page_title: Michniów massacre
section_title: Memory
hierarchical_section_title: Michniów massacre / Memory
caption_attribution_description: Mausoleum in Michniów, Poland
context_page_description: The Michniów massacre occurred on 12-13 July 1943 in the village of Michniów during German occupation of Poland when approximately 204 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Ordnungspolizei, SS..
  During World War II, the inhabitants of Michniów actively cooperated with the Polish resistance movement, in particular with the Świętokrzyskie Home Army Groupings commanded by lieutenant Jan Piwnik, pseudonym "Ponury", cichociemny. On July 12, 1943, a German military unit partially burned the village and murdered over 100 inhabitants. In retaliation that same night, soldiers of lieutenant Jan Piwnik, "Ponury" attacked the fast train Kraków-Warsaw in the area of Podłazie, Skarżysko County, killing or injuring at least a dozen Germans. The next day, German Ordnungspolizei returned to Michniów, completely burning the village and murdering almost all Poles staying there. In total, at least 204 people, including: men - mostly burned alive, 54 women and 48 children, as many as ten of them were less than 10 years old, were victims of the massacres in Michniów.
context_section_description: After the war, about 140 residents returned to the razed village. Initially, the survivors lived in dugouts and makeshift sheds. Despite the lack of greater support from the People's Poland authorities, the efforts of Michniów's inhabitants were rebuilt. However, the village returned to its pre-war population level only in the second half of the 1960s. The population of the surrounding towns called Michniów "the valley of death".
  Shortly after the end of the occupation, a red sandstone monument was erected on a mass grave covering the remains of the victims of pacification. It carries the names of the inhabitants of Michniów who died and were killed during World War II. Over 20 years later, a Memorial Room was organized in the village. Initially, it occupied part of the premises of the Farmer's Club, opened in Michniów on May 30, 1971. In turn, in the years 1977-1997 the Memorial Room was located in a wooden house, formerly owned by the Grabiński family. Until her death in 2003, the Memorial Chamber was cared for by Maria Grabińska (she lost her husband and son during the massacre).
  Michniów became a symbol of the martyrdom of Polish villages during World War II. Already during the occupation, the first poems and songs dedicated to the victims of pacification were created. The underground press also informed about the massacre. On July 22, 1977 Michniów was awarded the Order of the Cross of Grunwald 3rd Class. In the autumn of 1979, the Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation proposed the creation of a nationwide Mausoleum of Martyrdom of Polish Villages. Michniów was indicated as the proposed location. In 1981, a joint appeal of the Kielce districts of the Fighters for Freedom and Democracy Association and the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society appeared in this matter. Three years later, the presidium of the Provincial National Council in Kielce established the Organizing Committee for the Construction of the Mausoleum of the Martyrology of the Polish Village in Michniów, headed by the defender of Westerplatte, and also the president of the provincial board of ZBoWiD - commander Leon Pająk. In 1987, the Honorary Committee was formed, chaired by Roman Malinowski - Speaker of the PRL Seym, president of the Supreme Committee of the ZSL. The cornerstone for the construction of the mausoleum was laid in November 1989. The original plans were very ambitious because they assumed the construction of a large spatial and functional complex in Michniów.
  Political and economic changes that took place in Poland after 1989 resulted in the split of the Honorary Committee. This fact, as well as financial difficulties, forced modification of the project and significantly delayed its implementation. However, the idea of building a mausoleum has never been abandoned. On May 9, 1991, the "Monument-Mausoleum" Foundation was established in Michniów. In July 1993 - on the 50th anniversary of the pacification - the "Pieta Michniowska" statue by Wacław Stawecki was unveiled in Michniów. In July 1997 a new House of National Remembrance was opened. Since then, it houses a permanent exhibition and research center documenting the martyrdom of the Polish countryside during World War II. At the same time, the so-called Sanctuary of the Martyr's Polish Village, where crosses symbolizing Polish villages pacified by the Germans in 1939–1945 are placed (there are currently several hundred of them). A monument "Pożoga Wołyń" was unveiled in the sanctuary, commemorating Polish villages murdered in Volhynia by Ukrainian nationalists.
  On July 12, 1999, upon the initiative of the Marshal of the Świętokrzyskie Province, Józef Szczepańczyk, a contract for the lending of assets was signed between the "Monument and the Mausoleum" Foundation and the Kielce Village Museum, under which the museum obtained the mausoleum's right to manage. Since 2008, the Kielce Countryside Museum is the official owner of the mausoleum. A broad historical education program is being implemented in Michniów, including through museum lessons and exhib
caption: Mausoleum in Michniów, Poland
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