Białystok. The remains of victims of communist terror were found at a military cemetery

– Some rare, but still existing, eyewitness accounts said that here, among the rows of graves of people who had distinguished themselves for the communist authorities (…) were buried those who were killed in prisons and jails in Białystok, but also people who died in actions in the vicinity Białystok – said Krzysztof Szwagrzyk, deputy president of the Institute of National Remembrance.

He was – along with, among others, director of the IPN branch in Białystok, Marek Jedynak, and deputy president of Białystok, Rafał Rudnicki – at the military cemetery in Białystok, where research was carried out this week.

It all started in 2017, when the first information appeared that the burials of victims of communist terror were hidden in the necropolis, which was established for the burials of Polish soldiers who died in the 1920 war against the Bolsheviks. IPN employees in Białystok managed to find the witness and then the residual archival data. Burials were to be located under the cemetery alleys.

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After several years of preparations, in mid-October the first survey excavations were made in one of the alleys. The work was carried out in such a way as not to disturb existing burials. In the first part of the alley, over 20 burial pits were discovered, of which five were examined. Of the three, the remains of nine people were recovered.

Archaeologists are back this week. During the four-day work that ended on Friday, one more skeleton was discovered. In total, seven burial pits have been examined so far.

The authorities of Białystok declare that after the IPN completes the work, they will help organize the burial of the discovered remains. It is possible that they will be buried in the columbaria, where the remains of UB victims have been buried for four years, discovered in the Białystok remand center and other places in the region.

The Institute of National Remembrance initiated an investigation into the discovered burials. The next stage will be the identification of the remains. The Institute of National Remembrance hopes that some of the victims will be identified thanks to the DNA database. He also appeals to loved ones – who lost a family member in the years 1944-1956 and have not yet found a place where their loved ones can be buried – to report to the institute.

The Institute informs that the military cemetery was used to hide victims who died in various circumstances between July and August 1944 until the 1950s. Some were victims of investigative methods used by officers of the Provincial Office of Public Security, others were brought from detention centers (including after executions).

For nameless burials, the so-called departmental (i.e. those related to the activities of the communist government's Ministry of Security), free spaces in the cemetery between graves and along the fence were used, but a method was also used that, before the official funeral planned in this necropolis, such victims were first buried in the same grave, covering them with soil.