Photographic Evidence Of The Mlawa Massacre

Potters Street, Mlawa, Poland in 1946.

Shimon Kozik, on the left, and another Jewish survivor of the Holocaust have returned to the Jewish section of the Polish town of Mlawa only to find that all the Jews are gone. They are standing at the beginning of Zdunska (or Toppergaas in Yidish and Potters Street in English) street, the entrance to the Jewish section.

The ghetto wall.

Jewish survivors stand in front of the wall of the Jewish ghetto that was erected by the Nazis in Mlawa, Poland.

Site of the Judenrat headquarters in Mlawa, Poland.

During the war, this building housed the headquarters of the Judenrat, or Jewish council, that the Nazis organized. Dovid Tachna was one of its members. It was 70 of those members, including Dovid Tachna, who were executed in 1942 for smuggling food into the Jewish ghetto.

Desecrated remains from the Jewish cemetary in Mlawa, Poland

The Poles had dug up the remains from Jewish graves in order to steal valuables such as gold tooth fillings and jewelery.

Gathering remains.

Shimon Kozik, on the left, and other Jewish survivors have gathered up the descecrated remains from the Jewish cemetery along with corpses of massacre victims. They are placing them in a coffin for reburial.

Unearthing the remains

The chore of finding remains of the massacre victims.

One of the open coffins with the remains of a Jewish massacre victim.

Many of the remains of the 1942 massacre were still fresh. This corpse may have been Dovid Tachna, one of the Jews executed by the Nazis in 1942.

Placing a corpse into a makeshift coffin.

The Jewish survivors, including Shimon Kozik who is standing second from the left, place the corpse of one of the victims of the 1942 massacre into a makeshift coffin. The corpse may have been that of Dovid Tachna.

Collecting remains

Putting the remains of massacre victims into coffins.

Filling the coffin.

Putting the corpes and remains of massacre victims into a coffin, the survivors and Poles prepare to bury them.

Filling one of the coffins.

The remains of Jewish burials and massacre victims are placed into one of the makeshift coffins.

Filling the coffins.

Shimon Kozik, on the left, and other Jewish survivors place the Jewish remains into makeshift coffins.

Filling the coffins.

So many remains were found that several makeshift coffins had to be used.

Gathering remains.

Shimon Kozik, on the left, and other Jewish survivors have gathered up the descecrated remains from the Jewish cemetery along with corpses of massacre victims. They are placing them in a coffin for reburial.

Preparing the makeshift coffins.

Shimon Kozik, on the left, and another Jewish survivor prepare the makeshift coffins for burial in a mass grave.

Sealing one of the coffins.

Shimon Kozik, on the left, places a lid on one of the coffins containg Jewish victims.

Sealing the coffins

Makeshift coffins containing the remains of Jewish burials and massacre victims.

Carrying coffin of victims remains.

The Jewish survivors contracted some Christian Poles to help bury the massacre victims remains.

Digging the mass grave.

A Jewish survivor places a makeshift coffin into the ground where a mass grave has been dug.

Placing a coffin into the mass grave.

Having gathered the remains of victims, the Jewish survivors lower a makeshift coffin into the mass grave.

Burial of Victims

Lowering a makeshift coffin full of human remains into a mass grave.

Placing a makeshift coffin into the mass grave.

Jewish survivors and Polish volunteers lower one of the makeshift coffins containing remains of Jewish victims into the mass grave.

One of the coffins is lowered into the ground.

Survivors and Polish volunteers lower a coffin containing remains of Jewish victims into the mass grave.

One of the coffins is lowered into the ground.

Jewish survivors and Polish volunteers lower one of the makeshift coffins containing remains of Jewish victims into the mass grave.

Placing a makeshift coffin into the mass grave.

Jewish survivors and Polish volunteers lower one of the makeshift coffins containing remains of Jewish victims into the mass grave.

One of the coffins is lowered into the ground.

Jewish survivors and Polish volunteers lower one of the makeshift coffins containing remains of Jewish victims into the mass grave.

One of the coffins is lowered into the ground.

Jewish survivors and Polish volunteers lower one of the makeshift coffins containing remains of Jewish victims into the mass grave.

The makeshift coffins placed in the mass grave.

After gathering the remains of Jewish victims, the Jewish survivors and Polish volunteers have placed the makeshift coffins into the mass grave over which a monument will be placed.

The makeshift coffins placed in the mass grave.

After gathering the remains of Jewish victims, the Jewish survivors and Polish volunteers have placed the makeshift coffins into the mass grave over which a monument will be placed.

Closing the mass grave.

The Jewish survivors and volunteer Poles place the coffins containing massacre victims into the ground.

The first monument to the Jewish victims.

This monument was placed on the site of the mass grave to Jewish victims by the Jewish survivors.

The destroyed first monument.

Jewish survivors, including Shimon Kozik, look at the pieces of the destroyed first monument that they had placed on the site of the mass grave of Jewsh victims. Polish anti-Semites have destroyed it.

The monument to the Jewish victims in Mlawa, Poland.

This photograph shows the first monument placed over the site of the mass grave of Jewish victims.

Pieces of the destroyed first monument.

Polish anti-Semites destroyed the first (and second) monument that the Jewish survivors had placed on the site of the mass grave of Jewish victims.

The Jewish Survivors.

The Jewish survivors, including Shimon Kozik who is at the far right, who had gathered the remains and placed a monument at the site.

Behind them are the broken pieces of the first monument that was destroyed by Polish anti-Semites.

The second memorial to the Jewish victims.

After the destruction of the first monument to the Jewish massacre victims, a second one was placed over the mass grave. It too was destroyed by Polish anti-Semites.

The remains of the second memorial.

Shimon Kozik, on the right, and another Jewish survivor stand with the pieces of the second monument to the Jewish massacre victims that had been destroyed by Polish anti-Semites.

The site of the mass grave and memorial monument.

Jewish survivors, including Shimon Kozik, stand in front of the site of the mass grave of Jewish victims looking at the destroyed monument that they had placed there. Even after the war, hatred of Jews was so intense in Poland that the memorial to Jewish victims kept being destroyed by the Poles.

The monument to the massacre victims as it is today.

It reads, "Here rests 75 victims of Hitler's barbarism murdered in the ghetto in 1942. [Placed] by those who survived, May 1946.

It is no longer located on the site of the mass grave. Rather, the Polish authorities placed it on the corner of Plocka and Gaebskiego streets.