page_title: Kościerzyna
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Kościerzyna / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Kościerzyna, kościół par. p.w. Św. Trójcy, 1914-1917 This is a photo of a monument in Poland identified by the ID 709534
context_page_description: Kościerzyna is a town in Kashubia in Gdańsk Pomerania region, northern Poland, with some 24,000 inhabitants. It has been the capital of Kościerzyna County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999; previously it was in Gdańsk Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998.
context_section_description: After the invasion of Poland, which started World War II, between 1939 and 1945, it was occupied by Nazi Germany. Poles were subjected to persecution, murders, deportations to Nazi concentration camps, and expulsions (see Nazi crimes against the Polish nation).
  In the first weeks of the occupation, in September 1939, the Germans arrested and imprisoned numerous Poles from the town and the surrounding area. About 600 Poles were murdered in the nearby forest, and some were deported to concentration camps.
  Between November 6 and 22, 1939, the Germans expelled 2,000 Poles, who were first deported to the temporary concentration camp in Wysin, and then to the so-called General Government. The expulsions continued until March 1944. Among the expellees was Tomasz Rogala, who returned to Kościerzyna after the war, and in the following decades was commemorated with a monument. Poles who refused to sign the Volksliste were arrested and tortured by the Gestapo, some were tortured to death, or murdered, while their families were deported to concentration camps.
  Despite this, the Poles managed to organize an underground resistance movement, including the Pomeranian Griffin secret military organization. After World War II the town was restored to Poland.
caption: Holy Trinity church
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