New dig launched in Poland for victims of communist terror

Captain Henryk Flame (R): photo - wikipedia

A mass grave has been located which historians believe may be the resting place of members of the National Armed Forces (NSZ), one of the chief Polish resistance groups to stay active following the end of the Second World War.

Victims appear to have been shot in the back of the head, a characteristic trait in executions carried out by Poland's Soviet-modelled secret police.

Researchers have indicated that the remains may belong to the underground division of Captain Henryk Flame (codename Bartek).

Captain Flame was himself shot down by a policeman in a restaurant in the Lower Silesian village of Zabrzeg on 1 December 1947.

Today's excavation comes under the auspices of a nationwide programme entitled “The search for unknown burial places of victims of communist terror in the years 1944-1956.”

The work is being carried out with the cooperation of two state-backed bodies, the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), and the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites (ROPWiM).

This August, excavations were also held at unmarked graves in Warsaw's historic Powazki cemetery, where a number of Poland's most noted resistance fighters are believed to have been buried.

DNA tests have been carried out on relatives of about 100 prominent victims of Stalinist repressions that may have been interred at the Warsaw cemetery. (nh)