Mass Grave Database - Based On Early Testemonies

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Where vicitims are from, last know location	Augustów (Jews, Poles and Soviets)
Town/county where mass grave is located	Augustów
Mass Grave Location	few kilometers outside of town near the forest - bones reburied in the pits after bodies exhumed and burned
Date of Murder	May 16 or 18 1944
Numer of Victims	900+20 men
Names of Victims Mentioned
Full Testimony	[April 1944] We reached Augustów, where we met a group transported on 15 or 17 May. The next day, in the morning, we drove a few kilometres near the forest (I don't know the way, but I would recognize the place), started digging and at a depth of 1,5m we saw bodies. 6 people were designated to fell trees (trunks) and cut them into planks; I was among them. 12 planks 6m long were arranged into a well. The guards were drunk, rushing people in an unthinkable way. They ordered us to put the unearthed bodies on the pile of planks (mind you, to take out the bodies we were using rods made in prison). 900 people were in those 30m long, 2 m wide and 1,5m deep pits. The Germans told us to count them. In another pit there were 20 bodies. We worked 12 hours a day for 3 days. Bodies in the pits were usually arranged in three layers, one right on top of another. Piles of bodies were burning for 1,5 days. Bones and ashes were sieved through a sieve. Bones were collected and again buried in the pits, which we later covered with dirt and concealed with bushes. They were looking for gold and they found it. There were mostly male bodies in the pits. Soviet military clothes and objects used during religious rites were also found. There were Jews, Poles and Soviets.
Testimony Number	301/547
page in longer testimony	pages 4-5
Date of Testimony	Bialystock September 6-7, 1944 (1945?)
Name of Witness	Mojżesz Gerszuni the author was a member of a special kommando responsible for burning the bodies from mass graves in order to cover up the traces
Current Country	Poland