Naliboki massacre

The Naliboki massacre (Polish: zbrodnia w Nalibokach) was a massacre that happened on May 8, 1943 in which 127‒128[1] Poles were killed by Soviet partisans in Naliboki, a town in German-occupied Poland.[1] The town is now located in Belarus.[1]

Massacre

Soviet partisans stormed the town in early morning on May 8, 1943.[2] The residents could not defend themselves due to their lack of guns (26 rifles and 2 light machine guns).[2] Polish men were dragged from their homes and shot.[2] Among the survivors included local policemen who had hidden in an unfinished church until the Soviet partisans left the town.[2]

Motives

The exact motives for the Soviet partisans to commit the massacre were unclear, though some research pointed to the Soviet partisans' upset about the Naliboki self-defense units refusing to join them.[3] Moreover, it is said that the Soviet partisans broke an agreement that they made with the Naliboki self-defense units and committed the massacre.[3]

Aftermath

Soviet war crimes

Soviet partisans looted the town, setting fire to farmhouses, fire stations, post offices and public schools.[2] The town was almost completely burned down by Nazi troops on August 6, 1943,[4] when they conducted the Operation Hermann ‒ a campaign against Polish partisans.[4] Equally notable is that the Soviet NKVD persecuted the Belarusians as badly as the Poles.[5]

Similar massacres

The Soviet partisans committed similar massacres in Koniuchy on January 29, 1944,[6] and in Babińsk, Derewno, Izabelin, Kamień, Kaczewo, Kromań, Ługomowicze, Narocz, Niewoniańce, Prowżały and Szczepki.[6]

Antisemitic conspiracy theory

Since 1993, antisemites have been promoting the conspiracy theory that "Jewish partisans committed the massacre".[7] Wacław Nowicki,[7] who got information from "witnesses" for writing his memoir,[7] is said to be the source of the conspiracy theory.[7]

Spread

In February 2001, the Canadian Polish Congress (CPC) made the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) of Poland investigate what they had called the "ethnic crimes of Jewish groups".[7] The IPN dismissed the conspiracy theory after they failed to find any evidence.[8][9]

The conspiracy theory was further promoted by certain Polish and Belarusian "historians".[8] Meanwhile, the Catholic newspaper Nasz Dziennik published a series of articles accusing Jews of committing the massacre,[8] allowing the conspiracy theory to be popularized.[8]

English Wikipedia

The conspiracy theory once existed in the relevant English Wikipedia article for years,[8][10] with an unrelated photo ‒ inserted by an IP user ‒ presented as "evidence".[8] Prof. Jan Grabowski, a full professor of history at University of Ottawa,[11] commented on the matter,[8]

Wikipedia's coverage of the Naliboki massacre should not even mention Jews; yet Jews occupy a third of the article. Various editors over the years tried to fix [...] but they were brought back [... .]

Several editors were accused of reverting edits that sought to remove the disproven[8][9] mentions of Jewish involvement.[8] One of the editors is also found to have inserted an article written by Kazimierz Krajewski, a far-right figure who reportedly "lacks broader expertise in Jewish–Polish issues",[8] into that article as extra "evidence".[8]

Footnotes

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2
    • Snyder, Timothy (2012-10-02). Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. Basic Books. p. 247. ISBN 978-0-465-03297-6.
    • "Komunikat dot. śledztwa w sprawie zbrodni popełnionych przez partyzantów sowieckich w latach 1942–1944 na terenie byłego województwa nowogródzkiego" [Announcement regarding the investigation into the crimes committed by Soviet partisans in the years 1942–1944 in the former Nowogródek Voivodeship]. Institute of National Remembrance (Poland) (in Polish). 19 June 2008. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
    • "Polish Investigators Tie Partisans to Massacre". The Forward. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 IPN (November 2013). "Śledztwo w sprawie zbrodni popełnionych przez partyzantów radzieckich na żołnierzach Armii Krajowej i ludności cywilnej na terenie powiatów Stołpce i Wołożyn woj. nowogródzkie (S 17/01/Zk)". Śledztwa w biegu - Zbrodnie komunistyczne (in Polish). Instytut Pamieci Narodowej. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Partyzancki szlak po puszczy Nalibockiej - Shtetl Routes - Teatr NN". shtetlroutes.eu (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  5. ↑ Kazimierz Krajewski. "Ginęli, ratując Żydów" [Dying while Rescuing Jews] (PDF). „Opor”? „Odwet”? Czy po prostu „polityka historyczna”? O Żydach w partyzantce sowieckiej na Kresach II RP. 3 (98), March 2009. Warsaw: IPN Bulletin: 99–120. ISSN 1641-9561. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-02-22.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 * Zizas, Rimantas (2002). "Žudynių Kaniūkuose pėdsakais". Genocidas Ir Rezistencija (in Lithuanian). 1 (11): 149–165. ISSN 1392-3463.
    • Zizas, Rimantas (2003). "Pacyfikacja wsi Koniuchy (Kaniūkai)" (PDF). Biuletyn Historii Pogranicza (in Polish). 4: 36. ISSN 1641-0033. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-07-14. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
    • Zizas, Rimantas (2014). Sovietiniai partizanai Lietuvoje 1941–1944 m. (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Lietuvos istorijos institutas. p. 466. ISBN 978-9955-847-88-5.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Głuchowski, Piotr; Kowalski, Marcin (6 January 2009). "Prawdziwa historia Bielskich" [The true story of the Bielskis]. Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish); "Rzecznik IPN nt. zbrodni w Nalibokach i braci Bielskich". Nauka w Polsce (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  8. ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 Grabowski, Jan; Klein, Shira (February 9, 2023). "Wikipedia's Intentional Distortion of the History of the Holocaust". The Journal of Holocaust Research. 37 (2): 133–190. doi:10.1080/25785648.2023.2168939. Retrieved January 20, 2025.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Komunikat dot. śledztwa w sprawie zbrodni popełnionych przez partyzantów sowieckich w latach 1942–1944 na terenie byłego województwa nowogródzkiego". Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (in Polish). June 19, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2025.
  10. ↑ English Wikipedia article, “Naliboki massacre,” Wikipedia, revision from 3:18, April 21, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Jan Grabowski - Member Profile - University of Ottawa". University of Ottawa. Retrieved March 6, 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.