„Street after street, person after person” – official video
Giving voice to the witnesses of totalitarian crimes
Chronicles of Terror is one of the largest collections of civilian testimonies from occupied Europe and features hundreds of accounts submitted by Polish citizens, who suffered immense hardship at the hands of the German and Soviet totalitarian regimes during the Second World War. These materials reflect the personal experiences of thousands of Polish victims of totalitarian crimes, and also of their families and loved ones.
Until recently, witness depositions made before the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland were scattered and locked away in archives. The accounts of Poles – both soldiers and civilians who left the Soviet Union with General Anders’ Army – were gathered from 1943 on in the Middle East, while after the War they were reposited in the American Hoover Institution. The depositions concerning Poles who helped Jews during the occupation were collected from 1999 on by the Committee for the Commemoration of Poles who Saved Jews.
Today, for the first time, they can reach a much wider audience – both in Poland and around the world.
Testimonies in Polish
Testimonies translated into English
Published pages of source material
Analyzed pages of files
Collections
To annihilate the nation: intelligentsia, institutions, culture
Murders in the wrecked capital - executions on the former Ghetto premises
Germans in Radom – executions in Firlej
NKVD prisons – detainment, sentencing, and death
In a cattle wagon – by railroad to the East
The Germans in Kielce - Crimes Committed on Castle Hill
Reign of Terror - executions in the streets of Warsaw
Kozelsk – Polish officers in Soviet captivity
Terror in the Countryside - the case of Michniów
Radom 1942 – the price of resistance
Genocide in Wola - a district sentenced to death
Pawiak - the Warsaw execution site
Treblinka - a complex for the extermination of the Polish Jews
Defying Christianity - repressions against the Church
Ochota Massacre – the suffering of the district
Crimes in the "police district" – tragedy of insurgent Warsaw
Contrary to humanity - the pacification of hospitals in Warsaw
Helplessness and horror – women in the occupied Poland
Fear and shame – the plight of female deportees
A map of testimonies
Find out what happened to the residents of your town, street or house during World War II.
Places of arrests and round-ups, addresses of hiding places, harsh prisons, concentration camps, places of torture, deportations and executions – the map enables you to trace the fate of victims of totalitarian terror.
Select location where the events described by witnesses took place
Zoom in to see locations from particular testimonies
Recently added
Myłka Józef 1917?
TopicIn exile – Ural
Date1940.02.10-1942.03.10
Location-
Müller Karol 1920
TopicIn the inhuman land – enslavement, starvation, disease
Date1941.05.02-1941
LocationKovrov (Russia, Vladimir Oblast) Ryazan (Russia, Ryazan Oblast) Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast) Margilan (Uzbekistan)
Mrówka Antoni 1921?
TopicIn exile – Central Asia
Date1940.02.10-1942.02.10
LocationGłębokie (Belarus) Zholymbiet (Kazakhstan)
-
TopicIn exile – Central Asia
Date1940.04.13-1942.02.02
Location-
Mol Stanisław 1897?
TopicThe Gulag Archipelago – Karelia
Date1940.06-1941.09.03
LocationLeningrad (Saint Petersburg, Russia) Medvezhyegorsk (Russia, Republic of Karelia) Totskoye (Russia, Orenburg Oblast)
Mitura Edmund 17.07.1919
TopicIn exile – Arkhangelsk Oblast
Date1940.02.10-1942.02.08
LocationVologda (Russia, Vologda Oblast) Tashkent (Uzbekistan) Margilan (Uzbekistan)
Miszczuk Paweł 1920?
TopicIn the inhuman land – enslavement, starvation, disease
Date1941.05.12-1942.03.20
LocationGorky (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast)
Miśnikiewicz Feliks 1907?
