Jeziorko woodland cemetery
Encyclopedia
Woodland cemetery in Jeziorko
village in the Northeastern part of Poland
is located approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the town of Łomża along Route 668. The remains of victims murdered by the Nazi troops rest in the cemetery which is among very few with almost completely documented history of events that happened during the Nazi occupation.
Three mass graves are related to three executions that took place there. First, in June 1942 (the exact date is still unknown), approximately 60 elderly people from a nursing home of nearby Pieńki Borowe were murdered. The names of 13 victims were identified with the majority still remaining unknown. Second, on the night of June 29/30, 1943, the military police executed 62 political prisoners transported to the Jeziorko forest from the prison in Łomża. The third grave is a burial site of 52 victims, including children and elderly, members of more than a dozen of families arrested as hostages in their homes in Łomża at dawn on July 15, 1943. They were taken to the prison and then transported to the Jeziorko forest where they were executed. The execution was carried out by a special unit known as the Müller group (after the name of its commander) created by Erich Koch
, the East Prussia Gauleiter
, i.e., a district leader in Nazi Germany who served as a provincial governor.
In autumn of 1944, a German unit (Sonderkommando 1005
) exhumed the corpses and burned them to obliterate the evidence of the murders.
In spring of 1945, after Nazi forces left the Łomża region, the cemetery in the Jeziorko forest with three mass graves was created by the efforts of inhabitants of Łomża. In 2005, The Council for the Protection of Memory of Combat and Martyrdom acknowledged the cemetery as the Site of National Remembrance.
Jeziorko, Podlaskie Voivodeship
Jeziorko is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Piątnica, within Łomża County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Piątnica, north-east of Łomża, and west of the regional capital Białystok....
village in the Northeastern part of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
is located approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the town of Łomża along Route 668. The remains of victims murdered by the Nazi troops rest in the cemetery which is among very few with almost completely documented history of events that happened during the Nazi occupation.
Three mass graves are related to three executions that took place there. First, in June 1942 (the exact date is still unknown), approximately 60 elderly people from a nursing home of nearby Pieńki Borowe were murdered. The names of 13 victims were identified with the majority still remaining unknown. Second, on the night of June 29/30, 1943, the military police executed 62 political prisoners transported to the Jeziorko forest from the prison in Łomża. The third grave is a burial site of 52 victims, including children and elderly, members of more than a dozen of families arrested as hostages in their homes in Łomża at dawn on July 15, 1943. They were taken to the prison and then transported to the Jeziorko forest where they were executed. The execution was carried out by a special unit known as the Müller group (after the name of its commander) created by Erich Koch
Erich Koch
Erich Koch was a Gauleiter of the Nazi Party in East Prussia from 1928 until 1945. Between 1941 and 1945 he was the Chief of Civil Administration of Bezirk Bialystok. During this period, he was also the Reichskommissar in Reichskommissariat Ukraine from 1941 until 1943...
, the East Prussia Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
, i.e., a district leader in Nazi Germany who served as a provincial governor.
In autumn of 1944, a German unit (Sonderkommando 1005
Sonderaktion 1005
The Sonderaktion 1005, also called Aktion 1005, or Enterdungsaktion was conducted during World War II to hide any evidence that millions of people had been murdered by Nazi Germany in Aktion Reinhard in occupied Poland....
) exhumed the corpses and burned them to obliterate the evidence of the murders.
In spring of 1945, after Nazi forces left the Łomża region, the cemetery in the Jeziorko forest with three mass graves was created by the efforts of inhabitants of Łomża. In 2005, The Council for the Protection of Memory of Combat and Martyrdom acknowledged the cemetery as the Site of National Remembrance.