THE AUGUST fact OF AUGUST
The top Crime of the planet War II
Wednesday, July 12, 2020
The laying of flowers under the monument of the Home Army was celebrated on Wednesday in Białystok on the 72nd anniversary of the Augustowska manhunt, the largest after the Second planet War of the unexplained crime committed in Poles. The flowers were submitted by the Podlaskie voivode Bohdan Paszkowski, manager of the IPN in Białystok, Dr. Piotr Kardela, combatants, uniformed services. The decision of the Polish Parliament on 12 July is from 2015. The Day of Memory of Victims of Augustowska Oblast. On July 12, 1945, the manhunt began. The investigation of the manhunt is conducted by IPN in Białystok. Its main intent is to find the number and names of the victims and to find their burial sites. In February 2016, IPN found respective 1000 pages of russian papers about the raid on an online web portal with materials from Russia's defence ministry archives. This is the latest material that could be utilized to explain the crime. The translation of these papers is ongoing. The papers found concern the operation of the 50th Army of the 3rd Front of the Belarusian Red Army. The IPN evaluates them as “unbelievably important” due to the fact that they present the full plan – as previously the investigating IPN prosecutor in Białystok Zbigniew Kulikowski said – “criminal action, crimes against humanity that have been planned and, from the point of view of criminal law, committed in the intention of straight killing people just due to the fact that they had another political beliefs”, and this does not expire. In these documents, the Augustów Oblast is referred to as a “forest sweep operation”, directed against the National Army, as well as the Lithuanian underground. It covered an area of nearly 3.5 1000 sq mi, about a 100 towns, and about 40,000 soldiers took part in russian activities. – Translations continue, flow and supply the basis for drawing closer to this truth," said PAP on Wednesday the manager of IPN in Białystok Dr. Piotr Kardela. He added that there was an thought of organizing around the subject of the "larger patriotic-historical event", work on its concept is underway. “We want it to include educational activities and technological activities to be organised in cooperation with our external partners and with all those who have been nurturing for years – independent of IPN’s activities – the memory of the victims of the August raid,” Kardela said. The Podlaski Voivodeship Bohdan Paszkowski told journalists that the manhunts inactive do not know about the last moments of the life of the victims of the manhunt, no 1 knows where they were, where their graves are. – The basic thing, in Polish tradition and Christian tradition, is to commemorate the victims in order to give them a decent burial. We do not know where these people were killed, there are different findings made in this regard, but they are not yet confirmed officially," said Paszkowski. The voivode added that this is besides an crucial issue for the families of victims and "a painful wound". He said that all participants of the yearly celebrations on the next anniversary of the circular (this year will be held on Sunday, July 16, in Gibach, Suwałczyń) are accompanied by “bitter” that despite so many years after the war, despite the systemic changes that have taken place in Poland and in the east neighbours, where to look for sources of missing information about the rounding, “it is impossible to find this truth”. “It is impossible to get this authoritative confirmation, where and under what circumstances those who have been arrested were most likely besides subject to a brutal investigation, where they died and under what circumstances,” said Paszkowski. 72 years ago, on 12 July 1945, the NKVD and “Death” troops began an operation in Suwałczyz, aimed at underground activists of independence. In the IPN investigation, it was assumed that in July 1945, about 600 people were killed in the previously unestablished place in the districts of Augustowski, Suwalski and Sokólski. They were detained by soldiers of the russian Military Counterintelligence “Death” of the 3rd Front of the Belarusian Red Army, with the participation of officers of Polish Public safety bodies, MO and soldiers of the First Army of the Polish Army. For respective decades now, the Citizen's Committee on the Search for Victims of Suwałkijs have besides sought an explanation of the crime.
The most tragic installment of NKVD activities in Poland was Oława Augustowska. The intent of this operation was to break up guerrilla troops operating on the Polish-Lithuanian border – in Augustowska Forest and in the areas adjacent to it.
Both the sluvalski and Augustowski districts after leaving the Red Army's front troops in January 1945 were practically overrun by the independency underground. The guerrilla fought the field agendas of the fresh power and communist repression apparatus. By the end of May 1945, 17 of the eighteen M.O. stations were broken up, with fourteen municipal boards operating only two. Russian investigator Nikita Petrov suggests that, in addition to increased underground activity, the russian operation may have been caused by securing the passage of Józef Stalin to the Potsdam conference. Unprecedented precautions were taken at the time – in Poland all kilometer of tracks was guarded by eight, 10 soldiers of the NKVD interior Army.
The Augustov siege was carried out by the forces of the 50th Army of the 3rd Belarusian Front and the 62nd Division of interior Army of the NKVD. The action was commanded by: Deputy Head of the General Board of Counterintelligence General Ivan Gorgonov and Head of the Board of Counterintelligence 3rd Belarusian Front General Paweł Zielenin. The operation was besides attended by officers of local structures of the Polish communist safety and militia apparatus and their secret colleagues. In addition, 2 companies of the 1st Prague Infantry Regiment WP were active in the Suwalski district.
Between 12 and 19 July 1945, russian troops conducted a number of local operations, during which both people suspected of contact with the independency guerrilla were detained, as well as individuals who were completely random, residing only outside their home. The ways and circumstances of arrest of individuals were different – in houses, on roads, at work, in fields, sometimes surrounded full villages. A village gathering was held in Jaziev and then all participants were detained. respective twelve guerrillas got into the hands of the NKVD after the conflict of Lake Brozane.
On July 21, 1945, Chief of the General Board of Counterintelligence Wiktor Abakumov informed the National Commissioner of the Interior of Lavrientiy Beria that during the round-up, 7049 people were detained, of whom 5,115 were released after questioning (the alleged filtration). The arrested Lithuanians were transferred to the LSRS NKVD authorities. 592 Poles never returned home – they were murdered and buried in an unknown place.
Although shootings during akin check-and-military operations were average practice, the number of people exterminated makes Augustowska the largest mass crime committed on civilians in Europe between the end of planet War II and the war in the erstwhile Yugoslavia in the 1990s. To this day, the resting place of the victims of this crime has not been established.
In July 1945, branches of the Red Army with the aid of the Polish Army and officers and co-workers of the safety Office conducted a wide-ranging pacification action in the Augustowska Forest and its surroundings, known as the Augustowska Oława. From the russian side, 50th Army units participated in the operation.
The 3rd Belarusian Front, the NKVD Interior Army and the Army Counterintelligence Officers “Driesz”. Officials of the Public safety Office, Civic Militia and local impounders assisted Soviets as guides and interpreters, and assisted in interrogations.
Soviet troops searched forests and villages, arresting suspects of contacts with the Polish independency guerrilla. We do not know precisely the first date or the final operation – it is usually placed between 12 and 28 July. A full of respective 1000 people were detained, any were imprisoned and subjected to violent investigation. About 600 people have never returned home, and to this day their destiny is unknown. Most likely, they were all deprived of their lives on the basis of the same decision and should be considered victims of the Augustowska Siege.
It is possible that the place of failure and eternal remainder of these people is close the border, on the Belarusian side. It is certain that they were murdered while accepting the highest russian political authorities. The Polish side has been working for many years to find the destiny of the missing persons in the manhunt.
Documents, sources, quotations:
http://www.naszdnik.pl/polska-kraj/185339,72-year-old-oblawy-augustowska.html
