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Uroczysko Baran killing fields

March 03, 2024

The Uroczysko Baran killing fields (Polish: miejsce zbrodni Uroczysko Baran, lit. 'Uroczysko Baran crime location'), often referred to in Poland as the "Little Katyn" or the "Second Katyn", was the location for secret executions of soldiers and officers of the Polish Underground State, Home Army, and Second Army of Ludowe Wojsko Polskie carried out by Communist forces on behalf of the NKVD, SMERSH, and PUBP in the later stages of World War II.[1][2]

One of the mass graves of Uroczysko Baran

The killing fields at the Uroczysko Baran,[nb 1] also known as the Baran Forest,[3] are located on the outskirts of Kąkolewnica village in eastern Poland, near Radzyń Podlaski. It is estimated that up to 1,200[4] or 1,800[5][6] wartime members of the Home Army (AK), Freedom and Independence (WiN), the Peasant Battalions (BCh), as well as Polish defectors drafted to the Communist armies, and alleged enemies of the people, were murdered there, with hands tied behind their backs, over execution pits, from late autumn 1944 until February 1945, .[7] The forensic examination of twelve exhumed bodies revealed multiple bone fractures: broken hands, limbs, hips, and cracked skulls indicating extreme beatings in detention, before execution.[4][5][6]

History edit

The killing fields were known to the local people in Kąkolewnica from the beginning.[4] In July 1944, the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front under Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky was stationed in Kąkolewnica, removing cattle and plundering food supplies, throwing people out of their homes to make way for military lodgings, and setting up SMERSH and NKVD interrogation dungeons in the basements.[4] Soon, General Świerczewski with his LWP soldiers joined the fray. The Polish partisans from AK, WiN and BCh, captured in the vicinity – but also transported there from afar – like the soldiers of the 27th Home Army Infantry Division,[5] were executed across the vast area of the forest spanning well over a dozen hectares.[4] Mass graves were planted over with small pine trees by the killers. A symbolic cross was erected on site by some people in the summer of 1945. Removed by the Communist officials, it was often replaced by the locals under the cover of night.[4]

The number of people murdered at Uroczysko Baran is unknown. Even the number of mass graves has not been established to this day.[5] After fifty years of Communist rule in Poland, the closely guarded site is now overgrown with mature trees. Partial documents found in the archives of the Polish Army prove only 43 official executions and 144 military court convictions, but the Soviet archives are either inaccessible or no longer exist.[2] Soon after the end of totalitarianism in Poland, the Institute of National Remembrance interviewed 110 witnesses.[7] There was only one forensic exhumation conducted at Uroczysko Baran. The human remains were reburied at a local cemetery in Kąkolewnica in 1990.[2] The IPN branch in Lublin states that some 2,000 anti-communist resistance fighters were detained in local prisons by the Stalinist security forces between 1944 and 1956, including 450 of the most prominent so-called "cursed soldiers".[1]

Józef Franczak witnessed some of the killings. After Soviet troops entered the area, he was conscripted into the Polish Communist 2nd Army stationed in Kąkolewnica, where the military court was located. Franczak deserted in January 1945 and became a cursed soldier. He was shot dead in 1963.[8] At Kąkolewnica, and at the Uroczysko Baran, hundreds of detainees died without a trial. According to witnesses, military trucks covered with tarpaulin travelled back and forth between the two locations until November 1945, day in and day out.[7]

Commemoration edit

 
Honor guard at the Uroczysko Baran monument to murdered soldiers of AK and Second Army[nb 2]

The killings are the subject of a monograph by Jan Kołkowicz published in 2007.[9]

In 1980 a symbolic grave was created at the uroczysko. In May 1993 it was replaced with a monument consisting of a cast iron cross and a huge stone with tablets.[10] The monument was an initiative of Tadeusz Dzięga, the Kąkolewnica parish parson, and a resident of the village of Jurki, Zbigniew Puck.[11]

President of Poland Bronisław Komorowski came to Uroczysko Baran on June 20, 2013, for a solemn ceremony of laying flowers and wreaths at the monument.[12]

