PACIFICATION OF THE VILLAGES BOGUSZKI AND NIEŁAWICE.

On the fourth of July nineteen fourty four/1944 the German soldiers were transporting a teacher from Wizna to Jedwabne. Near the village Boguszki a trap was set by the National Force lead by Jan Koscielecki. The ambush turned out to be unsuccessful and the commandor was killed. This event provoked the Germans and led to a detention of 10 men from Boguszki village who were then executed in the forest. The men were shot in their heads and left in the place of execution.

In the morning the locals found the corpses and brought them to the village. Their burial took place at the cemetery in Wizna. All the executed men and the leader of the National Army were buried together. After the war a memorial was raised in the place where the execution was conducted. On the New Year’s Eve of nineteen fourty four/1944 the Wehrmacht army pacified Nielawice village. The excuse was that the locals were supposedly helping the fugitives from the German army. The houses further from the center were burned and people were woken up by gun shots and flames. The soldiers shot everyone. Only a few that managed to escape or hide in the basements under their homes survived.

As a consequence of the pacification 41men, women and children died. Today in Nielawice you can see the monument commemorating the victims of this murder.

Author: Marek Szabłowski