23. Cemetery of Soviet prisoners of war in Białobrzegi
The cemetery is located on the northern
edge of the barracks in Białobrzegi, on the
so-called „Winna Góra”. It was set up in August
1941, for the Soviet prisoners of war,
who were captured after the Nazi attack on
the USSR. The Stalag bearing the No. 368
and then No. 333 was located right next to
the barracks on a barbed-wired field.
The prisoners originally lived in dugouts, and then in barracks. As a result of the inhuman living conditions in the camp, at least 10 thousand Soviet prisoners of various nationalities have died. The causes of death were numerous: epidemics, especially typhus, starvation, beatings, and forced hard labour in the camp subsidiaries in Poniatów, Buków and in the Legionowo barracks. According to the testimony of the residents of Białobrzegi, submitted in 1948, before the main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland, the famine forced prisoners to eat grass. The cases of cannibalism have also been reported. Attempts to provide assistance to the prisoners by the local people were punishable by death. In autumn 1943, the German guard executed Genowefa Wróbel for throwing food over the barbed wire to the prisoners. The guards of the camp consisted of older men, considered physically unfit for frontline service of German companies of the 614. National Rifle Battalion.
According to the incomplete German records, in 1942 there were 6,378 prisoners of war in the camp, while in the autumn of 1943; there were 2,114 Soviet prisoners of war and 2,720 Italian POWs.
On July 28, 1944, shortly before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, the prisoner-of-war camp in Beniaminów was liberated by the Home Army sub-unit of the Third Battalion from Nieporęt, commanded by first lieutenant Zygmunt Mirecki alias ‘Zim’.
With the efforts of the Historical Society of Nieporęt, three tombstones to commemorate the Italian prisoners of war who died in 1944 were laid to rest in the cemetery.
The prisoners originally lived in dugouts, and then in barracks. As a result of the inhuman living conditions in the camp, at least 10 thousand Soviet prisoners of various nationalities have died. The causes of death were numerous: epidemics, especially typhus, starvation, beatings, and forced hard labour in the camp subsidiaries in Poniatów, Buków and in the Legionowo barracks. According to the testimony of the residents of Białobrzegi, submitted in 1948, before the main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland, the famine forced prisoners to eat grass. The cases of cannibalism have also been reported. Attempts to provide assistance to the prisoners by the local people were punishable by death. In autumn 1943, the German guard executed Genowefa Wróbel for throwing food over the barbed wire to the prisoners. The guards of the camp consisted of older men, considered physically unfit for frontline service of German companies of the 614. National Rifle Battalion.
According to the incomplete German records, in 1942 there were 6,378 prisoners of war in the camp, while in the autumn of 1943; there were 2,114 Soviet prisoners of war and 2,720 Italian POWs.
On July 28, 1944, shortly before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, the prisoner-of-war camp in Beniaminów was liberated by the Home Army sub-unit of the Third Battalion from Nieporęt, commanded by first lieutenant Zygmunt Mirecki alias ‘Zim’.
With the efforts of the Historical Society of Nieporęt, three tombstones to commemorate the Italian prisoners of war who died in 1944 were laid to rest in the cemetery.