Search on for remains of resistance pair shot by communists

Members of the team digging at the Garrison Cemetery in Gdansk. Photo: PAP/Adam Warzawa

Nurse Danuta Siedzikowna (codename Inka) was just 17 when she was executed in Gdansk in August 1946, together with Feliks Selmanowicz.

It was not until 1991, after the fall of communism, that a Gdansk court ruled that the victims' activities had been directed towards the regaining of Polish independence.

The search at Gdansk's Garrison Cemetery is being led by Professor Krzysztof Szwagrzyk of the Institute for National Remembrance (IPN).

He told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that the digs are scheduled to last 10 to 14 days.

“If the need arises, we are able to extend this time,” he noted.

DNA samples have been obtained from relatives of the two victims.

Several sources indicate that resistance members were buried at the cemetery in the years following World War II.

Remains of victims of communist repressions were recently unearthed from unmarked graves in the military section of Warsaw's Powazki Military Cemetery.

Danuta Siedzikowna was initially a member of the Home Army (AK), the official resistance formation loyal to the Polish government-in-exile in London.

The AK was disbanded at the close of war, but like Selmanowicz, 'Inka' continued her activity, as a Soviet-backed communist regime spread its grip across the country. Both were arrested in July 1946 in Gdansk. Following their trial, they were executed by firing squad on 28 August of that year. (nh)