The Gdańsk Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation announces the completion of archaeological work at Dębowa Góra (Różanna Forest District), where evidence of German mass murders from the autumn of 1939 and the cover-up of their traces in the summer of 1944 has been uncovered.
Historical Context: Pomeranian Crime of 1939 and Action 1005
The totality of German crimes committed in the autumn of 1939 in Gdańsk Pomerania is now referred to as the Pomeranian Crime of 1939. During this time, primarily representatives of the local intellectual, social, and cultural elites were murdered, but also mentally ill individuals, farmers, workers, and others. It is estimated that approximately 20,000-30,000 citizens of the Second Polish Republic may have lost their lives. These are only general data, as from mid-1944, Sonderkommando 1005, a special German unit established to erase the traces of previously committed mass crimes, operated in this area. Death pits, including those from the autumn of 1939, were located, the bodies excavated, burned on pyres, and the remains were then deposited in the ground or scattered around the area.
The Course of the Crimes and Attempts to Erase the Traces
One of the approximately 30 mass crime sites from the autumn of 1939 in Gdańsk Pomerania, destroyed as part of Operation 1005, is the so-called Dębowa Góra forest complex within the Różanna Forest District. Collected data indicates that as early as September 1939, members of the German Reich Labour Service (RAD) were digging a ditch in the forest near Stronno, which was noticed by residents of the village. They later heard the sounds of gunfire. The victims included residents of nearby villages, Koronowo, and Bydgoszcz. Their identities were not established in the postwar period, as the bodies were exhumed and burned at the turn of June and July 1944 from the mass grave. Importantly, Dębowa Góra was a place where bodies recovered from other locations were brought. An example of this is Srebrnica near Koronowo, from where the bodies of 12 victims shot on 26 October 1939, were exhumed on the night of 2-3 July 1944, and then burned in a forest near Stronno. Among them was the prewar mayor of Koronowo, Maksymilian Talaśka. The bodies of some of the victims killed at Lake Borówno may also have been transported and burned at Dębowa Góra, as testified by a witness in the postwar period.
Research Methods
The excavations were preceded by months of preparation and data analysis. The investigation was conducted in accordance with a well-developed and proven methodology for researching other crime scenes and covering up their traces. Archival evidence collected confirmed the mass murders committed in the forests near Stronno and Stary Jasiniec, as well as the burning of victims’ bodies at the turn of June and July 1944. Metal detector surveys were also conducted, collecting a large collection of artefacts – primarily pistol and rifle shell casings. In May of this year, airborne laser scanning (LiDAR technology) from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and magnetic prospecting were conducted. Combining and correlating the results of these methods allowed for the precise location of a ditch over 200 meters long, most of which had been used as a mass grave.
Results of the Forensic Archaeological Research
The field team consisted of specialists in archaeology, physical anthropology, forensic anthropology, and medicine, as well as others from national academic centres (Universities of Lodz, Rzeszów, Warsaw, Zielona Góra, and the Karol Marcinkowski Medical University in Poznań). During the research, several hundred kilograms of burned remains of the victims were found, along with a small collection of remains that had been missed during the excavation of the victims from the ditch. Initial examination revealed the following:
• The victims included both adults and children.
• The remains varied in colour, indicating varying degrees of charring. Unburnt bones and bone fragments were also found.
• The nature of numerous fragments indicates bone fragmentation.
Discovery of a Cremation Pyre and the Site of the Hidden Remains of Action 1005
Archaeological research has yielded new and important findings. First, the full extent of the excavated trench, sections of which served as a mass grave, was identified. It was approximately 220 meters long. A particularly important discovery is the location, documentation, and examination of the cremation pyre where the bodies of the excavated victims were burned. Two shallow ditches, each 5 meters long, meeting at right angles, were identified. These are the remains of structures dug to ensure constant air circulation to maintain the fire during the burning of the victims’ bodies. Their fill contained artefacts, charcoal, and individual burned and unburned human remains, including fragments of the braincase.
The remains of the burned victims were systematically collected and deposited in the immediate vicinity of the pyre. Following Aktion 1005, a section of the original ditch – a mass grave from which the bodies of the murdered people had been recovered shortly before – was used as a ‘dumping point’. Burnt human remains covered a section over 15 meters long. The ditch was 1.5 meters wide, and the fill was up to 0.5 meters thick. The method of deposition of these remains was also documented: a layer of burned remains was covered with a layer of clay, and another layer of burned victims was deposited on top of it. This procedure was repeated several times.
Further work
During the operation, hundreds of artefacts and hundreds of kilograms of burned remains of victims were secured, and numerous soil and charcoal samples were taken for specialized research, including in the fields of geochemistry, archaeobotany, geomorphology, and other fields. These will be conducted by a team of experts in the coming months. These findings are intended to establish new facts regarding the murder of victims in the autumn of 1939 on Dębowa Góra and the erasure of their traces as part of Aktion 1005.
Continuation of Research
The investigation into the erasure of traces of mass crimes in Gdańsk Pomerania as part of Aktion 1005, as well as related research and interdisciplinary research, will continue in the coming years as part of the international project Archaeology of Aktion 1005.
prosecutor Tomasz Jankowski – Head of the Gdańsk Branch of the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation
dr Dawid Kobiałka – Institute of Archaeology, University of Lodz
Acknowledgements
The project is funded by the National Science Centre, Poland (UMO-2025/58/E/HS3/00107).