Decades after their deaths, Poland held a state burial on Monday for the remains of over 700 victims of Nazi Germany's World War II mass executions. The victims were recently discovered in the Valley of Death in northern Poland.
The observances took place in the town of Chojnice and began with a funeral Mass at the basilica. This was followed by an interment with military honors at a local cemetery for the victims of the Nazi atrocities. The remains were placed in 188 small wooden coffins adorned with ribbons in the national white and red colors.
Relatives of the victims, an aide to President Andrzej Duda, local authorities, and officials from the state National Remembrance Institute, which conducted and documented the exhumations, participated in the events.
Presiding Bishop Ryszard Kasyna expressed the importance of giving back memory and dignity to the victims of the crimes in Chojnice. President Duda conveyed a message emphasizing that the victims will always be remembered in the national memory, as they were killed by the Nazis solely because they were Polish.
The remains of Polish civilians, including 218 asylum patients, were unearthed between 2021 and 2024 from various mass graves on the outskirts of Chojnice. Personal belongings and documents helped identify around 120 of the victims from an execution in early 1945. The victims included teachers, priests, police officers, forestry and postal workers, and landowners.
Historians have determined that the Nazis, shortly after invading Poland in September 1939, executed some civilians as part of their efforts to subdue the nation. The remains of another 500 victims are from an execution in January 1945, when the Germans were retreating from the area. Bullets and shells from German handguns were discovered in the graves.
Experts will continue to search the area for more mass graves related to the Pomerania Crime. Poland suffered significant losses during World War II, with 6 million citizens, including 3 million Jews, perishing, representing a sixth of the country's population. The nation also endured substantial damage to its infrastructure, industry, and agriculture.
This story has been corrected to show that an aide to President Andrzej Duda attended the events, not Duda himself.
