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

The extermination of people with mental disorders was one of the first genocidal crimes committed by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. Today (September 22) we mark, for the first time, the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Extermination of People with Mental Disorders. During the ceremony held at the Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Świecie, tributes to the murdered were paid by Vice-Marshal Zbigniew Ostrowski and Regional Assembly Member Tadeusz Pogoda.

“Every life has value and dignity that must never be questioned. (…) The fate of Dr. Bednarz’s patients should be for us not only a tragic memory, but also a reminder that we must always take responsibility for our words, decisions, and attitudes toward others. School and civic education must include space for dialogue about respect, solidarity, and civic courage, which we owe to those who are weaker. Only by fostering empathy and equality can we ensure that the tragedy of exclusion and dehumanization will never be repeated,” emphasized Vice-Marshal Zbigniew Ostrowski.

During the five years of Nazi occupation, 20,000 Polish citizens with mental disorders were murdered, deemed to be “leading lives unworthy of life.” Victims of this systematic extermination included patients of the Psychiatric Institution in Świecie. In October 1939, over the course of a week of executions in the gravel pits of Mniszek near Świecie, 1,350 patients – including 120 children – were killed. In the same place, the institution’s director, Dr. Józef Bednarz, was also murdered after he chose to share the fate of his patients.

Participants in today’s ceremony laid flowers at a memorial plaque commemorating these tragic events. The program also included academic panels, a screening of the documentary “Here Even the Birds Don’t Sing”, and a special exhibition.

The Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Extermination of People with Mental Disorders in Occupied Poland was established by a parliamentary resolution in September 2024, initiated among others by Dr. Maciej Jabłoński of the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz. The chosen date, September 22, commemorates the first victims of the crime – patients of the psychiatric hospital in Kocborowo (today in the Pomeranian Voivodeship).

Press Office of the Marshal’s Office

September 22, 2025