Białystok: at the military cemetery of IPN discovered burials of victims of communist terror

As part of the polls conducted by the Office of Search and recognition of the IPN, burial pits with collective burials were discovered in the military cemetery in Białystok; most likely victims of communist terror. The Institute's investigative branch has launched an investigation into this matter.

More than 20 graves have been discovered in the first part of the examined cemetery alley, 5 of which have been examined so far, and 9 remains have been taken out of three; the work is to proceed in November – the Office of Search and recognition of IPN reported on Tuesday.

The remains of 2 soldiers from the period of the Polish-bolshevik War were besides found in 1 chamber. As they are located above the tomb cavity of later graves, the remains could not be exhumed at this phase of the work.

The search in the military cemetery in Białystok was based on evidence from witnesses and archival materials collected by the Institute of National Memory. – The subject of hiding the bodies of victims of communist repression in this cemetery has been investigated since the beginning of the office – admitted in an interview with PAP Bogusław Szczepan Łabędzki, chief specialist in search and recognition of the Białystok branch of IPN.

The places where the tombs may be have been selected. In order to verify the data collected, a polled dig was made in 1 of the cemetery's alleys a fewer days ago so as not to violate existing burials. – We have found more than 20 grave pits, any of which surely correspond to the characteristics of these “ministerial” burials of the safety Office or the detention center – said the Swandski.

The work will proceed in November, but it is already known that then it will not be possible to complete it; another 1 will be conducted next year. IPN recalls that the necropolis itself was utilized to hide victims who died under different circumstances, during the period of July-August 1944 to the 1950s. any of the victims were victims of investigative methods utilized by officers of the Provincial Public safety Office, others were imported from the detention center (including after execution).

Free spaces were utilized for nameless burials in the cemetery between graves and along the fence, but the method was besides used, that before the authoritative ceremony planned on this necropolis, specified victims were first buried in the same grave, plunging them with earth.

The IPN is hoping that any of the victims whose remains will be discovered on this necropolis will be identified through a DNA database. – The most problems will be with people who are not connected with the armed underground or the resistance, who already at the time of their death had no 1 to look after. So we ask those who lost their loved ones between 1944 and 1956 to come to us – appealed to Łabędzki.

In connection with the polling work and the discovery of the first burials in the military cemetery in Białystok, the investigation launched a police unit of the local branch of IPN. It now concerns communist crimes involving the killing of 9 unestablished persons, from July 1944 to October 1945.

Source: PAP

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