Massacre of Brzostowica Mała

The Brzostowica Mała massacre occurred on 18 September 1939, the day after the start of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland. During that period, a number of anti-state, communist-led revolts took place resulting in the mass murder of inhabitants of Grodno County in eastern Poland by Communist militias which largely consisted of Belarusian and Jewish communists and included peasants, criminals, and prisoners released from incarceration on account of the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. Among those killed were landowners, county-administration workers, teachers, foresters, and peasants, and most were ethnic-Poles. The most prominent case was the torture-murder on 18 September 1939 in Brzostowica Mała (Belarusian: Malaya Berestovitsa) of Count Antoni Wołkowicki and his family.

A number of anti-state revolts took place around the time of the Soviet invasion of Poland, which began on 17 September 1939. Along with Brzostowica Mała, the revolts in Grodno district took place in Jeziory, Wiercieliski, Wielka Brzostowica, Dubno, Wołpa, and Indura and in other districts across Poland‘s Białystok Voivodeship which includes parts of modern day Belarus. Ethnic Poles, who were the ruling class, were a minority in this region, and the invasion was welcomed by local committees. Entering Soviet troops were showered with flowers. Indeed, the Soviets had sent agents into the region to organize receptions.

However, receptions weren’t the only thing being organized. In one instance before the invasion, a “revolutionary committee” of the Communist Party of Western Belorussia (KPZB) led by Józef Gawryluk organized in Wielka Brzostowica and carried out attacks against landowners in the village of Danilka. On the night of the 16th, Gawryluk began a series of attacks and executions of landowners in the area. The incident was one of a number of similar killings, generally related to the KPZB, including nobility, landowners, government officials, engineers, policemen, clergy, and wealthier peasants in many towns in Grodno County. The murders reportedly included beatings and live burials.

Massacre

In 2001 Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance, invested with criminal-prosecutory powers, investigated the murders of Count Antoni Wołkowicki and his wife Ludwika and brother-in-law Zygmunt Woynicz-Sianożęcki, and Mayor Kazimierz Wieliczko and four others; confirmed that murders had been committed by a communist gang on Polish citizens and in violation of Poland’s sovereignty; and that the atrocities fell within the purview of Poland’s communist-crimes legislation.

IPN’s investigators established the names of two leaders of the attack on the Wołkowicki family, Isaac (Ajzik) Zusko (shot by the Germans during Operation Barbarossa), and a Belorussian Brzostowica Mała resident named Sergiej Koziejko. No living eyewitnesses to the torture-murder of the Wołkowickis were found. The investigation remains open.

Aftermath

A significant number of people were murdered during this period in Grodno County in villages near Brzostowica Mała, including Parchimowce and Brzostowica Wielka. According to historian Marek Wierzbicki, as many as 250 may have been killed in revolts and by the Soviets – although such estimates could not be verified and may be subject to a considerable margin of error.^[13][14] The nature of the violence in the region changed on 22 September, when Soviet soldiers stopped Gawryluk from continuing executing a group of people near the estate of Parfimowce having already killed the estates owner.^[15] However, in spite of Soviet presence, killings may have continued until the 25th.^[16]

Legacy

After the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland and the end of World War II, the Brzostowica Mała massacre was hushed up. The “Skidel revolt” in what is now Skidzyel’, Belarus, was mythologized by Soviet propaganda as a liberation movement.^[8][17]

In 2001–2005 Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance investigated the incident.^[18] The Institute determined that the murders had occurred and fell within Poland’s communist-crimes jurisdiction. The Institute interviewed all 16 witnesses—persons who had lived in the community—but, due to the passage of time, was unable to establish the names of the murderers of Ludwika Wołkowicka and her family.

Full article here: https://en.everybodywiki.com/Massacre_of_Brzostowica_Ma%C5%82a

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Belarus	Brzostowica Mała Naliboki
Lithuania	Glinciszki Koniuchy Ponary