Wielka Klonia is a village in the administrative district of

Gmina Gostycyn __NOTOC__ Gmina Gostycyn is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Tuchola County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. Its seat is the village of Gostycyn, which lies approximately south of Tuchola and north of Bydgosz ...

, within

Tuchola County __NOTOC__ Tuchola County ( pl, powiat tucholski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local ...

Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, also known as Cuiavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship or simply Kujawsko-Pomorskie, or Kujawy-Pomerania Province ( pl, województwo kujawsko-pomorskie ) is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divide ...

, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately west of

Gostycyn Gostycyn (german: Liebenau) is a village in Tuchola County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Gostycyn. It lies approximately south of Tuchola and north ...

, south-west of

Tuchola Tuchola (german: Tuchel; csb, Tëchòlô) is a town in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland. The Pomeranian town, which is the seat of Tuchola County, had a population of 13,418 . Geographical location Tuchola lies about n ...

, and north of

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

History

During the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

(

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

), Wielka Klonia was one of the sites of executions of

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

, carried out by the Germans in 1939 as part of the ''

Intelligenzaktion The ''Intelligenzaktion'' (), or the Intelligentsia mass shootings, was a series of mass murders which was committed against the Polish intelligentsia (teachers, priests, physicians, and other prominent members of Polish society) early in the ...

''. Polish farmers from Wielka Klonia were also among the victims of large massacres of Poles from the region, perpetrated by the ''

Selbstschutz ''Selbstschutz'' (German for "self-protection") is the name given to different iterations of ethnic-German self-protection units formed both after the First World War and in the lead-up to the Second World War. The first incarnation of the ''Selb ...

'' in 1939 in nearby

Rudzki Most Rudzki Most (, german: Rudabrück/Raudenbrück) is a district of Tuchola, Poland, located in the south-eastern part of the town, along the west bank of the Brda River. It is on the edge of the Tuchola Landscape Park, and was incorporated into th ...

. In the spring of 1940, the occupiers carried out expulsions of Poles, who then were enslaved as

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

colonists in the area. The expelled Poles were farm owners and families of the victims of earlier massacres of Poles. Local Poles were also among the victims of a massacre of Poles, committed by the Germans on 3 November 1940 in nearby

Bralewnica Bralewnica is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kęsowo, within Tuchola County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Kęsowo, south-west of Tuchola, and north of Bydgoszc ...

.Wardzyńska (2017), p. 78 The families of the victims were also soon expelled. Further expulsions of Polish inhabitants were carried out in 1942 and 1943, and the Poles were deported to the

Potulice concentration camp Potulice concentration camp (german: UWZ Lager Lebrechtsdorf– Potulitz) was a concentration camp established and operated by Nazi Germany during World War II in Potulice near Nakło in the territory of occupied Poland. Until the spring of 1941 i ...

.Wardzyńska (2017), pp. 121, 135 Houses of expelled Poles were handed over to German colonists as part of the ''

Lebensraum (, ''living space'') is a German concept of settler colonialism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' became a geopolitical goal of Imperi ...

'' policy.

References

Villages in Tuchola County Intelligenzaktion massacre locations {{Tuchola-geo-stub