„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
Treblinka - a complex for the extermination of the Polish Jews
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
Defying Christianity - repressions against the Church
To annihilate the nation: intelligentsia, institutions, culture
Murders in the wrecked capital - executions on the former Ghetto premises
NKVD prisons – detainment, sentencing, and death
Germans in Radom – executions in Firlej
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
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
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TopicDate
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Location-
Iryna 1971
TopicFighting for Kharkiv
Date-
Location-
Fabrycki Jakob
TopicThe Holocaust – the liquidation of the Białystok Ghetto
Date1943.02.05-1943.02.12
LocationBiałystok, ghetto
Czertok Mejsza
TopicThe Holocaust – the liquidation of the Białystok Ghetto
Date1943.08.13-1943.08.26
LocationBiałystok, ghetto Lublin
Czechocki Eli 1901?
TopicThe Holocaust – the liquidation of the Białystok Ghetto
Date1942.05-1943.11.28
LocationBiałystok, ghetto KL Stutthof
Cytron Tobiasz 30.10.1908, Białystok
TopicThe Holocaust – the liquidation of the Białystok Ghetto
Date1943.08.17-1943.08.24
Location-
Cytron Tobiasz 30.10.1908, Białystok
TopicThe Holocaust – the liquidation of the Białystok Ghetto
Date1939.09-1943.08.24
LocationBiałystok, ghetto
Brakier Moniek 23.12.1920, Białystok
TopicThe Holocaust – the liquidation of the Białystok Ghetto
Date1939.09-1943.08.20
LocationBiałystok, ghetto German extermination camp of Treblinka Bliżyn, forced labor camp KL Auschwitz-Birkenau KL Sachsenhausen (Germany, Oranienburg) KL Flossenbürg (Germany) Arbeitslager Gleiwitz I (subcamp of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau)
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TopicThe Gulag Archipelago – Siberia
Date1941.06.17 - 1942.02.01
LocationNowa Wilejka (Wilno, Lithuania) Russia, Novosibirsk Oblast
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TopicThe epilogue to September 1939 – Polish soldiers in Soviet captivity
Date1939.09.01 - 1941.09.12
LocationOszmiana (now in Belarus), prison, Piłsudskiego Street (Sowiecka Street) Kotlas (Russia, Arkhangelsk Oblast) Komi Republic (Russia) Buzuluk (Russia, Orenburg Oblast) Totskoye (Russia, Orenburg Oblast)
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TopicDate
1941.02.05 - 1941.09.07
LocationDołhinów (Belarus) Wilejka (now in Belarus), prison, 1 Maja Street 50 Borysów (Belarus) Pleszczenice (Belarus) Buzuluk (Russia, Orenburg Oblast)
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TopicAcross the Baltic States – the fates of the internees
Date1939.09.06 - 1941.09.02
LocationWarsaw Kulautuva (Lithuania), internment camp Kalvarija (Lithuania), internment camp Kozelsk (Russia, Kaluga Oblast), NKVD POW camp (Optina Pustyn) Gryazovets (Russia, Vologda Oblast), NKVD POW camp no 150
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Plewako Kama
TopicThe Katyń Massacre – reclaimed memory
Date1939.09-1944
LocationStarobilsk (Ukraine), NKVD POW camp Modlin Modlin
Kutzner Maria 02.02.1940, Szelest
TopicClandestine teaching – Warsaw
Date1939-1945
LocationPruszków, Dulag 121 Włocławek
Malinowska Jadwiga
TopicClandestine teaching – Lesser Poland
Date1939-1945
LocationPrzemyśl, prison, Rokitniańska Street 1 Tarnów (małopolskie voivodeship), penal institution, Konarskiego Street 2 KL Auschwitz-Birkenau
Gruszka Jan
TopicDisrupted childhood – the Zamość region
Date1944.06-1944.08
LocationRozkoszówka Jarosław (podkarpackie voivodeship) Uchanie
Sendler Irena 15.02.1910, Warszawa
TopicThe efforts of the Catholic Church to aid Jews
Date1939-1945
LocationWarsaw, Father Boduen Children's Home, Nowogrodzka Street 75 Turkowice (Hrubieszów district), Monastery of the Protection of Our Lady Warsaw, Father Boduen House, Nowogrodzka Street 75 Warsaw, Ghetto
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 factory of death
Date1940-1944
