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Brzostowica Mała is a village, located in present Belarus, near the city of Grodno. Before 1939 it belonged to Poland and was part of the Białystok Voivodeship (1919-1939). On September 18, 1939, during the Polish September Campaign, a mass murder of Polish inhabitants of the village took place there, organized by pro-Communist members of Jewish and Belarusian minorities.
It has been assumed that some 50 Poles were massacred on that day. Jewish and Belarusian pro-Communist groups, inspired by the Soviet Invasion of Poland, which had taken place a day before, went on a killing spree. Units of the Polish Army had left the village before September 18, 1939, and the Red Army had not reached the place yet. It has been established that the leader of the murderers was a local Jewish man named Zak (Ajzik) Motyl, who founded the "Revolutionary Committee of Brzostowica Wielka". Its members wore armbands with red stars and were armed with blades and axes.
Victims were dragged out of their houses, tortured, tied with barbed wire and buried alive in a ditch. Among those killed were members of the szlachta family of Wolkowicki, including Count Antoni Wolkowicki, his wife and his mother. All persons killed were Polish, which gives the event a racially-motivated profile. The murderers were praised by the Soviets, Zak Motyl became president of the local government.
In 2005, Białystok branch of the Institute of National Remembrance started an investigation on the massacre, but due to lack of documentation and witnesses, it stalled.
Sources
- http://www.electronicmuseum.ca/Poland-WW2/ethnic_minorities_occupation/jews_5.html
- http://www.ipn.gov.pl/wai/pl/18/3068/