The victims are buried in a collective grave at Chojnice’s Cemetery for the Victims of Hitler's Crimes.
Their remains, recovered from five mass graves between 2021 and 2024, were placed in 188 coffins and reburied in September 2024.
A year later, officials unveiled a gravestone at the site. The gravestone was consecrated at a ceremony on Saturday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
In a letter read at the event, President Karol Nawrocki wrote that "remembrance of our fallen compatriots should motivate us to act with foresight, perseverance and a long-term view in the service of the Polish nation and state.”
He described the wartime killings in Chojnice’s so-called Death Valley as a "painful wound" for Poland.
Nawrocki said Nazi German war crimes remain a "chilling warning" against extremist ideologies that descend into hatred and aggression.
Photo: Roman Jocher/IPN
Historians say the murders were part of the Pomeranian Massacre, a planned campaign to exterminate Polish civilians in the northern Pomerania region.
About 16,000 victims have been identified so far through exhumation records and name lists, though the death toll may have reached 40,000.
The largest single killing site was the Piaśnica Forest, where an estimated 10,000 people were murdered.
Determining the total number of victims is impossible, historians say, because Nazi German authorities destroyed records and burned bodies.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, TVP Info