The Michniów massacre is a massacre that occurred on 12–13 July 1943 in the village of Michniów during German occupation of Poland when approximately 204 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by German "Ordnungspolizei" and "Schutzstaffel".
During World War II, the inhabitants of Michniów actively cooperated with the Polish resistance movement, in particular with the Świętokrzyskie Home Army units commanded by lieutenant Jan Piwnik, pseudonym "Ponury" ("Grim"), a cichociemny ("Silent Unseen" special-operations paratroopers of the Polish Army in exile in SOE). On July 12, 1943, a German military unit partially burned the village and murdered over 100 inhabitants. In retaliation that same night, Piwnik's partisans attacked the express train Kraków-Warsaw in the area of Podłazie, Skarżysko County, killing or injuring at least a dozen Germans. The next day, German Ordnungspolizei returned to Michniów, completely burning the village and murdering almost all Poles who lived there. In total, at least 204 people, including men (mostly burned alive), 54 women and 48 children, as many as ten of them were less than 10 years old, were victims of the massacres in Michniów. The youngest victim was a nine-day-old Stefanek Dąbrowa, thrown by a German military policeman into a burning barn. Occupational authorities forbade the reconstruction of the village and cultivation of surrounding fields. After the war, the Michniów massacre became a symbol of German crimes committed in Polish villages. Currently in Michniów there is the Mausoleum of Polish Rural Martyrology.
Background.
During World War II and the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany (1939–1945), Poles were subjected to terror and mass German repression. Both in cities and in the villages. Hundreds of Polish villages were subjected to pacifications, massacres of people, executions of civilians, burning, often entire villages.
An incomplete list drawn up after World War II estimates the number of 299 such Polish villages destroyed by German occupiers, e.g. Rajsk, April 16, 1942 (142 murdered); Krasowo-Częstki, 17 July 1943 (259 murdered); Skłoby, 11 April 1940 (215 murdered); Michniów, 13 July 1943; Józefów, April 14, 1940 (169 murdered); Kitów, December 11, 1942 (174 murdered); Sumin, 29 January 1943 (118 murdered); Sochy, 1 June 1943 (181 murdered); Borów, 2 February 1944 (232 murdered); Łążek, February 2, 1944 (187 murdered); Szczecyn, 2 February 1944 (368); Jamy, Lublin Voivodeship, March 3, 1944 (147 murdered); Milejów, 6 September 1939 (150 murdered); Kaszyce, 7 March 1943 (117 murdered); Krusze, 31 August 1944 (158 murdered); Lipniak-Majorat, September 2, 1944 (370 murdered) and many others.
In the repressive actions of 1939–1945, the Germans murdered 19,792 people.
Michniów is located in the administrative district of Gmina Suchedniów, within Skarżysko County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. From the east, south and north, the village is surrounded by dense forests. A road connecting Suchedniów with Bodzentyn runs through the village. During the German occupation, Michniów was inhabited by about 500 people. The village had nearly 80 farms (about 250 buildings). Due to the fact that the land there was not conducive to cultivation, many residents of Michniów were employed outside agriculture – felling forests or in the nearby factories of the Central Industrial Region (Poland).
Michniów has been known for patriotic traditions since the January Uprising. In September 1939, many men from Michniów fought in the ranks of the Polish Army. One of them, Józef Dulęba, took part in the Battle of Westerplatte. In the autumn of 1939, the inhabitants of Michniów provided assistance to the partisan units of Major Henryk Dobrzański, pseudonym "Hubal". The first resistance structures also quickly formed in the village. Coming from Michniów Hipolit Krogulec, pseudonym "Albiński" became one of the first organizers of the Union of Retaliation (Z.O.) in the Kielce Province. Over time, the number of the Z.O. cell in Michniów increased to around 10 members, and "Albiński" himself became the deputy commander of Z.O. in the Kielce District of the ZWZ. After the renaming of ZWZ into the Home Army (Armia Krajowa – AK), a secretive platoon formed under the code name "Forge" in Michniów. Władysław Krogulec became its commander, while Franciszek Brzeziński served as his deputy. On the eve of pacification, more than 40 village residents were sworn members of the Home Army. The inhabitants of Michniów also supported partisans from the People's Guard unit of the Kielce region (commander: Ignacy Robb aka "Narbutt"). The village population also provided aid to Soviet prisoners of war who had escaped from the camps.
In early 1943, the Union of Retaliation was transformed into the Kedyw, a special unit dedicated to sabotage and diversion. Lieutenant Hipolit Krogulec was appointed the first commander of district Kedyw. Meanwhile, in November 1942, the Home Army command transferred three "Cichociemni" ("Silent Unseen") to Kielce, entrusting them with the task of strengthening local diversion structures. They were: Waldemar Szwiec pseudonym "Robot", lieutenant Eugeniusz Kaszyński pseudonym "Nurt" and lieutenant Antoni Jastrzębski pseudonym "Ugór" ("Fallow"). On the basis of the Home Army branch in Michniów, they soon organized the first combat patrol of Kedyw in the Kielce District of the Home Army. At first, the "Cichociemni" were quartered in Ostojów, and then moved to Michniów. The contact place was organized in the house of railwayman Władysław Materek, because due to his profession he could successfully act as a liaison. The Materek family also ran a small shop and an illegal butcher's shop, part of which was transferred to the partisans. Other residents of Michniów also actively cooperated with the patrol of Kedyw, among them Władysław Malinowski (served as a liaison) and the Daniłłowski family displaced from Greater Poland (real name Fagasińscy). Even a gunsmith and a repair workshop for weapons and equipment were organized in the village.
