The IPN has discovered more mass graves of Poles at Igielskie Fields in the Valley of Death in Chojnice

Following the investigation of the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Gdańsk, new facts have been determined in the case of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939. During the press conference, details of the investigation were presented.

On 28 April 2024, search works commenced in the so-called Valley of Death. The works covered an area of several hundred square meters, where a total of 28 pits up to two meters deep and several meters wide, were excavated.

The activities of the Prosecutor and experts were carried out over nearly a month. Two mass graves with the remains of at least 70 people were discovered. According to the findings of the investigation, these are most likely the remains of social workers who were shot down by German officers at this site in late October 1939.

From the German perspective, the second World War was a continuation of what they [Germans] would call a mission of civilizing Eastern Europe. (…) According to historical research, more than 50 thousand Poles had been murdered here including teachers, clergymen, landlords and patients of social care as well

— said Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D. during the conference

In September 2023, near Chojnice, in the area of the so-called Valley of Death, the Prosecutor of the Branch Commission in Gdansk, with the participation of experts from the Institute of Archaeology from Łódź, revealed a mass grave of Poles – victims of mass executions carried out in autumn 1939 by the Selbstschutz and SS units.

Human remains of at least a dozen people were found, along with items belonging to the victims, including a toothbrush, buttons, a razor, and pieces of clothing.

The findings of the investigation indicated that in autumn 1939, on the northern outskirts of Chojnice, the Selbstschutz and SS units carried out mass killings of Polish citizens – representatives of the local intelligentsia, including teachers, clergymen, landlords, government officials, members of the Polish Western Union, as well as several hundred residents of the premises of social institutions in Chojnice.

The exploration work was preceded by a series of archival searches, the examination of aerial photographs of the area, the analysis of airborne laser scanning, as well as geophysical and surface surveys.

The activities were conducted by the prosecutor of the Branch Commission in Gdansk, with the participation of an interdisciplinary team of experts in archaeology from the University of Lodz and the University of Rzeszow, who are carrying out a project of the National Science Center – The Archaeology of the Pomeranian Crime.

With the mass executions in Poland and the killing of the ill, the Nazi regime crossed the threshold of a systematic, racially-motivated policy of extermination – nearly two years before the mass genocide of Jews started in 1941

— wrote Peter Longerich, a German Professor of History and historian.

Due to genocidal nature of German crimes in the Pomeranian area and their scale, the Polish Parliament established 2 October as the National Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939.

Source: IPN