Bzury is a
village in the administrative district of
Gmina Szczuczyn
__NOTOC__
Gmina Szczuczyn is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Grajewo County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. Its seat is the town of Szczuczyn, which lies approximately south-west of Grajewo and north-west of the ...
, within
Grajewo County,
Podlaskie Voivodeship
Podlaskie Voivodeship or Podlasie Province ( pl, Województwo podlaskie, ) is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. The name of the province and its territory correspond to the historic region of Podlachia. The capital and largest cit ...
, in north-eastern Poland.
It lies approximately north-east of
Szczuczyn
Szczuczyn is a town in Grajewo County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland. As of 2004, it has a population of 3,602.
History
The town is located in the north-eastern outskirts of Mazovia, which has been part of Poland since the establishment of t ...
, south-west of
Grajewo, and north-west of the regional capital
Białystok
Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area.
Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...
.
World War II
In 2012 the Polish
Institute of National Remembrance launched an investigation into the 1941 murder of some twenty Jewish women from the
Szczuczyn
Szczuczyn is a town in Grajewo County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland. As of 2004, it has a population of 3,602.
History
The town is located in the north-eastern outskirts of Mazovia, which has been part of Poland since the establishment of t ...
ghetto, committed locally, by six criminals who arrived in Bzury also from the village of Szczuczyn. The crime was investigated in 1950 by the authorities in
Stalinist Poland
Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...
, resulting in one death sentence, later commuted to life. The only convicted perpetrator, Stanisław Zalewski, died in 1957. Historian
Barbara Engelking from IPN, who specializes in the history of
Nazi era ghettos across Poland, studied the court documents and about a dozen witness testimonies dating back to 1948. The IPN investigation confirmed that the crime was premeditated. All victims were young, and came to Bzury on German orders to work on a farm. They were supposed to be brought back to the ghetto, but were allegedly killed for sexual gratification along the road the same evening.
References
Bzury
{{Grajewo-geo-stub