In late spring 1943, events took place that had a decisive impact on the further activity of the resistance movement in the Kielce region. In mid-May 1943 another "Cichociemni" was moved to the Kielce District of the Home Army, lieutenant Jan Piwnik, pseudonym "Ponury" (in English: "Grim" or "Gloomy"). On June 4, 1943, he officially took over the duties of district commander of Kedyw, while lieutenant Hipolit Krogulec served as deputy. In a short time, "Ponury" organized a strong guerrilla unit in the forests around Wykus hill. At the beginning of summer of 1943, the Home Army units led by "Ponury" already had about 200 soldiers. The first engagement against the German occupiers took place on July 2, 1943, when the partisans attacked two fast trains on the Warsaw-Kraków line (the attacks were carried out near the Łączna and Berezów railway stops).
Meanwhile, from February 1943, the German authorities exacerbated terror in the rural areas of the Radom district. The pacification operations mainly covered the central part of the district, between the Vistula river and Pilica (river) (pre-war poviats: Włoszczowa County, Końskie County, Kielce County, and the southern part of Sandomierz County). A number of crimes against the population of the Kielce region were committed in particular by the 62nd motorized gendarmerie platoon, commanded by German lieutenant Albert Schuster. Individual and mass executions were also carried out by other SS units and the German police. The pacifications and massacre of Skałka Polska (May 11, 1943), Strużki (June 3, 1943) and Bór Kunowski (July 4, 1943) were particularly bloody. The culmination of the terror campaign, was the massacre in Michniów.
Michniów's pacification was prepared very carefully by the Germans. After the war, it was established that the plan of the criminal expedition was discussed at a special meeting in Radom (July 8, 1943). However, it is not entirely clear what the origin of the decision to pacify Michniów was. It is known that the Gestapo had a list of villagers suspected of cooperating with the resistance movement. It contained details of suspects, such as name and date of birth. Even before the end of the war, the village tragedy began to be associated with the person of lieutenant Jerzy Wojnowski pseudonym "Motor" – a formidable German informer located in the partisan unit of lieutenant Jan Piwnik. Cezary Chlebowski (researcher of the history of the Home Army, author of the "Pozdrówcie Góry Świętokrzyskie", eng. "Greet the Świętokrzyskie Mountains") was convinced that the reports of "Motor" caused the pacification of Michniów. Longin Kaczanowski, without diminishing the significance of the betrayal of "Motor," pointed out that it is unlikely that German action would be caused by the denunciations of only one informer - in addition, visiting the village relatively sporadically. In his opinion, the Germans managed to work out the underground network in Michniów also thanks to reports of other agents - e.g. a certain Twardowski from Orzechówka and volksdeutsch Jekla from Zagnańsk (forester who led the Germans along forest roads to Michniów on the night of 11/12 July). According to Kaczanowski, it is also possible that the cooperation of the residents of Michnik with the resistance movement was only an excuse to burn the village and kill its inhabitants.
Massacre on July 12.
On Sunday, July 11, 1943, cars stopped at the edge of Michniów, from which several German officers got off. Witnesses mentioned that the Germans thoroughly surveyed the village and the surrounding area, and behaved extremely politely towards the inhabitants.
On the night of Sunday to Monday Michniów was surrounded by a double chain of German posts. The inner lap ring was closed directly around the village. In turn, the outposts forming the outer ring were located on the edge of the forests (surrounding the village from three sides), as well as on the hill west of Michniów. The Germans also manned both inlets of the road from Suchedniów to Bodzentyn. Dozens of men, going to work early in the morning in nearby factories or felling trees, were detained and gathered at the edge of the forest. The Germans subjected the detainees to a thorough search and then ordered them to lie face down on a nearby forest road. The same applies to women going to work. Several inhabitants tried to sneak out of the village imperceptibly, but all were stopped by German posts.
The Germans entered Michniów about an hour after closing the lap. Men and boys were brutally dragged out of their homes, beating them and abusing them. Germans quickly began to kill people in the village. The first to die were brothers Antoni and Jan Gołębiowski, who were shot by German policemen while marching to the assembly point. A moment later, on the so-called running out near the local school, 18 men were lined up. The Germans thoroughly checked the details of the detainees, and then shot 17 men in the back of the head. Only Józef Dupak avoided execution. A German officer allowed him to leave, because he considered that the man's hands, damaged by hard work, were "proof" that he could not have anything to do with the guerilla. The remaining men from Michniów were gathered at the bend of the road running through the village. There, on the basis of a list by name, the read persons were called in. During this procedure, 18-year-old Walerian Krogulec was shot, who, according to a German officer, responded too slowly (the man was moving slowly due to disability). The other men had to stand in line, awaiting the decision of the Germans. At the slightest signs of movement, they were brutally beaten.
After some time, the men read from the list were divided into several groups and driven to four barns located in the southern part of the village – belonging to Władysław Dulęba, Wawrzyniec Gil, Antoni Grabiński and joint Bolesław Biela and Władysław Wątrobiński. A group of men detained in the morning at the edge of the forest (their names were also on the proscription list) was brought to the latter building. Dozens of men locked in Grabiński's barn managed to open the gate and get outside, but German policemen surrounded them in a semi-circle, then pushing back with rifle butts and pushed them back into the building. Victims crammed into barns, the Germans shelled and threw grenades at them, then set fire to the buildings. Most of the victims probably burned alive
Village residents were also murdered on other farms. The gamekeeper Władysław Wikło, who cooperates with the underground, was taken with his family to the buildings of Teofil Materek. There, one after another, the gamekeeper Władysław Wikło was shot, his five children (16-year-old Roman, 14-year-old Zofia, 11-year-old Halina, 8-year-old Maria, 5-year-old Józef), and finally his wife, Stanisława Wikło. Then the farm was set on