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Uroczysko" is the Polish term for a geographical location of arbitrary type, typically within a forest, somehow identified among its surroundings. Baran means "ram" in Polish
  2. ^ The left tablet on the stone says "O Panie, pomnij, że odszedłem w mękach i cierpieniu, a ten los zgotował mi brat" (O Lord, remember that I went away in torment and suffering, and my brother prepared me this fate). The second tablet says "Żołnierzom Armii Krajowej i Drugiej Armii Wojska Polskiego zamordowanym przez NKWD w latach 1944-1945. Współtowarzysze walki, rodziny, spolezcenstwo." The tablet on the ground lists the names of the 42 identified victims. [1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Małgorzata Kołodziejczyk (January 9, 2017), "Are we going to learn the secrets of Uroczysko Baran? – Interview with Dariusz Magier, director of IPN Lublin" [Czy poznamy tajemnicę uroczyska Baran? – rozmowa z Dariuszem Magierem, dyrektorem IPN w Lublinie], Czego dotyczył rekonesans na uroczysku Baran? Jakie będą jego efekty?, RadzynInfo.pl, archived from the original on August 14, 2017
  2. ^ a b c M.Ł. (November 30, 2016), "Uroczysko Baran in Kąkolewnica – Location of communist murders" [Uroczysko „Baran” w Kąkolewnicy – miejsce komunistycznych zbrodni], Źródło: ipn.gov.pl, Portal Niezalezna.pl: Słowo Niezależne Sp. z o.o., archived from the original on August 14, 2017
  3. ^ Anna Wasak (June 14, 2016), "Commemorations at the Uroczysko Baran: Living lesson of history" [Uroczystości na Uroczysku Baran: Żywa lekcja historii], Apel Poległych, Serwis internetowy Urzędu Miasta Radzyń Podlaski, archived from the original on August 14, 2017
  4. ^ a b c d e f Staff writer (June 18, 2014), "The Secrets of Uroczysko Baran" [Tajemnica Uroczyska Baran], Oddano hołd żołnierzom AK, NSZ, BCh oraz WiN, Międzyrzec.info, archived from the original on August 14, 2017
  5. ^ a b c d Lublin112.pl (January 10, 2015), "Uroczysko Baran in Kąkolewnica: the Second Katyn" [Uroczysko "Baran" w Kąkolewnicy: Drugi Katyń], Materiał Dziennikarza Obywatelskiego, Lublin.NaszeMiasto.pl, archived from the original on August 14, 2017{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ a b Karolina Bogudał (2017-07-20), "At Uroczysko Baran known as Little Katyn, new exhumations to begin" [Uroczysko Baran: trwa poszukiwanie szczątków ludzkich], W Uroczysku Baran w Kąkolewnicy, zwanym Małym Katyniem, rozpoczęły się prace poszukiwawczo - ekshumacyjne, archived from the original on 2017-08-14
  7. ^ a b c Anna Wasak, Doomed Soldiers (2009), Kakolewnica, "Little Katyn" near Radzyn Podlaski: Unsolved Communist Crimes In Poland [Kąkolewnica, podlaski Katyń] (in English and Polish), DoomedSoldiers.com, source: Nasz Dziennik, It is estimated that, between 1944 and 1945, some 1,300 to 1,800 Polish underground soldiers from the Home Army, NSZ, WiN and other patriotic organizations were murdered in the Kakolewnica forest known as Uroczysko Baran. The perpetrators were never brought to justice.
  8. ^ Andrzej Solak, , archived from the original on 2006-06-26 Also in: Gazeta Wyborcza, Oddano hołd ostatniemu żołnierzowi podziemia niepodległościowego., archived from the original on 2013-04-16 IPN, , archived from the original on 2007-09-26 And: TVP, , archived from the original on 2007-09-30
  9. ^ Jan Kołkowicz, ed. (2007). Uroczysko Baran : w kręgu zbrodni. Imprint, Radzyń Podlaski: Radzyńskie Stowarzyszenie Inicjatyw Lokalnych. 141 pp. ill. ISBN 978-8391163313. See also: book review by Wiesław Charczuk in: Radzyński Rocznik Humanistyczny, Nr 5, 2007.
  10. ^ "Uroczysko Baran, czyli Mały Katyń"
  11. ^ "Uroczystości religijno-patriotyczne na uroczysku „Baran” w Kąkolewnicy"
  12. ^ Michał Maliszewski (June 21, 2013), "Poland's President visits Uroczysko Baran near Kąkolewnica" [Prezydent odwiedził Uroczysko „Baran” koło Kąkolewnicy], Hołd przy pomniku pomordowanych żołnierzy AK i WiN, IleDzisiaj.pl - Radzyń Podlaski, archived from the original on August 14, 2017

External links edit

  • Photographs from the official ceremonies at the unmarked graves in 2017.

