Executions in the Buczyna Forest in Zbylitowska Góra

Tarnów, occupied by the Wehrmacht on September 7, 1939, became a site of terror against the Polish and Jewish populations during the German occupation. The Germans took over the pre-war investigative prison at Konarskiego Street, where groups of detainees arrived daily, and Poles from various locations in southeastern Poland were also gathered there. Among the tragic events that took place in the city was the systematic isolation and extermination of Jews, culminating in the 1942 deportation action, which led to the establishment of a ghetto with approximately 40,000 inhabitants. After the war, on November 3, 1945, investigations began into the mass graves in the Buczyna forest, where an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people may have been murdered. In 1948, a monument dedicated to the victims of Nazi terror was erected at the crime site, symbolizing the suffering and memory of those killed. In the years following the war, the site became a cemetery for Holocaust victims, attracting pilgrims from around the world, especially Jews, who came to pay tribute to the deceased. In 2015, additional mass graves were discovered, contributing to further investigation of the crimes. However, due to Jewish religious laws, their exhumation was not possible. The extermination actions targeting Jews in Buczyna were brutal, based on executions carried out both there and in other locations where political prisoners and civilians were killed. Notably, among the victims were approximately 800 children from a Jewish orphanage, illustrating the scale of the tragedy that befell Tarnów and its inhabitants during World War II. Tarnów remains a significant site of memory, and its history continues to evoke emotions and reflection on past events.