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Officials honour Polish independence fighters killed by Germans in 1944

31.07.2023 20:00
Polish government officials have paid tribute to their country’s World War II independence fighters who were executed by the Nazi Germans in the village of Pomiechówek near Warsaw 79 years ago.
Officials hold a ceremony on Monday to commemorate Polish World War II independence fighters who were executed by the countrys Nazi German occupiers in the village of Pomiechówek near Warsaw 79 years ago.
Officials hold a ceremony on Monday to commemorate Polish World War II independence fighters who were executed by the country's Nazi German occupiers in the village of Pomiechówek near Warsaw 79 years ago.PAP/Paweł Supernak

Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński issued a letter to mark the occasion on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

Jarosław Kaczyński Jarosław Kaczyński   PAP/Tytus Żmijewski

The letter was read out at a ceremony to commemorate the fallen soldiers, it said. 

Kaczyński, who leads Poland’s governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, wrote: “On the 79th anniversary of the last mass execution carried out at Fort Three in Pomiechówek, we pray for the 281 Polish independence fighters killed on that day and for the other victims of German crimes committed at this remembrance site, which first housed a deportation camp, then a ghetto, and later a prison.”

Kaczyński added: “Our prayers are also with the Polish Army soldiers who fell while defending our homeland against the barbaric German aggressor.”

He thanked "everyone who has helped commemorate the independence fighters executed in Pomiechowek over the years," the PAP news agency reported. 

An estimated 50,000 people went through the Pomiechówek facility, Fort Three, during World War II, including Polish underground state officials, local residents, among them many Jews, and clergymen, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

Several thousand of them were killed by the Nazi Germans, according to historians.

The last mass execution was carried out on July 30, 1944, when the Nazi German occupiers killed 281 Poles, the IAR news agency reported.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, PAP