page_title: Massacres in Piaśnica
section_title: The executions
hierarchical_section_title: Massacres in Piaśnica / The executions
caption_attribution_description: English: Mass execution of Poles in Piaśnica (Groß Piasnitz) in the Darzlubska Wilderness (Polish Pomerania) conducted by nazi Germans. The picture was taken by Waldemar Engler - volksdeutscher from Wejherowo and member of the SS (he was photographer in civilian life) Prints of photos that he made in Piaśnica were stolen by his Polish workers. Polski: Masowa egzekucja Polaków przeprowadzana przez Niemców w Piaśnicy. Zdjęcie wykonał Waldemar Engler - volksdeutsch z Wejherowa, a zarazem członek SS (w cywilu fotograf). Odbitki zdjęć, które wykonał w Piaśnicy zostały wykradzione przez jego polskich pracowników.
context_page_description: The massacres in Piaśnica were a set of mass executions carried out by Nazi Germany during World War II, between the fall of 1939 and spring of 1940 in Piaśnica Wielka in the Darzlubska Wilderness near Wejherowo. The exact number of people murdered is unknown, but estimates range between 12,000 and 14,000 victims. Most of them were Polish intellectuals from Gdańsk Pomerania, but Poles, Jews, Czechs and German inmates from mental hospitals from the General Government and the Third Reich were also murdered. After the Stutthof concentration camp, Piaśnica was the largest site of killings of Polish civilians in Pomerania by the Germans, and for this reason, is sometimes referred to as the "second" or "Pomeranian" Katyn. It was the first large scale Nazi atrocity in occupied Poland.
context_section_description: Piaśnica Wielka is a small Kashubian village located around 10 km from Wejherowo. The forests around it were chosen by the Germans as the site of the mass murders because it was easily accessible by bus and truck, it had a nearby rail line, and at the same time, it was located far enough from other villages and centers of population.
  The most commonly accepted timeline for the beginnings of the executions is late October 1939. However, the date of the first execution is uncertain and disputed among historians. According to Zygmunt Milczewski, this happened on 21 October. Prof. Andrzej Gąsiorowski states that the first person to be killed was the priest, Father Ignacy Błażejewski, on 24 October. Prof. Barbara Bojarska gives the date as 29 October. Former prisoners and witnesses likewise give various dates at the end of October, and even the first few days of November.
  The victims were transported to the execution sites by cars and trucks. Usually, they were forced to strip and on some occasions to dig their own graves. They were then lined up on the edge of the ditches they had dug and machined-gunned down, although sometimes regular rifles and pistols were also used. Some of the wounded were finished off with blows of rifle butts, as is documented by the broken skulls that have been exhumed from the graves. Estimates and records suggest that a single platoon of the 36th SS Regiment Wachsturmbann "Eimann", named after its commander Kurt Eimann, involved in the massacres was capable of killing around 150 people daily. Witnesses report that on numerous occasions, prior to the executions, the victims were tortured and children, in particular, were treated with utmost cruelty, and often killed by having their heads smashed against trees by German SS soldiers.
  The most detailed accounts of one of the executions come from witness accounts regarding 11 November, (Polish Independence Day). On that day, Germans murdered around 314 Polish and Jewish hostages in Piaśnica. According to the testimony of former Gestapo and later, Smersh agent, Hans Kassner (alias Jan Kaszubowski), made in 1952, the executions on that day lasted from early morning until three in the afternoon. Men and women were led in fives to the previously dug graves and shot. Some of the victims were buried alive. One of those killed was Sister Alicja Kotowska, the head of the convent in Wejherowo. Witnesses report that as she was being transported from the prison to the execution site, Kotowska huddled and comforted Jewish children who were also being taken to be executed at Piaśnica. During the post-war exhumation, Alicja's corpse was not identified but a grave was found containing a rosary of the kind worn by sisters of her order. The grave where the rosary was found is presently the site of a memorial. In 1999 Alicja Kotowska was beatified by Pope John Paul II along with 107 other martyrs.
  The area around the forests where the massacres were taking place was surrounded with police and paramilitary groups in order both to prevent any victims from escaping and also to preclude access to any potential witnesses from the outside. Despite these arrangements, the local Polish and Kashubian populace was able to observe the numerous transports going to the forests and could hear the sounds of gunfire.
  The last transports to the site were seen in the spring of 1940 and contained mostly patients from mental hospital from within the Third Reich, in particular from Stettin (Szczecin) and Lauenburg (Lębork).
  The total number of victims, killed in an area around Piaśnica of about 250 square kilometers is estimated at between twelve and sixteen thousand, including women, children and infants.
caption: Moments before the execution
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