March 03, 2024
uroczysko, baran, killing, fields, polish, miejsce, zbrodni, uroczysko, baran, uroczysko, baran, crime, location, often, referred, poland, little, katyn, second, katyn, location, secret, executions, soldiers, officers, polish, underground, state, home, army, s. The Uroczysko Baran killing fields Polish miejsce zbrodni Uroczysko Baran lit Uroczysko Baran crime location often referred to in Poland as the Little Katyn or the Second Katyn was the location for secret executions of soldiers and officers of the Polish Underground State Home Army and Second Army of Ludowe Wojsko Polskie carried out by Communist forces on behalf of the NKVD SMERSH and PUBP in the later stages of World War II 1 2 One of the mass graves of Uroczysko BaranThe killing fields at the Uroczysko Baran nb 1 also known as the Baran Forest 3 are located on the outskirts of Kakolewnica village in eastern Poland near Radzyn Podlaski It is estimated that up to 1 200 4 or 1 800 5 6 wartime members of the Home Army AK Freedom and Independence WiN the Peasant Battalions BCh as well as Polish defectors drafted to the Communist armies and alleged enemies of the people were murdered there with hands tied behind their backs over execution pits from late autumn 1944 until February 1945 7 The forensic examination of twelve exhumed bodies revealed multiple bone fractures broken hands limbs hips and cracked skulls indicating extreme beatings in detention before execution 4 5 6 Contents 1 History 2 Commemoration 3 Notes 4 References 5 External linksHistory editThe killing fields were known to the local people in Kakolewnica from the beginning 4 In July 1944 the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front under Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky was stationed in Kakolewnica removing cattle and plundering food supplies throwing people out of their homes to make way for military lodgings and setting up SMERSH and NKVD interrogation dungeons in the basements 4 Soon General Swierczewski with his LWP soldiers joined the fray The Polish partisans from AK WiN and BCh captured in the vicinity but also transported there from afar like the soldiers of the 27th Home Army Infantry Division 5 were executed across the vast area of the forest spanning well over a dozen hectares 4 Mass graves were planted over with small pine trees by the killers A symbolic cross was erected on site by some people in the summer of 1945 Removed by the Communist officials it was often replaced by the locals under the cover of night 4 The number of people murdered at Uroczysko Baran is unknown Even the number of mass graves has not been established to this day 5 After fifty years of Communist rule in Poland the closely guarded site is now overgrown with mature trees Partial documents found in the archives of the Polish Army prove only 43 official executions and 144 military court convictions but the Soviet archives are either inaccessible or no longer exist 2 Soon after the end of totalitarianism in Poland the Institute of National Remembrance interviewed 110 witnesses 7 There was only one forensic exhumation conducted at Uroczysko Baran The human remains were reburied at a local cemetery in Kakolewnica in 1990 2 The IPN branch in Lublin states that some 2 000 anti communist resistance fighters were detained in local prisons by the Stalinist security forces between 1944 and 1956 including 450 of the most prominent so called cursed soldiers 1 Jozef Franczak witnessed some of the killings After Soviet troops entered the area he was conscripted into the Polish Communist 2nd Army stationed in Kakolewnica where the military court was located Franczak deserted in January 1945 and became a cursed soldier He was shot dead in 1963 8 At Kakolewnica and at the Uroczysko Baran hundreds of detainees died without a trial According to witnesses military trucks covered with tarpaulin travelled back and forth between the two locations until November 1945 day in and day out 7 Commemoration edit nbsp Honor guard at the Uroczysko Baran monument to murdered soldiers of AK and Second Army nb 2 The killings are the subject of a monograph by Jan Kolkowicz published in 2007 9 In 1980 a symbolic grave was created at the uroczysko In May 1993 it was replaced with a monument consisting of a cast iron cross and a huge stone with tablets 10 The monument was an initiative