“I looked directly down the barrel, the drunk German soldier missed”, remembers Henryk Troszczyński, the eyewitness and survivor of the traumatic events that took place 75 years ago in Wola, a suburb of Warsaw”.
An academic Conference “Adjudging the Slaughter of Wola (“Genocide Wola 44”) will take place on 28 September 2019 in Warsaw, Poland.
The Conference has been organized to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the genocide, often referred to as the Slaughter of Wola, which took place in August of 1944 in Wola – a suburb of Warsaw during the German occupation of Poland at the time of WWII. The crime was carried out by the German army on orders of the German military command. During a few terrible days Germans murdered over 50,000 civilians – women, men and children and then tried to cover up their crime by burning the bodies. It was the single biggest war crime committed by Wehrmacht] during the WWII. This crime has never been brought to justice.
The aim of the Conference, “Adjudging the Slaughter of Wola” is to restore the memory of this horrible crime committed by the German army and to inform the wide community, in Poland and internationally, about its scale and how it was carried out. The Conference’s other goal is to finally bring the perpetrators or their legal heirs to trial in the appropriate court of justice because the Slaughter of Wola is a crime of genocide and as such has no statute of limitations.
The Deputy Speaker of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, Ms. Małgorzata Gosiewska, and
Chairman of the Institute of National Remembrance, Mr. Jarosław Szarek are the honorary patrons of the Conference.
The Conference has been organized around three following themes:
1) Eyewitnesses Forum – documents, eyewitnesses testimonies, filmed documentaries,
2) Historical Forum – conference papers deliberating the magnitude and significance of the committed atrocities at the time of the crime and in the later periods,
3) Legal Forum – conference papers dedicated to the legal aspects of the crime and to the actions required to judge this crime in an international court of law.
The Conference has been organized into two separate parts. The first part is dedicated to the testimonies of eyewitnesses. It will take place in the St. Wojciech Church on 76 Wolska Street. This location is a symbolic place as it was one of the important centers of the events often referred to as a Slaughter of Wola. In August of 1944 it was simultaneously a theatre of mass executions, a transit camp for those awaiting their death and an operating theater for the wounded, who escaped death so far. This Part of the Conference is opened to all interested and no registration is required. Prior to the beginning of this session a Mass will be celebrated to commemorate all those who perished during the Slaughter of Wola. The main part of this session will consist of testimonies of eyewitnesses, who survived and saw it all with their own eyes…Two documentaries will be also screen for the first time.
The second part of the Conference will include Historical and Legal Forum and will take place in the Institute of National Remembrance, [Przystanek Historia] on 21/25 Marszałkowska Street. Because of limited places, a registration for this session is necessary. Registration is available on our website at http://genocidewola44.pl
The Conference proceedings will be live streamed online. Link will be soon available on our website http://genocidewola44.pl/.
The detailed Programme can be viewed here.
Prof. Piotr Witakowski,
on behalf of the Conference Organizational Committee.
Contact: kontakt@genocide44.pl