TopicThe epilogue to September 1939 – Polish soldiers in Soviet captivity
Date1939.09.27-1941
LocationZamość Shepetivka (Ukraine), transit camp Ostróg (now in Ukraine), transit camp (Barracks of the 19th Volhynian Uhlan Regiment) Podliski Małe (now in Ukraine), POW forced labor camp Żydatycze (Hamaliyivka, Ukraine), forced labor camp for POWs Hermanów (Tarasiwka, now in Ukraine), POW forced labor camp Olszanica (now in Ukraine), POW forced labor camp Starobilsk (Ukraine), NKVD POW camp Totskoye (Russia, Orenburg Oblast)
Mińko Bolesław 1910?
TopicThe Gulag Archipelago – Komi Republic
Date1940.07.24-1942.02.24
LocationBaranowicze (now in Belarus), NKVD prison, Brestskaya Street 258 Minsk (Belarus), "Wołodarka" prison, Waladarskaha Street 2 Vorkutlag (Russia, Komi Republic) Kozhva (Russia, Komi Republic)
Minakowski Jan 29.05.1917
TopicThe Gulag Archipelago – Arkhangelsk Oblast
Date1940.02.10-1943
LocationRaduń (Belarus) Lida (now in Belarus), "Kamionka" prison, Leninskaya Street 29 Baranowicze (now in Belarus), NKVD remand center, Fralankowa Street 50 Orsha (Belarus), prison (Jesuit College), Lenin Street 6a Kotlas (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast) Pechora (Russia, Komi Republic) Sevpechlag (Russia, Komi Republic) Buzuluk (Russia, Orenburg Oblast)
Mikucki Jan 1914
TopicThe epilogue to September 1939 – Polish soldiers in Soviet captivity
Date1939.09-1942.02.12
LocationKryvyi Rih (Ukraine), POW forced labor camp Margilan (Uzbekistan)
Mikołajewicz Teodor 1903
TopicThe Gulag Archipelago – Komi Republic
Date1939.10.19-1942.04.19
LocationWilejka (now in Belarus), prison, 1 Maja Street 50 Połock (now in Belarus), NKVD prison, Zinaida Tusnolobova-Marchenko Street Mołodeczno (now in Belarus), NKVD prison, Wielki Gościniec Street 52 Sevpechlag (Russia, Komi Republic) Buzuluk (Russia, Orenburg Oblast) Guzar (Uzbekistan)
Recommended
Sendler Irena 15.02.1910, Warszawa
TopicThe efforts of the Catholic Church to aid Jews
Date1939-1945
LocationTurkowice (Hrubieszów district), convent of the Protection of the Mother of God Warsaw, Father Boduen Children's Home, Nowogrodzka Street 75 Warsaw, Father Boduen House, Nowogrodzka Street 75 Warsaw, Ghetto
Aronson Stanisław 06.05.1925, Warsaw
TopicPoles saving Jews – the Mazovian region
Date1939-1947
LocationWarsaw, Długa Street 7 Równe (Ukraine) Warsaw, Ghetto, Umschlagplatz, Stawki Street 2/6 Warsaw, ghetto, Umschlagplatz, Stawki Street 2/6 Warsaw, Warszawa Gdańska Station Warsaw, Gdański Railway Station Palmiry Warsaw, Ratuszowa Street Warsaw, Czerniakowska Street Warsaw, Miodowa Street Skruda (Mińsk district) Warsaw, Zamkowy Square Warsaw, Puławska Street Warsaw, Okopowa Street Warsaw, school of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Kazimierzowska Street 59 Warsaw, 6 Sierpnia Street (Nowowiejska Street) Warsaw, Żytnia Street Warsaw, Leszno Street Warsaw, Podwale Street 25 German extermination camp of Treblinka Warsaw, Bankowy Square Warsaw, Napoleona Square (Powstańców Warszawy Square) Warsaw, Trzech Krzyży Square Warsaw, Pfeiffer Brothers' Tannery Factory, Okopowa Street 58/72 Pruszków Prague (Czech Republic) Warsaw, station of the Wilanowska narrow-gauge railway, Kostki Potockiego Street 31 Lwów (Ukraine), Stanisław Staszic State Male Middle School no. 6, Łyczakowska Street 37 (Lychakivska Street 37) Warsaw, Smolna Street Warsaw, Wilanów Palace Natolin (Warsaw), Potocki Palace Pruszków, Tworki Hospital, Partyzantów Street 2/4 Dalechowice Klagenfurt (Austria) Villa (Italy) Udine (Italy) Ancona (Italy) Rome (Italy) London (Great Britain) Munich (Germany) Bologna (Italy)
