Chojnice, Death Valley. They found a ton of human bones in the ground. Over 700 people were buried in a common grave

“Mass grave of hundreds of victims of German crimes committed in the Chojnice Igielska fields during World War II” – these words appear on the tombstone placed in the middle of the grave, in which 188 coffins, small and full-size, were placed, with a ton of human remains of over 700 victims.

The grave was prepared at the cemetery of the Victims of Nazi Crimes by the Office of Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom of the Institute of National Remembrance, which in cooperation with the City Office in Chojnice organized the ceremony. These were of a state nature. The mass in the Minor Basilica of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist and the funeral ceremony were led by the Bishop of Pelplin, Ryszard Kasyna. They were attended by, among others, representatives of state, regional and local authorities, members of parliament, uniformed services and families of the murdered.

In the Minor Basilica after the service, Dariusz Waldemar Dudek, advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, assured that the president “is faithful to memory and identity”. – On behalf of the president, I convey my respect to the Institute of National Remembrance, headed by President Karol Nawrocki, and all people of good will involved in the effort to discover the truth and a dignified burial – said Dudek. He noted that “respect for the deceased and their burial places is part of our culture”.

– I would like to bow, on behalf of the president and myself, to the families of the victims. Poland lives also thanks to them, although they died without any fault. Let us be sure that as long as we live, their memory will not perish. This is an element of our Polish identity – emphasized the presidential advisor.

In turn, Maciej Samsonowicz, advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, announced the initiative to convene a committee whose goal will be to build a monument dedicated to the memory of those murdered in the Valley of Death, victims of the Pomeranian crime. – The honorary patronage over the entire initiative will be assumed by Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz – said Samsonowicz in the Chojnice church.

The advisor to the head of the Ministry of National Defense also read a letter from Kosiniak-Kamysz addressed to the participants of the funeral ceremony, in which he recalled the Pomeranian crime. He described it as a “wide-scale extermination campaign against the Polish intelligentsia”, the destructive power and bloody outcome of which “no one had foreseen”.

“We should think of Chojnice in particular, because this place is one of the symbols of the unimaginable tragedy and brutality that our homeland experienced at that time (during World War II – ed.). The grave there reminds us of the enormity of the suffering that affected the inhabitants of this region and of the need to preserve the memory of those who fell victim to the Pomeranian crime. We must remember such places, especially in the face of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Because if we do not draw conclusions from history, this evil may repeat itself again,” wrote the Minister of National Defense.

In the letter he added that he was convinced that “the difficult history of Poles and Germans should not hinder the building of our future relations, provided, however, that the truth about the events in Pomerania in 1939 and 1945 is revealed and morally judged, and the Poles murdered at that time are duly honoured.”

“It is not about revenge or vengeance on the perpetrators, but about remembering the victims,” ​​Kosiniak-Kamysz noted.

The President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Dr. Karol Nawrocki, emphasized that each death is a great pain, a tragedy. – The death of hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions is a tragedy of millions more, a tragedy of our nation. (…) The Pomeranian crime claimed the lives of at least 16 thousand people. Those who served Poland all their lives – said Nawrocki.

– These death pits were also supposed to be pits of amnesia, of forgetfulness – Nawrocki noted, thanking the prosecutors of the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Gdańsk and the scientists for “not forgetting that they were pursuing justice”.

The area where the remains were found is the Igielskie Fields on the outskirts of Chojnice. The residents named this place the Valley of Death after the first executions, which took place in the fall of 1939. That is why Dr. Dawid Kobiałka named his 2020 project “Archaeology of the Valley of Death.” We have written about the research from the beginning.

– The funeral does not end the investigation. It will last at least several more months – says Kobiałka.

He emphasises that although the research itself was his idea, from the very beginning it was a team effort involving a group of scientists from various centres.

Read also: His watch stopped when the shots were fired. This could be the hour of death for hundreds of people

In the years 2021-2024, procedural activities in the Valley of Death were conducted by the prosecutor of the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Gdańsk with the participation of an interdisciplinary team of experts in the field of archaeology, physical anthropology, and firearms and ammunition from the University of Lodz and the University of Rzeszów.

