Szczecin celebrations commemorating the victims of German camps

On Friday, June 13, as part of the celebrations of the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps, the Szczecin Branch of the Institute of National Remembrance organized a ceremony at the Central Cemetery, at the Monument to the Victims of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps.

One of the guests and co-organizer of the event was the president of the Management Board of the West Pomeranian Branch of the Polish Association of Former Political Prisoners of Nazi Prisons and Concentration Camps in Szczecin, Jan Margol, who was sent to the camp in Zamość as a child.

- A lot of children died there, they lived in inhuman conditions - he told "Kurier Szczeciński". - There was, among other things, the famous stable where children simply lay in the mud and died there. Those who died were loaded onto carts, by the leg or the hand, they were thrown onto the cart and from the cart they were thrown into a pit with a beetroot pitchfork. It was very macabre.

During the celebrations, Jan Margol stressed how important it is to remember and know about German crimes during World War II.

- We should remember, because today few people associate concentration camps, especially the younger ones. And yet it was the greatest atrocity against people. Children, young people, fathers and mothers died in torment there. We should remember, because now something similar is happening across our eastern border. We should try with all our might to help Ukraine so that the war does not enter our homeland - he said.

The National Day of Remembrance for Victims of the German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps is celebrated on June 14, on the anniversary of the first transport of Polish prisoners to the Auschwitz camp.

- This day was established to commemorate the first transport to Auschwitz, which took place on June 14, 1940. At that time, 728 people were transported from the German prison in Tarnów to Auschwitz in the first transport. We recognize this date as the beginning of the operation of the German death factory, on this day we pay tribute to all victims of concentration camps, all those who lost their lives in camps during World War II - explained the president of the Szczecin branch of the Institute of National Remembrance, Krzysztof Męciński. - As the Institute of National Remembrance, we try to keep the memory of those dramatic events alive, to pass this memory on to future generations, because the victims deserve it. We must remember what happened, about those times, and we must constantly remind them so that this history never repeats itself.

He added that the IPN in Western Pomerania is building a historical narrative based on places such as the synthetic gasoline factory in Police, Mścięcino, where a branch of the Stutthof camp was located, or in Chojna, where a branch of the Ravensbrück camp operated.

The celebrations at the Central Cemetery were of a solemn nature. Among those who delivered a speech were Zbigniew Bogucki, current MP and former West Pomeranian Voivode.

- Those who witnessed those tragic days lived in darkness. They lived in the dark times of humanity - he said. - When Poland, Europe, and the wider world were swept by this storm not of nationalism, but of chauvinism. Nazi and fascist chauvinism - because they were not driven by love for their homeland, because these cannot be confused, it must be separated, love for one's own homeland is something else. We deeply cherish this love for Poland. Other nations have the right to cherish love for their own homeland - our western neighbors are also there. But it was not about love for the homeland. It was about hatred for other nations - all those who are outside that nation. Whether Poles, Jews, or other nations. It was hatred that caused this dark night to fall over Europe, over Poland, over the world for many years after 1939.

During the ceremony, the Polish national anthem was sung, a roll call of remembrance was held, and at the end, wreaths were laid at the monument. On the same day, flowers were laid at the places of remembrance of concentration camp victims in the Police commune and at the "Dzieciom Potulice" monument in Szczecin. ©℗

Agata Jankowski