The mass murder on Dzika street was a war crime committed by German troops against Polish civilians during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, amidst the Warsaw Uprising

Warsaw Uprising

The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...

 on August 21, 1944. The execution took place in the yard of a housing block on Dzika 17 street. Around 200 civilians were killed.
While nowhere near as large as the wholesale massacre in Wola

Wola massacre

The Wola massacre was the scene of the largest single massacre in the history of Poland. According to different sources, some 40,000 to 100,000 Polish civilians and POWs were killed by the German forces during their suppression of the Warsaw Uprising...

, it was one of the largest mass murder carried out by the Nazis during the battle of Warsaw Old Town

Warsaw Old Town

Warsaw's Old Town is the oldest historic district of the city. It is bounded by Wybrzeże Gdańskie, along the bank of the Vistula, and by Grodzka, Mostowa and Podwale Streets. It is one of Warsaw's most prominent tourist attractions....

.

Background

On August 20, the Polish insurgents repulsed a German attack on the Muranów

Muranów

Muranów is a neighborhood consisting mainly of housing estates in the districts of Śródmieście and Wola in Warsaw founded in the 17th century. The name derived from the palace belonging to Józef Bellotti, a Venetian architect...

 neighborhood. The insurgents took heavy casualties, were looking at the increasingly indefensible positions, and were pressured by some civilians to stop the hostilities. On the morning of August 21, 1944, soldiers of the Polish Home Army, under command of Franciszek Rataj, left the neighborhood. This area was immediately seized by the advancing German troops.

Crime

Civilians who did not escape along with the soldiers of Home Army were captured. First, German soldiers separated the men from women and children. Then around 500 men were flocked to a warehouse on Stawki street. In the warehouse soldiers conducted a "selection" from the crowd all men who possessed elements of a military uniform (shoes, pants, caps, etc.), as well as items that may have come from German military warehouses (eg, canned goods). They also brought elderly people from a nearby retirement home at Przebieg street as well as several women. Afterward, a group of around 200 "selected" men was taken to the yard of a housing block on Dzika 17 street and shot. Their corpses were burned. It was only until after the war that their fate (and their mass grave) were discovered.