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

With the participation of Marshal Piotr Całbecki, a traditional Christmas gathering took place today (17 December) at the Monument to the Memory of the Victims of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939. The ceremonial setting for the candle-lighting ceremony was prepared by Scouts from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie District of the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association.

“On the eve of Christmas, we traditionally remember the 30,000 inhabitants of Pomerania who were brutally murdered, largely by their own neighbors. Today we commemorate them, pay them tribute, pray, and appeal for national unity. For as a nation, we are most endangered precisely when we are internally divided,” emphasized Marshal Piotr Całbecki.

The Monument to the Memory of the Victims of the Pomeranian Crime of 1939 – a symbolic site commemorating Polish civilians murdered in the first months of the German aggression against Poland in the autumn and winter of 1939 – was established on the initiative of Marshal Piotr Całbecki. Its main element is a block of white stone with a large void in the center, revealing a plaque bearing the names of more than 400 sites of execution.

This year, for the third time, we observed the National Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the German Pomeranian Crime of 1939, established by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. The date was chosen deliberately – it is the birthday of Dr. Józef Bednarz, a psychiatrist and director of the psychiatric hospital in Świecie in the 1930s, who voluntarily went to his death, refusing to abandon his patients whom the German occupation authorities deemed “unworthy of life.”

Beata Krzemińska
Spokesperson of the Marshal’s Office

17 December 2025