The remains of over 700 victims of mass executions carried out in the autumn of 1939 and in January 1945 by officers of German formations have been found.

As informed by Andrzej Pozorski, Director of the Main Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, Deputy Prosecutor General, in 2021 the grave of victims of executions carried out at the end of January 1945 was discovered. These people were murdered and their bodies were later burned on makeshift wooden pyres.

– A total of over a ton of human bones were extracted from the grave, only in a few dozen cases showing no trace of the effects of high temperature. In the grave and in the area directly adjacent to it, nearly 500 shell casings and bullets for handguns used by German military and police units were also found – says prosecutor Pozorski.

So far, the investigation has identified the names of 120 people – those murdered in the Valley of Death at the end of January 1945.

Further work was carried out in the autumn of 2022 and the summer of 2023. The course of the Polish Army field fortifications prepared in the summer of 1939 in the event of the outbreak of war was determined – during the investigation, it was established that these very fortifications were used by the Germans in the autumn of 1939 to exterminate the Polish civilian population.

According to the prosecutor's office, Selbstschutz and SS units committed mass murders of Poles in the shooting ditches, including: teachers, clergy, landowners, civil servants, including policemen, border guards, foresters, customs officers, postmen, merchants, craftsmen, farmers, members of the Polish Western Union and 218 residents of the National Social Welfare Institution in Chojnice. Work is currently underway to establish the identity of the latter.

– These people in archival materials – testimonies of witnesses or hospital employees – functioned as a collective entity, as mentally ill people, their personal details were not given. Which does not mean that they cannot be determined – says Dr. Dawid Kobiałka.

He explains that although the Germans covered up the traces of the crime by destroying graves and documentation, the Chojnice hospital was then a branch of the hospital in Kocborowo, and one of the copies of the documentation survived there. – The materials are probably in the archive, now we have to find them – he says.

In September 2023, a fragment of military field fortifications was found. In a 5.5 mx 4 m excavation made at that time, remains of at least a dozen people were found. Objects belonging to the victims were found with them, including decorative cufflinks for men's shirts, a toothbrush, buttons, a razor, and fragments of clothing.

In May 2024, comprehensive procedural steps were taken to find all victims of the mass murders committed in this area by the Germans in the autumn of 1939.

As a result of these works, four mass graves were discovered.

In the first grave, the remains of at least 20 people were found – women and men aged 20 to 40. Among other things, cufflinks from men's shirts and a metal eagle, which most likely came from a forester's cap, were found with the remains. There were also rosaries, a medallion with the image of the Virgin Mary, crosses with the image of Jesus Christ, apartment keys, buttons and fragments of clothing. According to the prosecutor's office, these items confirm that the victims were civilians.

In the second grave, the remains of at least one hundred and over a hundred people were found – men aged around 22-30. The victims were placed in the following positions: on their backs, on their stomachs and on their sides. According to the investigation, it is likely that the second grave was the place of the secret burial of the residents of the National Social Welfare Institution in Chojnice, who were shot by German officers at the end of October 1939, and their bodies were hidden by the perpetrators in former military field fortifications.

To check two more graves, a trench over 50 meters long was dug. The remains found there were exhumed and sent for examination by anthropological and genetic experts. Only after the examination will it be possible to determine the number of people they came from.

According to the prosecutor's office, casings and bullets of caliber 7.62 mm and 9 mm were also secured at the scene, which come from Browning, Parabellum and Mauser type firearms, commonly used by operational groups of the German police and security services as well as paramilitary units of the Selbstschutz.

As part of the ongoing investigation, prosecutors from the Gdańsk Branch of the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation are planning to conduct activities also in several other selected places in Gdańsk Pomerania, where mass graves of victims of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939 may be located.

Pomeranian crime was a planned extermination campaign carried out by the Germans in the pre-war Pomeranian Voivodeship in over 400 localities on the Polish civilian population. Based on exhumation documentation and name lists, approximately 16,000 victims were established. In historiography, it is assumed that, according to various estimates, from 20 to even 40,000 people were murdered. The largest place of execution is the so-called Piaśnica Forests, where at least 10,000 people died. As a result of the destruction of documentation and the burning of corpses by the perpetrators, it is impossible to determine the full number of victims.