1939–1945 · 54 studies
German crimes against Poles: exceptional brutality
Torture, burning people alive, killing the wounded, and violence against children and patients. The catalogue leads from sites of crime to specific findings, their sources and the limits of what can be known.
50 cases in the core section and 4 articles with significant cautions about inclusion.
How should the order be read? The catalogue begins with direct abuse, then crimes involving fire and systematic violence. It ends with accounts that require particular caution. It does not assign points for suffering or infer “sadism” from the number of victims. Within groups, entries are alphabetical; Karolewo opens the catalogue as its introductory study. Numbers help orientation; they do not measure cruelty.
Scope of the catalogue and source standard
The catalogue concerns German crimes against Poles in 1939–1945, including violence against prisoners of war, patients and children. Where groups were multinational, we do not assign the entire toll to Poles. The shooting of civilians or prisoners can also be a crime: the method of killing does not determine its unlawfulness. The catalogue is neither a complete register of German crimes nor a comparison of the suffering of its victims with victims of crimes in Volhynia.
The evidence base consists primarily of Polish scholarly publications, investigative findings, archives, museums and documented witness accounts. Reliability is assessed through the document’s provenance, scholarly method and the ability to check the finding. Statements by perpetrators and family accounts of perpetrators require especially critical comparison with other material. Two pages from the same institution may repeat one finding; they are not automatically treated as independent confirmation.
The division is an editorial tool, not a legal classification. Where sources are dependent, tolls incomplete or accounts contradictory, the article states the limitation. We do not total the victims across entries: accounts may describe connected stages of one operation.
Full methodologyTorture, maiming and killing of defenceless people
Cases closest to the question of direct abuse: documented torture, violence against the wounded or other exceptionally cruel acts. Each article identifies the methods and the strength of their documentation.
Autumn 1939 · Gdańsk Pomerania · Sępólno County
Karolewo 1939 — torture and murder in the Selbstschutz camp
Torture of prisoners and killing with blunt instruments. Karolewo: findings of the IPN investigation, a description of remains, and qualifications concerning the victim count.
Read the article and its source apparatus →Second World War; experimental operations from 1941 · KL Dachau, Bavaria
Dachau: Polish Clergy Subjected to Infectious Experiments
Polish clergy made up the majority of victims in two series of infectious experiments at Dachau. These groups must not be added without nominal lists.
Read the article and its source apparatus →2 September 1944 · Warsaw — Old Town
Długa 7: killing the wounded and setting the hospital on fire
At the hospital at Długa 7, Germans murdered defenseless patients. A nurse's testimony records the dousing and burning of a living wounded man.
Read the article and its source apparatus →October–November 1939; murder on 24 November · Górka Klasztorna near Łobżenica, Krajna
Górka Klasztorna: torture and violence in the Selbstschutz camp
In a monastery turned into a Selbstschutz camp, prisoners were abused. The detailed account of Anna Jaworska’s death comes from a witness statement.
Read the article and its source apparatus →1–2 September 1939 · Częstochowa region — Lipie commune
Parzymiechy: pacification and the torture of Fr Bonawentura Metler
Germany pacified Parzymiechy from the beginning of the war. IPN describes grenades used against civilians and the abuse of Fr Metler.
Read the article and its source apparatus →December 1942 – January 1945 · Łódź, an area separated from the ghetto
Przemysłowa Street in Łódź: Violence against Children in a German Camp
Polish children were imprisoned, forced to work and beaten in the camp at Przemysłowa Street. Survivors' accounts document concrete acts of humiliation.
Read the article and its source apparatus →September–early December 1939 · Krajna — Sępólno County
Radzim: beating to unconsciousness and continued torture of prisoners
Polish prisoners in the Radzim camp were tortured before executions. An IPN monograph describes the beatings of Marian Grochowski and Father Barra.
Read the article and its source apparatus →2 August 1944 · Warsaw — Mokotów
Rakowiecka 61: massacre in the Jesuit Writers' House
German SS men gathered religious and civilians in a small room, used grenades, finished off the wounded and set bodies on fire.
Read the article and its source apparatus →August 1942 – August 1943 · KL Ravensbrück, Brandenburg
Ravensbrück: Experimental Operations on Polish Women Prisoners
Seventy-four Polish women were subjected to criminal operations at Ravensbrück. Injuries and infections were deliberately caused; survivors bore permanent consequences.
