The show, “And They Never Returned Home. The Alphabet of the Augustów Round-up,” will stand in the main hall of the Sejm. Created by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in Białystok and curated by historian Jarosław Wasilewski, its aim is to “remember the victims’ tragic fate and pay them due respect.”
Deputy IPN head Karol Polejowski is scheduled to open the display, which marks the operation’s 80th anniversary. A conference titled “Truth and Memory of the Augustów Round-up” will follow in the Sejm’s Column Hall the same day.
Historians describe the July 1945 sweep by Soviet NKVD and SMERSH units in the Suwałki region as the largest post-war crime against Poles. Earlier research put the death toll at 592, but recent estimates reach about 2,000. None of the bodies has been located.
IPN investigators say roughly 600 detainees from Augustów, Suwałki and Sokółka counties were executed at an unknown site, with Polish security forces assisting Soviet troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front.
Experts analyzing post-war aerial photographs have pinpointed over 60 potential mass-grave sites in neighboring Belarus near Kalety, yet Minsk has refused legal cooperation. Limited digs on the Polish side found scattered human remains, with no proven link to the Round-up.
The Białystok IPN continues to classify the case as a communist crime against humanity.
(jh)
Source: PAP