Dunikowski Xawery 24.11.1875, Kraków
TopicAuschwitz-Birkenau – the German death factory
Date1940.06.22-1945.01.27
LocationKL Auschwitz I KL Auschwitz I, Block 11 and Death Wall
Liberman Dawid 17.01.1912, Sosnowiec
TopicSonderkommando at Auschwitz-Birkenau – witnesses to Annihilation
Date1942.06.07-1944
LocationMechelen (Belgium), transit camp KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau) KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau), "Canada" KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau), gas chambers and crematoriums II, III, IV, V KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau), "Little White House” Auschwitz-Birkenau, German extermination camp German extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau
Kłodziński Stanisław 04.05.1918, Kraków
TopicAuschwitz-Birkenau – the German death factory
Date1940-1944
LocationKL Auschwitz II (Birkenau) KL Auschwitz I, Block 11 and Death Wall KL Auschwitz I, gas chamber and crematorium I KL Auschwitz I, Block 10 KL Auschwitz I KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau), gas chambers and crematoriums II, III, IV, V KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau), "Little White House” Sosnowiec (Śląskie Voivodeship) KL Mauthausen-Gusen (Austria) Bydgoszcz Dęblin
Pietrzykowski Tadeusz 1916?
TopicThe first at Auschwitz – transport from Tarnów
Date1940.06.14-1945.01.27
LocationKL Auschwitz I Babice, agricultural labor camp (subcamp of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau) KL Auschwitz I, gas chamber and crematorium I German extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz-Birkenau, German extermination camp KL Dachau (Germany) Międzybrodzie Bialskie, industrial labor camp (subcamp of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau) Tarnów (małopolskie voivodeship) Rajsko (Oświęcim district)
Kozubski Zygmunt 01.01.1887, Siepraw
TopicThe persecuted church
Date1939.10.03-1945.01
LocationWarsaw, Ghetto Grójec
Jaworska Kazimiera 1900
TopicThe Gulag Archipelago – Central Asia
Date1940.03.20-1942.02.29
LocationKarabash (Russia, Chelyabinsk Oblast) Grodno (Belarus), Mickiewicza Street 6 Pocieszka (Staszów, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship) Minsk (Belarus), "Wołodarka" prison, Waladarskaha Street 2 Pocieszka (Staszów, świętokrzyskie voivodeship) Karlag (Kazakhstan) Akoy (Prostornoye, Kazakhstan) Turkistan (Kazakhstan)
Grabosz Ludwika 1879?
TopicThe tragedy of the Radom Arms Factory
Date1942.09-1942.12
LocationRożki, train station Radom, Ogrodowa Street 12 (Wyszyńskiego Street) Radom, Rwańska Street
Iwańczuk Stanisława 15.08.1922, Zamłyń (now in Ukraine)
TopicIn exile – Arkhangelsk Oblast
Date1940.02.10-1942.11
LocationRymacze (now in Ukraine) Arkhangelsk (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast), train station Ust-Niamo (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast) Kadamjay District (Kyrgyzstan, Batken Region)
Materek Bronisława Michniów, 24.01.1899
TopicMichniów – the annihilation of Polish villages
Date1943.07.12-1943.07.14
LocationMichniów
Skory Roman
TopicThe Kielce region – the pacification of townships and rural areas
Date1944.07.22-1945.04.15
LocationKL Auschwitz-Birkenau Radom, Gestapo Headquarters, Kościuszki Street 6 Karolin (Zwoleń district) Skarżysko-Kamienna, Krakowska Street 54 Lublin Kraków Radomsko KL Kaiserwald (Latvia) Wygoda Las KL Majdanek Legnica Dresden (Germany)
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Hegier (Rafalska) Helena 07.09.1916, Chișinău (Moldova)
TopicMass extermination – KL Ravensbrück