Read the article and its source apparatus →October–November 1939 · Rypin — Dobrzyń Land
Rypin: torture in the House of Torture
In Rypin’s House of Torture, the German Selbstschutz tortured Polish civilians. A museum study describes beatings with rifle butts and torture on a barrel.
Read the article and its source apparatus →13 July 1943 · Białystok District
Sikory-Tomkowięta: families shot and people in a burning cellar
Residents were lured out under the pretext of checking documents. The crime involved shootings and the deaths of women and children in fire.
Read the article and its source apparatus →6 December 1942 · Lipsko land
Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka: families murdered for helping Jews
German gendarmes killed entire families and Jews in hiding. Some wounded children were left in a burning house.
Read the article and its source apparatus →3 June 1943 · Kielce region, near Osiek
Strużki: murdered children and the survival of Stanisław Wiącek
In Strużki, Germans murdered infants as well. The fate of the Wiącek family makes it possible to reconstruct the crime and test the limits of witness accounts.
Read the article and its source apparatus →28 August 1944 · Warsaw — Polish Security Printing Works
PWPW hospital: murder of the seriously wounded and Doctor ‘Rana’
After taking the PWPW, Germans murdered hospital patients. The sources differ in their account of the death of Dr Hanna Petrynowska.
Read the article and its source apparatus →2 September 1944 · Warsaw — Old Town
Hospitals on Podwale: ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Under the Crooked Lantern’
Maria Przyborowska's testimony documents the killing of wounded people, an attempted rape and the fire at the ‘Black Swan’ hospital.
Read the article and its source apparatus →2 September 1939 · Southern Greater Poland
Wyszanów: women and children in an attacked cellar
During the pacification of Wyszanów, Germans set homes on fire and attacked a cellar containing women and children. The accounts differ on the toll.
Read the article and its source apparatus →
Burning people alive and killings during pacifications
Crimes involving documented confinement of people in buildings set on fire, or residents’ deaths in fire. We do not equate the entire toll of a pacification with the number of people burned alive.
4 July 1943 · Kielce region
Bór Kunowski: a barn turned into a place of murder
In Bór Kunowski, some residents were burned alive in a barn. The total count is consistent, but the sources differ in their division of methods.
Read the article and its source apparatus →5 August 1944 · Warsaw — Wola
The Hankiewicz houses: setting buildings full of people on fire
Residents and refugees died in the Hankiewicz houses at 105–109 Wolska Street. Sources describe the buildings being surrounded, grenades, and arson.
Read the article and its source apparatus →1 November 1944 · Beskid Wyspowy
Gruszowiec: families in locked and burning homes
Matingen’s SS company locked people in homes, threw in grenades and set buildings on fire. The source speaks of probably 34 victims.
Read the article and its source apparatus →8 March 1944 · Podlasie
Jabłoń-Dobki: people burned during a pacification
Findings of an IPN investigation confirm that residents were murdered by gunfire and fire. The count and detailed division of methods require caution.
Read the article and its source apparatus →Night of 5–6 September 1939 · Częstochowa region — present-day Radomsko County
Kajetanowice: arson in a village and the killing of civilians
In Kajetanowice the Wehrmacht set buildings on fire, shot civilians and threw grenades into cellars. The victim counts differ.
Read the article and its source apparatus →18 and 22 April 1943 · Near Stąporków
Luta: two pacifications during Holy Week
During two operations in Luta, residents, including children, were killed. The IPN calendar separates out a group of women and children burned alive.
Read the article and its source apparatus →12–13 July 1943 · Kielce region
Michniów: two days of a village’s destruction
German police locked residents in buildings and set them on fire. The two-day pacification claimed at least 204 victims.
Read the article and its source apparatus →26 May 1943 · Kielce region
Mniów and Raszówka: residents locked in a burning house
The crime in Raszówka formed part of a wider operation in the commune of Mniów. Residents from nearby settlements were gathered and burned in a house.
Read the article and its source apparatus →16–19 October 1943 · Former Radom District
Mołdawa, Zawały and nearby settlements: a shared count for the pacification
The destruction of Zawały and attacks on neighbouring settlements had a shared count. Sources confirm burning alive but do not separate all victims.