of Tadeusz Dziega the Kakolewnica parish parson and a resident of the village of Jurki Zbigniew Puck 11 President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski came to Uroczysko Baran on June 20 2013 for a solemn ceremony of laying flowers and wreaths at the monument 12 Notes edit Uroczysko is the Polish term for a geographical location of arbitrary type typically within a forest somehow identified among its surroundings Baran means ram in Polish The left tablet on the stone says O Panie pomnij ze odszedlem w mekach i cierpieniu a ten los zgotowal mi brat O Lord remember that I went away in torment and suffering and my brother prepared me this fate The second tablet says Zolnierzom Armii Krajowej i Drugiej Armii Wojska Polskiego zamordowanym przez NKWD w latach 1944 1945 Wspoltowarzysze walki rodziny spolezcenstwo The tablet on the ground lists the names of the 42 identified victims 1 References edit a b Malgorzata Kolodziejczyk January 9 2017 Are we going to learn the secrets of Uroczysko Baran Interview with Dariusz Magier director of IPN Lublin Czy poznamy tajemnice uroczyska Baran rozmowa z Dariuszem Magierem dyrektorem IPN w Lublinie Czego dotyczyl rekonesans na uroczysku Baran Jakie beda jego efekty RadzynInfo pl archived from the original on August 14 2017 a b c M L November 30 2016 Uroczysko Baran in Kakolewnica Location of communist murders Uroczysko Baran w Kakolewnicy miejsce komunistycznych zbrodni Zrodlo ipn gov pl Portal Niezalezna pl Slowo Niezalezne Sp z o o archived from the original on August 14 2017 Anna Wasak June 14 2016 Commemorations at the Uroczysko Baran Living lesson of history Uroczystosci na Uroczysku Baran Zywa lekcja historii Apel Poleglych Serwis internetowy Urzedu Miasta Radzyn Podlaski archived from the original on August 14 2017 a b c d e f Staff writer June 18 2014 The Secrets of Uroczysko Baran Tajemnica Uroczyska Baran Oddano hold zolnierzom AK NSZ BCh oraz WiN Miedzyrzec info archived from the original on August 14 2017 a b c d Lublin112 pl January 10 2015 Uroczysko Baran in Kakolewnica the Second Katyn Uroczysko Baran w Kakolewnicy Drugi Katyn Material Dziennikarza Obywatelskiego Lublin NaszeMiasto pl archived from the original on August 14 2017 a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link a b Karolina Bogudal 2017 07 20 At Uroczysko Baran known as Little Katyn new exhumations to begin Uroczysko Baran trwa poszukiwanie szczatkow ludzkich W Uroczysku Baran w Kakolewnicy zwanym Malym Katyniem rozpoczely sie prace poszukiwawczo ekshumacyjne archived from the original on 2017 08 14 a b c Anna Wasak Doomed Soldiers 2009 Kakolewnica Little Katyn near Radzyn Podlaski Unsolved Communist Crimes In Poland Kakolewnica podlaski Katyn in English and Polish DoomedSoldiers com source Nasz Dziennik It is estimated that between 1944 and 1945 some 1 300 to 1 800 Polish underground soldiers from the Home Army NSZ WiN and other patriotic organizations were murdered in the Kakolewnica forest known as Uroczysko Baran The perpetrators were never brought to justice Andrzej Solak Ostatni z Wykletych archived from the original on 2006 06 26 Also in Gazeta Wyborcza Oddano hold ostatniemu zolnierzowi podziemia niepodleglosciowego archived from the original on 2013 04 16 IPN Podziemie zbrojne na Lubelszczyznie w latach 1939 1956 wobec dwoch totalitaryzmow archived from the original on 2007 09 26 And TVP Jozef Franczak Lalek archived from the original on 2007 09 30 Jan Kolkowicz ed 2007 Uroczysko Baran w kregu zbrodni Imprint Radzyn Podlaski Radzynskie Stowarzyszenie Inicjatyw Lokalnych 141 pp ill ISBN 978 8391163313 See also book review by Wieslaw Charczuk in Radzynski Rocznik Humanistyczny Nr 5 2007 Uroczysko Baran czyli Maly Katyn Uroczystosci religijno patriotyczne na uroczysku Baran w Kakolewnicy Michal Maliszewski June 21 2013 Poland s President visits Uroczysko Baran near Kakolewnica Prezydent odwiedzil Uroczysko Baran kolo Kakolewnicy Hold przy pomniku pomordowanych zolnierzy AK i WiN IleDzisiaj pl Radzyn Podlaski archived from the original on August 14 2017External links editPhotographs from the official ceremonies at the unmarked graves in 2017 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Uroczysko Baran killing fields amp oldid 1163101183, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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