Zielonka Pasłęcka (german: Grünhagen; formerly known in Polish as Zielonka Pruska) is a
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
in the administrative district of
Gmina Pasłęk, within
Elbląg County,
Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
.
It lies approximately south of
Pasłęk, south-east of
Elbląg
Elbląg (; german: Elbing, Old Prussian: ''Elbings'') is a city in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, located in the eastern edge of the Żuławy region with 117,390 inhabitants, as of December 2021. It is the capital of Elbląg Count ...
, and north-west of the regional capital
Olsztyn
Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini''
* Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...
.
The village has a population of 606.
Railroad Tragedy of January 1945
Near the end of
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, on 21 and 22 January 1945 the
village's train station was the site of a tragic train wreck followed by a Soviet attack on unarmed refugees. A German Army hospital train full of wounded which had stopped briefly at the station was rear-ended some time around 11 pm by a train carrying a few thousand refugees from
Osterode and
Mohrungen. The collision resulted in many killed and wounded on both trains. A second refugee train arrived not long afterwards, but was able to come to a stop before colliding with the first refugee train.
The collision destroyed a number of rail cars on both the hospital and the refugee trains; this permanently blocked the way for the second refugee train. The hospital train, leaving its wrecked wagons behind, was able to proceed towards the west towards Preußisch Holland and Elbing and escape. However, three to four thousand refugees were left waiting for a replacement train that never arrived.
At dawn on 22 January a Soviet Army unit consisting of tanks and infantry arrived, and, possibly due to the presence of some German soldiers in uniform, opened fired on the many people and buildings at the station, killing 140 to 150. The few German soldiers were taken prisoners, and a guard troop was set to make sure the refugees remained in place. These were removed after a week, whereupon the remaining people dispersed. The dead from both the train wreck and the Russian attack were buried in shallow graves in sites near the train station in March 1945.
Excerpt from Flight and Expulsion
Today, there are two plates in memory of the tragedy, both placed on the train station building, one written in Polish and the second one written in 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 ...
.
References
Villages in Elbląg County
{{Elbląg-geo-stub