Mniszek (Dragacz)
| Mniszek | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Basic data | |||
| State : | Poland | ||
| Voivodeship : | Kuyavian Pomeranian | ||
| Powiat : | Świecie | ||
| Gmina : | Dragacz | ||
| Geographic location : | 53 ° 28 ' N , 18 ° 37' E | ||
| Residents : | 140 | ||
| Telephone code : | (+48) 52 | ||
| License plate : | CSW | ||
| Economy and Transport | |||
| Next international airport : | Bydgoszcz | ||
Mniszek ( German Mischke ) is a village in Poland in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship , in Powiat Świecki , in the municipality of Dragacz .
The second largest mass grave from the Second World War in West Prussia is located here . In a quarry in the nearby forest, around 10,000 Polish civilians were murdered by units of the SS and self-defense between 1939 and 1945 . The civilians came from the Starogard , Grudziądz , Świecie , Chełmno and Bydgoszcz districts . The first victims were 200 patients from the Świecie City Psychiatric Clinic , including the clinic director Józef Bednarz.
Contemporary witnesses report that until 1940, five to ten vehicles with darkened windows drove into the forest every second to third day and that numerous shots could be heard from 6 p.m. to midnight. Only five of the 10,000 victims survived the shootings; four were able to take advantage of the darkness and escape, one - 19-year-old Jan Plieth - survived the shootings seriously injured. Before fleeing from the advancing Red Army , SS units tried to cover up the traces of their atrocities by burning part of the corpses as part of a disembarkation squad .
