×
Search this website for:
07.08.2023

The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 August 2023

The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN
The funerals of Warsaw Insurgents and civilian victims of the Warsaw Uprising whose remains had been found in Czerniaków; Warsaw 4 august 2023; photo; Sławek Kasper IPN

The remains of nine victims - soldiers and civilians who perished during the Warsaw Uprising were laid to rest  at the Warsaw Insurgents' Cemetery. The remains were discovered during the exhumation works carried out in Czerniaków district of Warsaw. The burial ceremony which was organised by the IPN’s Office for Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom was attended by the Institute’s Deputy President, Prof. Karol Polejowski.

During the exhumation works, it was revealed that one of those buried in the makeshift grave was a Warsaw insurgent: he wore leather military boots and a military eagle and was wrapped in linen. Among the victims buried in the same grave were also women, possibly medics, who risked their lives to help the wounded until the last moment.

Marks were registered on some of the skulls, which may have been caused by shrapnel piercing the bones during the explosion. The fragmentary nature of the remains would confirm this thesis and allow us to date the burial to August or September 1944, when hostilities were underway in the area and the fallen were buried by fellow soldiers, as evidenced by the careful arrangement of the bodies in the grave, despite the significant degree of mutilation.

During the Warsaw Uprising, the fighting in Czerniakow claimed hundreds of victims. Among them were the insurgents killed and wounded in battle, those murdered in executions and field hospitals together with medical personnel, and civilian victims, residents of the surrounding houses. Almost 80 years after these tragic events for Czerniaków, a solemn and dignified burial of the remains of the victims of German terror took place.

79 years ago these nine unknown heroes of the Warsaw Uprising, men and women, soldiers and civilians, suffered death during the fighting in Czerniakow. They were buried in a makeshift grave that proved to be a grave for them for the next 79 years. Accidental work led to the discovery of this grave. One wonders whether there are still such undiscovered, nameless burial sites in Warsaw. I am firmly convinced that there are. There are more of these places. Warsaw was so brutally destroyed by the Germans, the civilian population was murdered, said Prof. Karol Polejowski.


Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up for a fresh look at history: stay up to date with the latest events, get new texts by our researchers, follow the IPN’s projects