• Memorial site in the Białowieża National Park
In the Białowieża National Park (Polish: Białowieski Park Narodowy, Belarusian: Natsyyanalny park Belaveshskaya pushtcha) a memorial site in the old gravel pit of Podolany commemorates almost 500 Poles, Belarusians, Russians and Jews who were shot by the German occupying forces between 1941 and 1943.
Image: Białowieża, about 1915, The hunting lodge of the Russian tsars, in summer and autumn 1941 the residence of Walter Frevert, Stiftung Denkmal
Białowieża, about 1915, The hunting lodge of the Russian tsars, in summer and autumn 1941 the residence of Walter Frevert, Stiftung Denkmal

Image: Near Podolany, 2013, View of the memorial, Robert Drajok
Near Podolany, 2013, View of the memorial, Robert Drajok
Immediately after the attack on the Soviet Union, on June 25, 1941 the Wehrmacht occupied the Białowieża primaeval forest, the former hunting ground of the Polish kings and Russian tsars. Immediately, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (1893-1946) had the area reserved for himself as a hunting ground, without ever visiting it. The »Special Order for the Pacification and Evacuation of the Białowieża primaeval forest« was given to Walter Frevert (1897-1962), the Chief Forester, and Ulrich Scherping (1889-1958), Chief Hunter and SS Leader. They deployed the police battalion 322, which only between 25 and 31 July surrounded and burned 34 villages. Up to 7,800 inhabitants were »resettled« and large quantities of livestock were confiscated. Nagel's 3rd Company killed over 3,400 people, including almost 700 Jews, during the »July Action«. In addition, the police searched the forest landscape for gangs, poachers, looters, partisans and persons suspected of Communist activities, murdering hundreds of mostly Polish and Belarusian civilians by mid-August.
Between August 9 and 15, members of the 3rd Company shot all Jewish men - almost 350 - in the Białowieża area, including 77 people aged 16 to 45 on August 10, 1941, in the old gravel pit of Podolany. Hundreds of women, children and elderly people were abducted. By this time more than 100 villages had already been wiped out. In the harsh winter of 1941/42, partisan activity - as everywhere in occupied eastern Poland and Belarus - increased strongly also in the mostly inaccessible Białowieża. The German military and SS reacted more and more brutally with raids, torture, collective acts of violence and »preventive control«. In 1942/43 German commandos fought up to 5,000 partisans. Until the invasion of the Red Army at the end of August 1944, they carried out numerous shootings. Since the end of the war the Białowieża is divided between Poland and Belarus.
Image: Białowieża, about 1915, The hunting lodge of the Russian tsars, in summer and autumn 1941 the residence of Walter Frevert, Stiftung Denkmal
Białowieża, about 1915, The hunting lodge of the Russian tsars, in summer and autumn 1941 the residence of Walter Frevert, Stiftung Denkmal

Image: Near Podolany, 2013, View of the memorial, Robert Drajok
Near Podolany, 2013, View of the memorial, Robert Drajok
Between June 1941 and August 1944, German units shot thousands of Polish, Belarusian and Jewish civilians obliterated out hundreds of villages in the Białowieża primaeval forest. Also many partisans were murdered. Almost 500 Poles, Belarusians, Russians and Jews were murdered in the old gravel pit of Podolany alone.
Image: Białowieża area, summer 1941, Members of Police Battalion 322 round up Jewish men, presumably to their execution, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg F 176/13 Nr. 14-24a
Białowieża area, summer 1941, Members of Police Battalion 322 round up Jewish men, presumably to their execution, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg F 176/13 Nr. 14-24a

Image: Near Podolany, undated, Crosses at the execution site in the former gravel pit, www.jewish-bialowieza.pl
Near Podolany, undated, Crosses at the execution site in the former gravel pit, www.jewish-bialowieza.pl
In 1960 a memorial was inaugurated in the gravel pit of Podolany. In the spring of 1982, the execution site was redesigned into a complex with a central memorial in the form of a Polish eagle. On September 28, 1997 a Catholic and an Orthodox cross were consecrated during a ceremony attended by representatives of the police, border guards and residents. Jewish symbols do not yet exist.
Image: Near Podolany, 2013, Detailed view of the memorial, Robert Drajok
Near Podolany, 2013, Detailed view of the memorial, Robert Drajok

Image: Near Podolany, undated, Inscription of the memorial at the former execution site, www.jewish-bialowieza.pl
Near Podolany, undated, Inscription of the memorial at the former execution site, www.jewish-bialowieza.pl
Name
Miejsce egzekucji »Żwirownia Jagiellońskie« w Białowieskim Parku Narodowym
Address
Podolany II
17-230 Białowieża
Web
http://www.jewish-bialowieza.pl/
Open
The memorial site is accessible at all times.