Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license.
Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat.
We can research this topic together.
During the ] the town of Ponary was part of the ], ] (] region). In September 1939 the region was ]. After the annexation of Lithuania the ] the following year, the Soviet authorities started to build a huge oil warehouse for a nearby military ]. The construction was never finished as in ] the area ] by ]. The Nazis decided to take advantage of the large pits dug for the oil warehouses to dispose of bodies of unwanted locals. The massacres began in July, 1941, when ] rounded up 5,000 Jewish men of Wilno and took them to Paneriai where they were shot. Further mass killings, often aided by Lithuanian police '']'', took place throughout the summer and fall<ref name="Bubnys"/>. By the end of the year, more than 40,000 Jews had been killed at Paneriai.
During the ] the town of Ponary was part of the ], ] (] region). In September 1939 the region was ]. After the annexation of Lithuania the ] the following year, the Soviet authorities started to build a huge oil warehouse for a nearby military ]. The construction was never finished as in ] the area ] by ]. The Nazis decided to take advantage of the large pits dug for the oil warehouses to dispose of bodies of unwanted locals. The massacres began in July, 1941, when ] rounded up 5,000 Jewish men of Wilno and took them to Paneriai where they were shot. Further mass killings, often aided by '']'', which consisted from Lithuanians, Poles and Russians,<ref name="Bubnys"/> took place throughout the summer and fall<ref name="Bubnys"/>. By the end of the year, more than 40,000 Jews had been killed at Paneriai.
The total number of victims by the end of 1944 was between 70,000 and 100,000. According to post-war ] by the forces of ] majority (50 000-70 000) of the victims were ]s and ] from nearby Polish and Lithuanian cities, while the rest (about 20 000) were primarily ] and ] (about 8 000)<ref name="WSP-Ponary"/><ref name="IPN-Ponary"/>. The Polish victims were mostly members of Polish ] (priests, teachers, professors of the ], like ]) and Polish soldiers of ] ].<ref name="WSP-Ponary"/><ref name="Piotrowski_168"/> Among the first victims were approximatly 7,500 Soviet ]s shot in ] soon after ] begun.<ref name="Rzecz-Ponary">. Last accessed on 10 February 2007.</ref> At later stages there were also smaller numbers of victims of other nationalities, including local Russians, ] and Lithuanians, particularly communists sympathisers and members of general ] ] who refused to follow German orders<ref name="WSP-Ponary"/>.
The total number of victims by the end of 1944 was between 70,000 and 100,000. According to post-war ] by the forces of ] majority (50 000-70 000) of the victims were ]s and ] from nearby Polish and Lithuanian cities, while the rest (about 20 000) were primarily ] and ] (about 8 000)<ref name="WSP-Ponary"/><ref name="IPN-Ponary"/>. The Polish victims were mostly members of Polish ] (priests, teachers, professors of the ], like ]) and Polish soldiers of ] ].<ref name="WSP-Ponary"/><ref name="Piotrowski_168"/> Among the first victims were approximatly 7,500 Soviet ]s shot in ] soon after ] begun.<ref name="Rzecz-Ponary">. Last accessed on 10 February 2007.</ref> At later stages there were also smaller numbers of victims of other nationalities, including local Russians, ] and Lithuanians, particularly communists sympathisers and members of general ] ] who refused to follow German orders<ref name="WSP-Ponary"/>.
Poonary massacre (or Panerai massacre) refers to the events that took place between July 1941, and August 1944 in the town of Paneriai (Template:Lang-pl) (now suburb of Vilnius/Wilno), which became the mass murder site of approximately 100,000 victims, the vast majority of them Jews and Poles many from nearby metropolis of Vilnius. The executions were carried out by German units of SD and SS with help from local Lithuanians Special SD and Security Police Squad Ypatingasis būrys. The victims were usually brought to the edges of huge pits and shot to death with machine gun fire.
Monument of Polish victims in Paneriai
During the interwar period the town of Ponary was part of the Second Polish Republic, Wilno Voivodship (Kresy region). In September 1939 the region was taken over by the Soviets. After the annexation of Lithuania the Soviet the following year, the Soviet authorities started to build a huge oil warehouse for a nearby military airfield. The construction was never finished as in 1941 the area was occupied by Nazi Germany. The Nazis decided to take advantage of the large pits dug for the oil warehouses to dispose of bodies of unwanted locals. The massacres began in July, 1941, when Einsatzkommando 9 rounded up 5,000 Jewish men of Wilno and took them to Paneriai where they were shot. Further mass killings, often aided by Ypatingasis burys, which consisted from Lithuanians, Poles and Russians, took place throughout the summer and fall. By the end of the year, more than 40,000 Jews had been killed at Paneriai.
The total number of victims by the end of 1944 was between 70,000 and 100,000. According to post-war exhumation by the forces of 2nd Belorussian Front majority (50 000-70 000) of the victims were Polishs and Lithuanian Jews from nearby Polish and Lithuanian cities, while the rest (about 20 000) were primarily Poles and Russians (about 8 000). The Polish victims were mostly members of Polish intelligentsia (priests, teachers, professors of the Stefan Batory University, like Kazimierz Pelczar) and Polish soldiers of Armia Krajowaresistance movement. Among the first victims were approximatly 7,500 Soviet POWs shot in 1941 soon after Operation Barbarossa begun. At later stages there were also smaller numbers of victims of other nationalities, including local Russians, Roma and Lithuanians, particularly communists sympathisers and members of general Povilas PlechavičiusLocal Lithuanian Detachment who refused to follow German orders.
As Soviet troops advanced in 1943, the German-led units tried to cover up the crime. A unit of eighty workers was formed from nearby Stutthof concentration camp prisoners and was forced to dig up the bodies, pile them on wood and burn them. The ashes were then mixed with sand and buried. After six months of this gruesome work, the brigade managed to escape on April 19, 1944. Eleven of them managed to survive the ordeal, and their testimony contributed to revealing the massacre. The information about it begun to spread as early as 1943, due to the activities and works of Helena Pasierbska, Jozef Mackiewicz, Kazimierz Sakowicz and others. Nonetheless the Soviet regime, which supported the resettlement of Poles from the Kresy, also found it convinient to deny that Poles were massacred in Panerai; the official line was that Panerai was the sight of massacre of Soviet citizens only. It was only a decade after the fall of communism that the new government of independent Lithuania allowed a monument (a cross) to fallen Polish citizens to be build there.
The site of the massacre is commemorated by a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, a memorial to the Polish victims and a small museum (currently closed). The executions at Paneriai, sometimes compared to the Katyn massacre by Polish press (since it happened in 'the East' and was mostly ignored by the communist government of People's Republic of Poland), are currently a matter of an investigation by the Gdańsk branch of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance.