Read the article and its source apparatus →3 September 1939 · Częstochowa region — Koziegłowy commune
Mysłów: death by bullets and in burning buildings
In Mysłów the Wehrmacht killed 22 people, including 10 children. Some victims died in the fire or by suffocation, others while fleeing.
Read the article and its source apparatus →13 June 1943 · Mniów commune, Kielce region
Pogłodów: eighteen people burned alive
A monument in present-day Mniów commemorates those murdered in Pogłodów. The IPN calendar identifies burning alive as the method of the crime.
Read the article and its source apparatus →17–18 January 1945 · Łódź
Radogoszcz: prisoners locked in a burning building
The German prison guard at Radogoszcz first shot detainees, then set the building on fire and fired at those who tried to escape.
Read the article and its source apparatus →7 April 1945 · Żywiec region
Rycerka Górna: the crime in the Czaniecki hamlet
German soldiers set the buildings of the hamlet on fire. Ten residents died by gunfire or were burned alive.
Read the article and its source apparatus →15 March 1943 · Near Białaczów
Sobień and Skronina: people burned in an oil mill
IPN sources confirm the burning of sixteen people. They differ, however, over the overall count for the pacification, and the older publication contains an addition error.
Read the article and its source apparatus →1 June 1943 · Zamość region
Sochy: murder, arson and an air raid on the village
In Sochy, people died by gunfire and in burning houses. After ground units withdrew, German aircraft attacked the village.
Read the article and its source apparatus →18 May 1943 · Zamość region
Szarajówka: blocked exits and burning farmsteads
German police formations and Ukrainian collaborators locked residents in buildings and then set them on fire.
Read the article and its source apparatus →12 September 1939 · Lesser Poland — Dąbrowa County
Szczucin: prisoners and refugees in a burning school
On 12 September 1939 Germans set a school in Szczucin on fire. Those murdered included Polish prisoners of war and civilian refugees.
Read the article and its source apparatus →Night of 1–2 September and 2 September 1939 · Southern Greater Poland — near Ostrzeszów
Torzeniec: setting houses on fire and murdering those fleeing
At Torzeniec German soldiers set homes on fire and shot at people fleeing. Eight people died in a cellar cut off by fire.
Read the article and its source apparatus →22 September 1939 · Pre-war Lwów Voivodeship — near Drohobych
Urycz: Polish prisoners of war burned in a barn
At Urycz German guards locked Polish prisoners of war in a barn and set it on fire. Those escaping were shot at.
Read the article and its source apparatus →18 February 1943 · Near Stąporków
Wielka Wieś: people killed by fire in February 1943
The pacification affected women and children. IPN data on people burned must be read separately from a different local total.
Read the article and its source apparatus →
Killing patients, camp violence and experiments
Planned violence against patients, children and prisoners. These are different mechanisms of crime, not automatic evidence of an individual perpetrator’s sadism. The number subjected to experiments is not the number killed.
probably 3–5 September 1941 · Auschwitz I, Oświęcim
Auschwitz Block 11: Ill Poles in the First Mass Gassing Trial
About 250 ill Polish prisoners were killed alongside Soviet prisoners of war in the first mass use of Zyklon B at Auschwitz.
Read the article and its source apparatus →1939–1945; gas transports 1939–1941 · Gniezno and surrounding area, Greater Poland
Dziekanka: Death Transports and Killing under Cover of a Hospital
At Dziekanka, transports to gassing were followed by further forms of killing patients. More recent research corrects older totals.
Read the article and its source apparatus →June 1941 · Gostynin – Śrem – forests of the Bogulin Forest District
Gostynin–Bogulin: Patients Murdered after Transport to Śrem
Fifty-nine Polish patients from Gostynin were taken to Śrem and then killed in the forest. The investigation describes gas fed from cylinders.
Read the article and its source apparatus →1939–1942; liquidation, 23–24 June 1942 · Kraków-Kobierzyn and Auschwitz-Birkenau
Kobierzyn: Starvation, Deportation and Killing of Hospital Patients
The hospital's liquidation was preceded by starving its patients. Five hundred and thirty-five patients were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz, while bedridden patients were killed on site.
