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Barbarka massacre
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Barbarka massacre
Barbarka massacre was a series of mass executions carried out by German occupiers in the autumn of 1939 in the Barbarka forest near Toruń, Poland.
The mass executions in Barbarka were part of the so-called Intelligenzaktion, and they were carried out by SS officers and members of the paramilitary Selbstschutz. Polish historians estimate that at least 600 people were murdered in Barbarka. The victims were prisoners of the internment camp set up by the Germans in the casemates of Fort VII of the Toruń Fortress. Among them were many representatives of the Polish social elite and intelligentsia from Toruń and surrounding areas.
On 7 September 1939, Wehrmacht units entered Toruń. Over the next two days, the military, along with the Security Police, conducted preventive arrests in Toruń, detaining dozens of people as hostages. The occupier's terror also affected other towns in the Toruń County. On September 14, in Czarnowo and Rubinkowo, the Wehrmacht and gendarmerie, with the assistance of local Volksdeutsche, respectively executed six and five Poles. Individual executions also took place in three other villages.
Arrests and executions were accompanied by other actions aimed at the non-German population. Already on September 9, the deputy of the head of the civil administration of the German 4th Army established in Toruń the office of a trustee for Jewish estates and the office of a trustee for the estates belonging to Polish refugees who had not managed to return to the city. From mid-September, properties and businesses belonging to remaining Poles were also confiscated. On September 10, the occupiers dissolved all Polish organizations, including all scientific societies and institutions. They also began to liquidate Polish theaters and press. Museums, archives, and libraries were seized (the Copernicus Municipal Library was taken over on September 9), preventing the non-German population from using their collections.
On October 27, the police director in Toruń issued an order, which, among other things, imposed on the Polish population the obligation to yield the way to representatives of the German authorities and to bow to them by removing head coverings. It introduced the principle that in shops and marketplaces, German citizens would always have the privilege of being served out of turn, and also threatened that Polish women who were "harassing or attacking Germans" would be taken to brothels. In the same document, it was stated that "the streets belong to the victors, not to the vanquished", and "Poles who have not yet realized that they are the vanquished [...] and who will resist the above regulations will be subject to the severest punishment".
On 26 October 1939, the military administration was officially abolished in the occupied territories. Toruń, along with its county, was incorporated into the Reich as part of the Bydgoszcz District of the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia division. Earlier, structures of German police, state, and party authorities had already been installed in the city and county. Due to rivalry between various factions within the Nazi elite, this process had a somewhat chaotic course. On September 9, Horst Zachrau, a civil servant from East Prussia, was appointed as the provisional mayor of Toruń. After a few days, he was replaced by Nieckau, who also was quickly removed from office. Around the same time, an unsuccessful attempt to subordinate the civilian administration of Toruń was made by Wilhelm Heymanns. Finally, on September 18, Walter Kiessling, the former lord mayor of Erfurt, who was brought to Toruń by the head of the civil administration of the 4th Army, assumed the office of the city commissioner. However, this last appointment met with opposition from the Nazi leader of the Free City of Danzig, Albert Forster, who had been appointed by Hitler to assume the position of Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter of the Nazi Party in the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia division. At the end of October, Forster succeeded in removing Kiessling and replaced him with his protege, Franz Jakob (former lord mayor of Fürth). Jakob served as the lord mayor of Toruń until the final days of the occupation. From October 1939 to February 1941, he also held the position of district leader of the Nazi Party (kreisleiter).
From mid-September to 27 November 1939, the position of Landrat of Toruń County was held by Dr. Kipke, later replaced by Böse. The commandant of Toruń Fortress was Major General Eduard Klutmann, while the military commandant of the city, existing until 25 November 1939, was led by Captain Wolff. The position of police director was held in the first months of the occupation successively by SA-Oberführer Schulz-Sembten (from September 16 to early October 1939) and SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Weberstedt (from 12 October 1939, to February 1940).
Members of the Einsatzgruppen, i.e., special operational groups of the SD and Security Police, actively operated in the city and county, following the Wehrmacht divisions with the task of "combating all hostile elements to the Reich and Germans behind the fighting troops" and "apprehending politically uncertain persons". Initially, Toruń was in the operational zone of Einsatzgruppe IV. When this unit moved to central Poland, another operational group, Einsatzkommando 16 (EK 16), was introduced to the Gdańsk Pomerania. At the end of September 1939, one of the three units of EK 16 was stationed in Toruń, commanded by SS-Hauptsturmführer and criminal commissioner Hans-Joachim Leyer, who thereby became the first head of the Toruń Gestapo. The city also housed an independent SD office under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Werner Böhm. Additionally, until 26 October 1939, a special police commission investigating cases of crimes against Volksdeutsche allegedly committed by Poles operated in Toruń.
