Ochota massacre

Ochota massacre
One of many memorials commemorating massacre sites in Ochota, located at the corner of Tarczyńska and Daleka Streets (17 civilians were murdered here, after which their bodies were burnt)
Location	Ochota, Warsaw
Coordinates	52°12′36″N 20°58′16″E / 52.210°N 20.971°E / 52.210; 20.971Coordinates: 52°12′36″N 20°58′16″E / 52.210°N 20.971°E / 52.210; 20.971
Date	4–25 August 1944
Target	Polish civilians
Attack type	Mass murders, gang rapes, looting, arson
Deaths	Approx. 10,000
Perpetrators	S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A. commanded by Bronislav Kaminski

The Ochota Massacre (in Polish: Rzeź Ochoty – "Ochota slaughter") was a wave of German-orchestrated mass murder, looting, arson, torture and rape, which swept through the Warsaw district of Ochota from 4–25 August 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising. The principal perpetrators of these war crimes were the Nazi collaborationist S.S. Sturmbrigade R.O.N.A., the so-called "Russian National Liberation Army" (Russian: Русская Освободительная Народная Армия, RONA), commanded by Bronislav Kaminski.

The worst atrocities were committed in the local hospitals, in the Curie Institute, the Kolonia Staszica housing estate, and the Zieleniak concentration camp. In all, about 10,000 residents of Ochota were killed and had their property stolen, after which the district was systematically burnt down by German forces, as were the bodies of many of the victims.

After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising on 1 August 1944, SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler ordered the destruction of the city and the extermination of its civilian population.

On 4 August 1944 at approximately 10:00, units of SS RONA commanded by Bronislav Kaminski entered Warsaw's Ochota district. The staff of RONA, having under its command 1,700 soldiers, set up their headquarters in a building of the Wolna Wszechnica Polska (Polish Free University) at 2A Opaczewska Street (today 2 Banacha Street), while the soldiers took over the building of the XXI Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Hugona Kołłątaja (21st Hugo Kołłątaj Secondary School) at 93 Grójecka Street.