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Poznan
Sightseeing
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WWII Poznań
After being annexed by Nazi Germany in 1939 Poznań was incorporated into the Third Reich and saw an aggressive Germanisation policy with over 100,000 civilians expelled from the city, replaced with Volksdeutch settlers from the Baltic States and other far-flung regions. Of those exiled many died in mass executions conducted in 1940 in the area surrounding Lake Rusałka (E-1). Gestapo HQ was located in Dom Żołnierza (ul. Niezłomnych 1), in a building that was opened in March 1939 to serve as home to a Polish military garrison. Housing around 200 Gestapo officers the building was primarily used as an interrogation centre with thousands tortured in the basement. It was stormed by the Red Army in February 1945, and fiercely defended by SS military students who ultimately opted for mass suicide over capture. Completely battered by this siege, the only original remenant of the building is its tower, spared the brunt of Soviet aggression for the fact it was used as a reference point by artillery units. Prisoners processed through Dom Żołnierza usually ended up in the (still functioning) prison on ul. Młynska (B-1), or the notorious Fort VII (Al. Polska) in the far west of the city. Used as a penal camp this network of 19th century fortifications today serves as the Museum of Martyrdom, and its gloomy subterranean chambers are filled with relics recovered from the site – photographs, cutlery, wallets and roasries. Outside the death wall commemorates the thousands shot by firing squad. The Jews faced a particularly vile fate, and it was in Poznań, 1943 that Himmler delivered his speech declaring Nazi intentions to exterminate Jewish life. Today little survives of Poznań’s Jewish heritage, with the early 19th century graveyard on ul. Głogowska (E-4) destroyed by the Nazis, before being commandeered by the authorities in the post-war period and incorporated into the MTP trade fair. Earmarked to serve as the palatial quarters of Gauleiter Arthur Greiser heavy reconstruction work on the Zamek (A-2, ul. Św. Marcin 80/82) by Albert Speer meant that in reality Gresier spent much of the war residing on ul. Berwińskiego 5, today the home of a local radio station. Once the Soviet siege began Poznań was as good as doomed, with the old town faced with around 90% total destruction. A few images of the city in ruins can be viewed in the History of Poznan Museum inside the town hall (C-1, Stary Rynek 1). Another area defended to the last man was the citadel in the north of the city, which today houses the Poznan Army Museum (G-1). Of note are the cemeteries that lie on the south west of the park boundaries. A commonwealth graveyard includes the remains of allied airmen shot down over Poland during WWII and is also the resting place for several of those captured during The Great Escape – yes it was a true story (minus Steve McQueen and a few other Hollywood touches). Next to it a cemetery dedicated to Red Army soldiers killed during the 1945 siege, with a soaring monument standing out as an awesome display of Socialist Realism. The red star that once topped it was long removed, the rumours that it was filled with jewels proving to be an urban myth. Jammed in between Soviet and Commonwealth memorials are plots dedicated to Poles killed under Fascism, and also during the 1956 Wielkopolska Uprising.