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Barbarka massacre
Barbarka massacre was a series of mass executions carried out by German occupiers in the autumn of 1939 in the Barbarka forest near Toruń, Poland.
The mass executions in Barbarka were part of the so-called Intelligenzaktion, and they were carried out by SS officers and members of the paramilitary Selbstschutz. Polish historians estimate that at least 600 people were murdered in Barbarka. The victims were prisoners of the internment camp set up by the Germans in the casemates of Fort VII of the Toruń Fortress. Among them were many representatives of the Polish social elite and intelligentsia from Toruń and surrounding areas.
On 7 September 1939, Wehrmacht units entered Toruń. Over the next two days, the military, along with the Security Police, conducted preventive arrests in Toruń, detaining dozens of people as hostages. The occupier's terror also affected other towns in the Toruń County. On September 14, in Czarnowo and Rubinkowo, the Wehrmacht and gendarmerie, with the assistance of local Volksdeutsche, respectively executed six and five Poles. Individual executions also took place in three other villages.
Arrests and executions were accompanied by other actions aimed at the non-German population. Already on September 9, the deputy of the head of the civil administration of the German 4th Army established in Toruń the office of a trustee for Jewish estates and the office of a trustee for the estates belonging to Polish refugees who had not managed to return to the city. From mid-September, properties and businesses belonging to remaining Poles were also confiscated. On September 10, the occupiers dissolved all Polish organizations, including all scientific societies and institutions. They also began to liquidate Polish theaters and press. Museums, archives, and libraries were seized (the Copernicus Municipal Library was taken over on September 9), preventing the non-German population from using their collections.
On October 27, the police director in Toruń issued an order, which, among other things, imposed on the Polish population the obligation to yield the way to representatives of the German authorities and to bow to them by removing head coverings. It introduced the principle that in shops and marketplaces, German citizens would always have the privilege of being served out of turn, and also threatened that Polish women who were "harassing or attacking Germans" would be taken to brothels. In the same document, it was stated that "the streets belong to the victors, not to the vanquished", and "Poles who have not yet realized that they are the vanquished [...] and who will resist the above regulations will be subject to the severest punishment".
On 26 October 1939, the military administration was officially abolished in the occupied territories. Toruń, along with its county, was incorporated into the Reich as part of the Bydgoszcz District of the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia division. Earlier, structures of German police, state, and party authorities had already been installed in the city and county. Due to rivalry between various factions within the Nazi elite, this process had a somewhat chaotic course. On September 9, Horst Zachrau, a civil servant from East Prussia, was appointed as the provisional mayor of Toruń. After a few days, he was replaced by Nieckau, who also was quickly removed from office. Around the same time, an unsuccessful attempt to subordinate the civilian administration of Toruń was made by Wilhelm Heymanns. Finally, on September 18, Walter Kiessling, the former lord mayor of Erfurt, who was brought to Toruń by the head of the civil administration of the 4th Army, assumed the office of the city commissioner. However, this last appointment met with opposition from the Nazi leader of the Free City of Danzig, Albert Forster, who had been appointed by Hitler to assume the position of Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter of the Nazi Party in the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia division. At the end of October, Forster succeeded in removing Kiessling and replaced him with his protege, Franz Jakob (former lord mayor of Fürth). Jakob served as the lord mayor of Toruń until the final days of the occupation. From October 1939 to February 1941, he also held the position of district leader of the Nazi Party (kreisleiter).
From mid-September to 27 November 1939, the position of Landrat of Toruń County was held by Dr. Kipke, later replaced by Böse. The commandant of Toruń Fortress was Major General Eduard Klutmann, while the military commandant of the city, existing until 25 November 1939, was led by Captain Wolff. The position of police director was held in the first months of the occupation successively by SA-Oberführer Schulz-Sembten (from September 16 to early October 1939) and SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Weberstedt (from 12 October 1939, to February 1940).
Members of the Einsatzgruppen, i.e., special operational groups of the SD and Security Police, actively operated in the city and county, following the Wehrmacht divisions with the task of "combating all hostile elements to the Reich and Germans behind the fighting troops" and "apprehending politically uncertain persons". Initially, Toruń was in the operational zone of Einsatzgruppe IV. When this unit moved to central Poland, another operational group, Einsatzkommando 16 (EK 16), was introduced to the Gdańsk Pomerania. At the end of September 1939, one of the three units of EK 16 was stationed in Toruń, commanded by SS-Hauptsturmführer and criminal commissioner Hans-Joachim Leyer, who thereby became the first head of the Toruń Gestapo. The city also housed an independent SD office under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Werner Böhm. Additionally, until 26 October 1939, a special police commission investigating cases of crimes against Volksdeutsche allegedly committed by Poles operated in Toruń.
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