Read the article and its source apparatus →March 1940 – summer 1941 · Łódź-Kochanówka
Kochanówka: Violence and Death Transports from a Łódź Hospital
The removal of Kochanówka patients began in March 1940. Witnesses described the beating of defenseless patients during loading.
Read the article and its source apparatus →January–February 1940 · Greater Poland: Kościan and the Jarogniewice forests
Kościan: Patients Taken Away to Gas Vans
Polish patients of the Kościan hospital were murdered after being taken to the Jarogniewice forests. The sources differ on the total.
Read the article and its source apparatus →1942–1944; cemetery investigation in 2026 · Lubliniec, Upper Silesia
Lubliniec: Children Killed under the Pretext of Psychiatric Treatment
At the German children's clinic, lethal doses of medicine were given and causes of death falsified. New research requires strict distinctions.
Read the article and its source apparatus →October–November 1939 · Greater Poland: Owińska, Poznań, the Rożnowo forests
Owińska: Patients Murdered with Gas at Fort VII and near Rożnowo
About one thousand patients from Owińska were murdered with gas. The investigation reconstructed the selection, transports and later destruction of evidence.
Read the article and its source apparatus →1941–1945 · Potulice near Nakło nad Notecią
Potulice: Children Destroyed by Hunger, Labour and Camp Conditions
The camp at Potulice imprisoned Polish families and children. Hunger, labour and lack of treatment led to the deaths of hundreds of the youngest prisoners.
Read the article and its source apparatus →1 September 1941 – 19 February 1943 · Smukała, now Bydgoszcz
Smukała: Deaths of Children in a German Resettlement Camp
Polish displaced families were imprisoned in the Smukała camp. The newest monograph confirms at least 329 deaths and corrects older lists.
Read the article and its source apparatus →June 1941 · Śrem and forests of the Bogulin Forest District
Śrem: Defenseless Residents of a Poorhouse Selected for Death
Fifty-six Polish wards of a Śrem poorhouse were selected as unable to work and murdered with gas in the forest.
Read the article and its source apparatus →removal on 16 June 1941 · Warta – Bojanowo – vicinity of Leszno
Warta–Bojanowo: 81 Polish Patients Taken Away to Die
Eighty-one Polish patients from Warta were taken away under the pretext of transfer to Bojanowo. They were killed; this was an operation separate from the murders of 1940.
Read the article and its source apparatus →1943–1945 · Wąsosz, then Herrnstadt, Lower Silesia
Wąsosz–Herrnstadt: Children of Forced Labourers Deprived of Care
At the institution in Wąsosz, Polish children were separated from their families, starved and left without treatment. Testimony also describes beatings.
Read the article and its source apparatus →28–29 July 1941 · Auschwitz – Pirna-Sonnenstein, Saxony
From Auschwitz to Sonnenstein: Selection of Patients for Death
Five hundred and seventy-five prisoners, mostly Poles, were selected for transport from Auschwitz. Instead of treatment, they faced death at Sonnenstein.
Read the article and its source apparatus →
Cases requiring particular caution
Documented crimes for which the basis for a particular method, death toll or the victims’ inclusion in the group under study remains limited. This section does not confirm every account circulating about them.
2 September 1944 · Warsaw — Old Town
Kilińskiego 1–3: the wounded between fire and violence
A nurse's testimony describes the rescue of wounded people from burning buildings at Kilińskiego Street and threats by German soldiers.
Read the article and its source apparatus →23 December 1944 · Gorce Mountains
Ochotnica Dolna: Bloody Christmas Eve
Albrecht Matingen’s SS company murdered residents and set houses on fire. The article distinguishes historical findings from the content of a monument.
Read the article and its source apparatus →January–February 1940 · Osieczna near Leszno and the Jarogniewice forests
Osieczna: 48 Murdered Wards of an Institution for Women and Girls
The IPN investigation covers 48 murdered wards from Osieczna. Brief sources confirm the crime but not all of its details.
Read the article and its source apparatus →18 September 1939 — date adopted after IPN · Mazovia — near Sochaczew
Śladów: massacre of prisoners and civilians on the Vistula
At Śladów the Wehrmacht murdered prisoners and civilians. The article separates historians' findings from details requiring verification.
Read the article and its source apparatus →
Sources checked: 5 September 2026. · Read the article and its source apparatus