Decades after their deaths, Poland has honored more than 700 victims of Nazi Germany's World War II mass executions with a state burial. Held in the northern town of Chojnice, the observances began with a funeral Mass at the basilica and concluded with military honors at a local cemetery. The remains of the victims were recently found in the so-called Valley of Death in the country's north; they were placed in 188 small coffins and interred.
Attendees included relatives of the victims, local officials, top state officials, and representatives from the National Remembrance Institute, which had facilitated the exhumations. Bishop Ryszard Kasyna, who presided over the ceremony, emphasized the importance of what was taking place, saying, "We want to give back memory, we want to give back dignity to the victims of the crimes in Chojnice." The remains were exhumed just outside Chojnice between 2021 and 2024 and include those of 218 asylum patients. Another 500 victims were killed in a January 1945 execution that took place as Germans fled the area.
Poland, which lost six million citizens, including three million Jews, continues to search for more mass graves from the Pomerania Crime. President Duda, in a message, affirmed these victims will always be remembered as national martyrs.
(This story was generated by
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