Author: Hondo

World War II ended in Europe in May, 1945.  Sort of.

I say “sort of” because military operations didn’t exactly end with the fall of Nazi Germany.  In many areas, operations continued – sometimes against other targets.

This article discusses one such Soviet operation:  the Augustów roundup.  Or, in Polish:  the Oblawa augustowska.

. . .

After Nazi Germany surrendered, the Soviet Union occupied much of eastern and central Europe.  They immediately set about installing Communist regimes loyal to Moscow in the nations they occupied.

One of those nations was Poland.  The Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) – the armed wing of the Polish Underground State, loyal to the western-oriented Polish Government-in-Exile – realized early on they were hopelessly outgunned by the Soviet Army.  Wishing to avoid a civil war they could not win, they formally disbanded on 19 January 1945 to avoid further bloodshed.

However, not all persons laid down their arms and meekly accepted Communist rule.  This was unacceptable to the Soviets, who permitted no political dissent within occupied Eastern Europe.

So the Soviets took action.  Between 12 and 28 July 1945, the Soviets – with assistance from elements of the puppet Polish communist government’s security forces – rounded up former members of non-communist resistance organizations and their sympathizers in the Suwalki and Augustów regions.  Estimates of how many individuals were seized during this operation range from approximately 2,000 to around 7,000.

Those seized were held in Soviet-run internment camps.  The last internees were released in 1956.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate.  Almost 600 of those seized by Soviet and Polish communists during the operation were never heard from again – including 27 women, some of whom were pregnant, and 15 teens.

These nearly 600 individuals . . . simply disappeared.  They are believed to have been taken to the Soviet Union, executed, and their remains disposed of – simply because they were believed to be opposed to Communist rule in Poland.

The precise number of those who disappeared is not known with absolute certainty.  However, recent research puts a very tight bound on the number of individuals who disappeared:  either 592 or 593.

If that sounds somewhat familiar, it should.  Exactly the same thing happened during the Kaytn massacre, only on a larger scale.  In fact, the July 1945 postwar incident is known in Poland as “little Kaytn” (Podlaski Katyn).

Like the Kaytn massacre, the incident was denied for decades by both the Polish and Soviet Union’s Communist governments.  However, unlike the Kaytn massacre, for this latter incident the victims’ precise fate and final resting place remains unknown.  While documentation has been found in former Soviet archives indicating that the massacre in fact did take place, that documentation does not seem to provide sufficient details to identify the location(s) involved or the methods used.

. . .

Why write this and post it here?  Well, for a couple of reasons.  The first is for historical interest.

As for the second reason:  the next time someone says that “Communism poses no threat”, ask him or her to comment on the Augustów roundup.

Then ask him or her to comment on the Kaytn massacre – which was much the same, except that it claimed 22,000 Polish lives vice nearly 600 in the name of Communism.

Then remind them that Hitler’s heinous Nazi regime murdered in cold blood (e.g., war casualties excluded) barely 1/3 as many individuals as did the Soviet Union did in their internal pogroms, intentional famines, purges, massacres, and labor camps between 1917 and 1991. All of those nearly 62 million Soviet dead were murdered in the name of Communism.

Then remind them that new research indicates that the Soviet Union murdered nearly 15,000,000 fewer individuals in cold blood (e.g., war casualties excluded) than did Communist China during the 20th Century.  All of those nearly 77 million Chinese dead were murdered in the name of Communism.

Add three other Communist governments (Cambodia, North Vietnam, and North Korea), and the number of those murdered by Communist regimes in the name of Communism is just short of 144 million.

Let me repeat that last point.  Almost one hundred and forty-four million dead – not including wartime casualties.

All murdered in the name of Communism.

And even that is only a partial total of those murdered due to state policy in the name of Communism.  It only includes the top five Communist slaughterhouse states.

Now, after telling them that . . . ask them if they really expect you to believe Communism poses no threat.

If they still answer “yes”, well, simply walk away.  That answer means you’re dealing with either a damned liar – or a willfully ignorant damned fool.  The Soviets might have termed them a polezniye duraki (e.g., a “useful fool”).  Or as the concept is more often expressed in English:  a “useful idiot”.

. . . 

“Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

 

Author’s Note:  to be correct, the letter “l” in all occurrences of the Polish word “Oblawa” above should have a diagonal bar accent.  Unfortunately, this site’s character set doesn’t support that Polish-language character.  The same is true for the word “Suwalki” above.