INFORMATION PORTAL OF THE MARSHAL'S OFFICE OF THE KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE Region IN TORUŃ

With the participation of Marshal Piotr Całbecki, a traditional Christmas meeting was held today (December 17) at the monument to the Memorial to the Victims of the 1939 Pomeranian Crime. The solemn setting of the candle-lighting ceremony was prepared by scouts from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region of the Polish Scouting Association.

– On the eve of Christmas, we traditionally remember the 30,000 Pomeranians bestially murdered mainly by their own neighbors. Today we remember them, pay tribute to them, pray and appeal for national concord. For harmony, because as a nation we are most threatened precisely when we are internally divided,” Marshal Piotr Całbecki said at the monument. The ceremony was also attended, among others, by parliamentarians, Governor Michał Sztybel, a representation of the municipal government of Toruń and representatives of veteran circles.

The Memorial to the Victims of the Pomeranian Massacre 1939, a symbolic place of remembrance for Polish civilians murdered in the first months of German aggression against Poland in the fall and winter of 1939, was created on the initiative of Marshal Piotr Całbecki. Its main element is a block of white stone with a large breach in the middle, revealing a slab with the names of more than 400 places of execution.

This year was the second time we commemorated the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the 1939 German Pomeranian Massacre, established by the Polish Parliament. The date was chosen not coincidentally – it was the birthday of Dr. Jozef Bednarz, a psychiatrist and director of the psychiatric hospital in Swiecie in the 1930s, who voluntarily went to his death unwilling to leave patients whom the German occupation authorities considered “unworthy of life.”

Beata Krzeminska

Spokesperson for the Marshal’s Office

December 17, 2024.