Pomnik Ofiar Egzekucji Wawerskiej

In the biting cold of a December night, gunshots shattered the festive cheer in Wawer. The Pomnik Ofiar Egzekucji Wawerskiej stands as a stark reminder of the tragic events that unfolded here. The Pomnik Ofiar Egzekucji Wawerskiej memorializes a chilling act of collective punishment during World War II. Let’s journey back to December 1939. Warsaw was under Nazi occupation. Two criminals burst into Antoni Bartoszek’s closed restaurant on Widoczna Street, demanding food and drink. Bartoszek called the police. A Polish officer arrived with two German Feldwebels. A shootout ensued. Both Germans were killed, and the criminals escaped. This incident became the pretext for a horrific massacre, possibly the first mass execution of civilians in World War II. Max Daume, deputy commander of the 31st Police Regiment, ordered a raid in Wawer and Anin. Unable to find the perpetrators, the Germans decided on collective punishment. Three hundred soldiers under Friedrich W. Wenzel rounded up 120 men aged 16 to 70. Many were dragged from their Christmas Eve dinners. They were taken to a villa on II Poprzeczna Street, now gone. A mock trial condemned 114 to death. Stanislaw Piegat, a survivor, recalled the major’s chilling words: “For the killing of two German soldiers, you are all sentenced to death.” Around 6:00 am on December 27th, they were brought to an empty lot between Błękitna and Spisowa Streets, now the site of the Pomnik Ofiar Egzekucji Wawerskiej. In groups of ten, they were lined up against a fence and shot. The Germans, seemingly unconcerned with confirming deaths, left several wounded but alive. Seven men miraculously survived. The bodies of 107 victims were buried in six mass graves. The site became a place of remembrance. Locals brought flowers and candles. Perhaps because of this, the bodies were exhumed in June 1940. Seventy-six were moved to the nearby military cemetery. Eleven Jewish victims were reburied in the Jewish Cemetery on Wola Street. In 1944, Marian Spychalski, then president of right-bank Warsaw, ordered the military cemetery fenced. The Wawer massacre shocked Warsaw. In 1940, Aleksander Kamiński founded the “Wawer” Small Sabotage Organization within the Gray Ranks, a Polish Scouting resistance movement. Daume and Wenzel, the perpetrators, were captured by the Allies and handed over to Poland. Both were executed, Daume in 1947 and Wenzel in 1951. The Pomnik Ofiar Egzekucji Wawerskiej, with its symbolic cemetery and sculptures of Polonia and a resistance fighter, stands as a testament to their sacrifice and a stark reminder of the brutality of war.