No other event captures the brutality of the Uprising better than the Wola Massacre. Between August 5 and August 6 the Nazis embarked on a savage bloodletting in an attempt to batter the Poles into submission. Led by Heinz Reinfarth and Oskar Dirlewanger, a despicable man with a history of sex crimes against minors, German units executed approximately 40,000 civilians in the Wola area of Warsaw. The massacre only came to a halt when Hitler himself intervened and declared all civilians be sent to concentration camps instead. While Dirlewanger was beaten to death by Poles after the war, Reinfarth and countless others evaded justice. The senseless slaughter is commemorated by an impressive monument dating from 2006, designed by Ryszard Stryjecki and found practically opposite the Ibis hotel on Solidarności.

fot. Hiuppo, wikipedia.org