Date1941.01-1945.04
LocationKL Ravensbrück (Germany) Lublin, Lublin Castle, Zamkowa Street 9 Radzyń Podlaski
Zylberberg Michał 29.02.1902, Płock
TopicWarsaw Ghetto – hell in the center of the city
Date1939.11-1944.06
LocationTreblinka, German extermination camp Warsaw, Ghetto Sochaczew Warsaw, Nalewki Street Warsaw, Chłodna Street 17 Warsaw, Zamenhofa Street Skolimów German extermination camp of Treblinka Skarżysko-Kamienna Chylice Treblinka, German extermination camp
Cichoński Stefan Teofil 20.12.1891, Radom
TopicPruszków – the town of the displaced
Date1944.08.01-1944
LocationPruszków, Dulag 121 Warsaw, Dantyszka Street 1
Hajkiewicz Jan
TopicIn exile – Arkhangelsk Oblast
Date1940.02.10-1943
LocationKarolinowo (Belarus) Kotlas (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast) Ziabki (Belarus) Ust-Zaruba (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast)
Januchowski Antoni 1900
TopicAcross the Baltic States – the fates of the internees
Date1939.09.19-1941.08
LocationWyłkowyszki (now in Lithuania), internee camp Wyłkowyszki (Lithuania), internment camp Połąga (now in Lithuania), internee camp Arkhangelsk (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast) Kola Penninsula (Russia, Murmansk Oblast) Pavlishchev Bor (Russia, Smolensk Oblast), Yukhnovo R-43 camp Talitsa (Russia, Ivanovskaya Oblast), NKVD camp for POWs Murmansk (Russia, Murmansk Oblast) Kozelsk (Russia, Kaluga Oblast), NKVD POW camp (Optina Pustyn)
Celiński Czesław 15.11.1900
TopicIn exile – Arkhangelsk Oblast
Date1939.09.17-1943
LocationKrzemieniec (now in Ukraine) Kargopolag (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast) Solvychegodsk (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast) Kotlas (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast) Chelyabinsk (Russia, Chelyabinsk Oblast) Jalal-Abad (Kyrgyzstan) Zadovaya (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast) Guzar (Uzbekistan) British Mandate of Palestine (Israel) Kopytovo (Koryazhma, Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast) Jalal-Abad (Kyrgyzstan)
Jastrzębska Maria 1916?
TopicThe tragedy of the Radom Arms Factory
Date1942.10.13-1942.10.14
LocationRadom, Kielecka Street Radom, Arms Factory "Łucznik", Poniatowskiego Street (1905 Street 1/9) Firlej (Radom), municipal cemetery, Ofiar Firleja Street 45
Łuksza Franciszek 1924
TopicIn exile – Central Asia
Date1940.04.13-1942.03.20
LocationKazakhstan, Pavlodar Oblast Buzuluk (Russia, Orenburg Oblast)
Dragon Szlama 19.03.1920, Żuromin
TopicSonderkommando at Auschwitz-Birkenau – witnesses to Annihilation
Date1942.12.07-1944.05
LocationKL Auschwitz II (Birkenau) Auschwitz-Birkenau, German extermination camp German extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau), Sauna KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau), "Little White House” KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau), "Little Red House” KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau), gas chambers and crematoriums II, III, IV, V KL Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ramp II Mława, Ghetto
Malecka Janina 14.10.1914
TopicIn exile – Arkhangelsk Oblast
Date1940.06.29-1942.09.09
LocationBaranowicze (now in Belarus) Farab (Kazakhstan) Ivanovo (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast)
Warchałowski Edward 04.10.1889, Piestrzec
TopicIntelligentsia at gunpoint – terror against the Polish elite
Date1939-1944.08
LocationWarsaw, Warsaw University of Technology, Politechniki Square 1 Warsaw, Noakowskiego Street Warsaw, Lwowska Street
Aronson Stanisław 06.05.1925, Warsaw
Topic