LocationBydgoszcz KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau) KL Mauthausen-Gusen (Austria) 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) Dęblin
Pietrzykowski Tadeusz 08.04.1917, Warsaw
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 Auschwitz-Birkenau, German extermination camp German extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau 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)
Most viewed
Karcz Jan 27.08.1915, Skalbmierz
TopicMass extermination - KL Neuengamme
Date1940.04.06-1945.05.03
LocationKL Neuengamme (Germany) KL Auschwitz-Birkenau Miechów (małopolskie voivodeship) Kraków, Gestapo headquarters, Pomorska Street 2 KL Bergen-Belsen (Germany) Kraków, Montelupich Prison, Montelupich Street 7 Lübeck (Germany) Bay of Lübeck (Germany) Kraków, Pomorska Street 2 Miechów Skalbmierz
Nelken Halina 22.09.1925, Kraków
TopicMass extermination – KL Plaszow
Date1944-1945.03
LocationKL Plaszow KL Malchow (KL Ravensbrück subcamp, Germany) KL Auschwitz-Birkenau Odrowąż (Końskie district) Kraków, Enamel Factory of Oskar Schindler (subcamp of KL Płaszów), Lipowa Street 4 Leipzig (Germany) Radom, train station, Podjazdowa Street (Beliny-Prażmowskiego Street 2)
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
Feder Sala 02.01.1918, Pilica (śląskie voivodeship)
TopicSelection – ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau
Date1943.08-1945.01.17
LocationŚrodula (Sosnowiec), Ghetto KL Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ramp II KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau) KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau), gas chambers and crematoriums II, III, IV, V KL Auschwitz I
Pietrzykowski Tadeusz 08.04.1917, Warsaw
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 Auschwitz-Birkenau, German extermination camp German extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau KL Dachau (Germany) Międzybrodzie Bialskie, industrial labor camp (subcamp of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau) Tarnów (małopolskie voivodeship) Rajsko (Oświęcim district)
Ząbecki Franciszek 08.10.1907, Łyszkowice (Łowicz county)
TopicTreblinka – extermination camp
Date1942.07-1943.10.20
LocationTreblinka, German extermination camp German extermination camp of Treblinka Białystok, ghetto Białystok, Ghetto
Kościelniak Mieczysław 28.01.1912, Kalisz
TopicAuschwitz-Birkenau – the German factory of death
Date1941.03.06-1945.05.06
LocationKL Melk (Austria) KL Melk (subcamp of KL Mauthausen-Gusen, Austria) KL Auschwitz-Birkenau Sosnowiec (śląskie voivodeship), industrial labor camp (subcamp of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau) KL Auschwitz-Birkenau, Ramp I KL Ravensbrück (Germany) KL Auschwitz I Kalisz KL Mauthausen-Gusen (Austria) KL Auschwitz II (Birkenau) KL Auschwitz III (Monowitz) Pszczyna KL Ebensee (Austria) KL Auschwitz I, Block 11 and Death Wall KL Buchenwald (Germany) KL Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bauhof KL Gross-Rosen KL Ebensee (subcamp of KL Mauthausen-Gusen, Austria)
Gurtler Jadwiga 1905?
TopicOchota '44 – genocide in Warsaw
Date1944.08.05-1944.08.10
LocationWarsaw, Częstochowska Street/ Białobrzeska Street Warsaw, Białobrzeska Street/ Częstochowska Street Warsaw, Grójecka Street Warsaw, Banacha Market Square, Grójecka Street 95 Pruszków, Dulag 121
Feliksiak Stanisław 06.04.1906, Łódź
TopicPolitics of the master race – institutions, economy, culture
Date1939.10-1946.05
LocationWarsaw, National Museum of Zoology, Wilcza Street 64 Salzburg, House of Nature, Museumsplatz 5 Street (Austria)
Kubicki Aleksander 28.09.1908, Raszków (district of Jędrzejów)
TopicAuschwitz-Birkenau – the German factory of death
Date1940.10-1941.08.24
LocationKL Auschwitz-Birkenau KL Auschwitz I KL Auschwitz I, Block 11 and Death Wall
Rajewski Ludwik 16.12.1900, Łódź
TopicAuschwitz-Birkenau – the German factory of death
Date1940.08-1942.08.22
LocationKL Auschwitz-Birkenau
Wiernik Jankiel (Smarzyński Jan) 1889, Biała Podlaska
Topic