Wola Massacre Memorial on Górczewska Street

The Wola Massacre Memorial on Górczewska Street is a war memorial located at 32 Górczewska Street (near the intersection with Prymasa Tysiąclecia Avenue) in the Wola district of Warsaw, Poland.

A large cross and several memorial plaques commemorate the place which was the principal execution site used by the Nazi German occupiers of Warsaw during the Wola massacre, one of the most brutal massacres of civilians during the Second World War, which took place between 5 and 12 August 1944, in the early days of the Warsaw Uprising. Up to 10,000 Polish men, women and children were murdered at the site.

In early August 1944, German troops sent to suppress the Warsaw Uprising massacred 40,000–50,000 inhabitants of the district of Wola, mainly in organised mass executions. On the express orders of Adolf Hitler, people were murdered regardless of their age or sex. The greatest number of killings took place in the area near Górczewska and Moczydła streets, in particular at a building on Górczewska Street located near a railway embankment. The mass executions at this site began on 4 August and continued until 8 August 1944. The greatest number of victims were killed on 5 August (known as "Black Saturday").

Historians estimate that up to 10,000 Polish people - men, women and children - were executed near the location of the memorial. After rounding up and killing the victims, the Germans burned the bodies, which made a precise determination of the number of people murdered here impossible. It is known, however, that among the victims were residents of the following streets: Działdowska, Gostyńska, Górczewska, Moczydło, Płocka, Rabsztyńska, Skierniewicka, Sokołowska, Staszica, Syreny, Szlenkierów, św. Wojciecha, Tyszkiewicza, Wawelberga, Zbożowa and Żytnia. The Germans also murdered around 360 patients from Wola Hospital on Płocka Street (now the Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases) and three priests from Saint Wojciech's Church (Kościół Świętego Wojciecha) on Wolska Street.

By the first anniversary of the massacre, a wooden cross had been placed at the site of the murders and a commemoration took place at the initiative of employees of Wola Hospital, who still care for the memorial to this day. In the early 1950s, a Tchorek plaque was added to the memorial.

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