic work of the German and Soviet occupiers. The Communists finished off the Polish elite. Those whom the Soviets and Germans hadn’t managed to exterminate.

What did the road to the death pits on the Meadow look like?

The victims were brought by night. From the prison on Rakowiecka street and likewise from the Military Information prison and Department of Security prisons in the Praga district. Specially designated prisoners, escorted by prison guards, buried the bodies. The victims were those sentenced to die and also people tortured to death after their arrest. This is evidenced by the discovery of personal objects with their bodies, which in general are taken away from prisoners: glasses, belts.

How were the verdicts carried out?

After the proclamation of the death sentence people waited about 90 days for the execution in a multi-person cell. Up to 60 people stayed there. Soldiers from the Underground, felons, German criminals – everyone together. Prisoners sensed that they were going to die, so they tried to leave a sign for their families. Lieutenant Colonel Łukasz Ciepliński, chairman of the IV command of WiN (Wolność i Niezawisłość, Freedom and Independence), told his friends in the cell, if they survived, to tell his relatives that before his death he put a medallion of the Blessed Mother into his mouth. It left open the possibility of identifying his body after the years.

Did you find a medallion in one of the skulls?

We found five, six such medallions. Not only Ciepliński had this idea.

Arranging the remains of the victims

Let’s return to the death cells.

When that day arrived, several guards came to the condemned. They called the person “by the letter”. They led him to the place where the head of the prison, prosecutor and sometimes a priest were. The condemned learned that Bolesław Bierut  hadn’t granted a pardon. He was led down a hallway and in a side basement where he suddenly received a pistol shot in the back of his skull.

Who pulled the trigger?

In Warsaw the function of executioner was carried out by Aleksander Drej and Piotr Śmietański, old communists, former soldiers of the GL (Gwardia Ludowa, People’s Guard) and AL (Armia Ludowa, People’s Army). Primitive natures.

Poland regained independence 23 years ago. Why is exhumation work at the Meadow only being carried out now?

Since for many years our country was ruled by a climate of extreme animus towards similar endeavors. Settling accounts with Communist crimes wasn’t allowed. To say nothing of arresting and judging the criminals. After all, in the 1990s, the chief military prosecutor, Stanisław Zarakowski, was still alive, as was judge Mieczysław Widaj, who had several dozen verdicts on his account. Several dozen others were still alive, at their head being Helena Wolińska, to whom justice could have been measured out. This didn’t happen because of opposition from influential circles. It even turned out that a “Person of Honor” was a former general of the SB (Służba Bezpieczeństwa Ministerstwa Spraw Wewnętrznych, Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) who’s place should have been in prison. And people who researched Communist crimes were called the “dazed”. Thus, please don’t be surprised that with this type of situation it wasn’t possible to carry out exhumations.

When did the climate begin to change?

The break through was in 1999 and the establishment of the IPN. It was then that we started the “Sentenced to Death” research program. We tried to count the those murdered. Much time passed though before we could begin exhumations. Now, the second stage of work on the “Meadow” is before us, next year we’ll be excavating in Służewiec, where the Communists also buried their victims. We’re positively surprised by the huge response of the local community. People are calling us from every part of the country and requesting that we also conduct searches there. All of Poland is sown with mass graves in which rest the victims of the Red Terror.

Dr. Szwagrzyk at the press conference in the Polonia House in Warsaw, announcing the results of the first stage of exhumations, August 20, 2012

Why are you leading this excavation?

Because I believe that this is my duty. The people whose bodies we’re recovering are the greatest heroes of the Republic, it’s impossible to think that the Polish nation wouldn’t make every possible effort to recover their bodies and give them a proper burial.

Krzysztof Szwagrzyk is the head of the Departmental Bureau of Public Education of IPN in Wrocław. An investigator of Communist crimes. Author. Among others, “Crimes in the Realm of Law”, “Lawyers in the Time of Lawlessness”. He directs the exhumations of victims of Communist crimes on the “Meadow” in Warsaw’s Powązki Cemetery.

Rzeczpospolita (The Republic)

Recommended Reading:

-Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Coverup of the Katyń Massacre

-Freedom Betrayed (review part 1)

 

Filed Under: Communism, Poland, Translations, World War II Tagged With: , ,
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