Article

2022-10-23 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

1945 Belarus : NKVD burned small Lavzhi on the outskirts of Belarus

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

This article is from 2019. It is important to remember, and be reminded.
[Cenzoriv] “There was no tree. There are corpses everywhere." 75 years ago, NKVD troops burned small Lavzhi on the outskirts of Belarus

Continued from Page 5

On the night of February 23-24, 1945, the Belarusian village of Lavzhi in the Oshmyany region, was burned. Now two commemorative signs installed in the middle of the field near the Lithuanian border remind of the terrible tragedy. One is in Belarusian, the other is in Polish.

And if the first memorial gives very scarce information, then the second one says in more detail: the village of Lavzhi was burned by the NKVD troops. Almost all the inhabitants were killed, as well as the self-defense detachment of the Polish Home Army stationed here. According to various sources, from 53 to 80 people were killed. What happened could be attributed to military operations, but by this time the front was already far to the west. What happened in a small Belarusian village at the end of winter 75 years ago?

There are only a few references to this story in Russian-language literature, research and the press, more information can be found from Polish researchers. True, the rhetoric and descriptions of what happened are very different.

For example, a large material dedicated to the Belarusian village was published in 2016 in the Polish edition of Rocznik Bezpiecze 4;stwa Międzynarodowego. The author is a historian, professor Tomasz Balbus. He worked at the Lithuanian Historical Archive, where some of the materials related to the events that took place in Lavzhy in 1945 are located. Also, the Belarusian village is mentioned in the book of the Russian researcher Elena Yakovleva “Poland against the USSR. 1939−1950."

Background
After the territory of Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine was liberated, there was unrest in some regions of these republics. In fact, hostilities continued here, but not between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, but between self-defense units of the Home Army (AK) and the NKVD troops, which, in particular, were sent to Belarus in December 1944.

The goal of the Home Army was to restore Poland within the borders until September 1939 , when it included Western Belarus, Western Ukraine and Vilnius. Its fighters considered these territories occupied. Here, armed detachments independently acted against the Nazis. In this matter, they could temporarily cooperate with the Soviet partisans, but avoid joining them. During the war, it was highly undesirable to fight the Soviets.

By July 1944, there were about 20,000 soldiers of self-defense detachments of the Home Army on the territory of Belarus.

After the transition of Western Ukraine, Belarus and Vilnius under the control of the Soviet Union, members of the formations continued to fight against the Soviet regime.

For the Chekists, the AK self-defense units are bandits who should have been destroyed.

The 6th Department of the Second Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR was entrusted with fighting the AK detachments in the west of our country. Colonel General Bogdan Kobulov was sent to Minsk to develop and supervise the special operation.
Colonel General Bogdan Kobulov was executed by Stalin, along with Lavrenti Beria.
Professor Tomasz Balbus writes that about 19,000 Chekists were sent to the territory of Belarus. But these were not the only forces intended to suppress Polish resistance. According to the then Soviet NKGB officer Ivan Borisov, on the orders of the headquarters in Moscow, several units were created, acting under the guise of "Vlasovites."
Vlasovites after Soviet General Andrey Vlasov who defected to the Germans in 1942.
In 1943, the AK began to conduct Operation Storm: it was assumed that after the Red Army crossed the eastern border of Poland, the AK detachments, together with the Soviet troops, would fight the Nazis, and then establish their power in the liberated territories. However, the second part of the plan fell through: the Soviet authorities began to liquidate the partisan detachments of the AK.

Part of the "Storm" was the operation "Sharp Gate": AK soldiers, together with Soviet soldiers, liberated Vilnius in 1944, the areas of which were then jointly patrolled. The Craiova Army sought recognition from the Soviet side that it was a separate corps. It did not work out - the NKVD began to surround the AK detachments. Part of the Poles went home, and part of the Polish military began to gather in the forests between Oshmyany and Vilnius, where skirmishes began between Soviet and Polish troops.

By the beginning of 1945, many units of the Home Army were destroyed by the Chekists. On the territory of Western Belarus, there were only scattered Polish partisan detachments. Including in Oshmyany.

To suppress the remaining detachments of the AK from January to May 1945, the KGB group of Major Viktorov, who was called the "Black Major," worked here. Her ! detachments acted under cover - as "Vlasovites".

Tomasz Balbus draws attention to the fact that at that time there were actually no formations of General Andrei Vlasov on the territory of the Vilnius region, and all those “Vlasovites” who were allegedly located in the territories of Lithuania and Belarus were in fact disguised Chekists.

Two villages and two armed detachments in the forests of Oshmyany
And now - February 1945. Two small Belarusian villages - Lavzhi and Lukshany. In each town - 8-10 yards.

And two armed groups.

The detachment of security officers included Russians, Lithuanians, Belarusians and Poles. The unit consisted of soldiers, officers, telegraph operators and a medical unit. Working with agents, the Chekists knew that an AK detachment was quartered in Lavzhy - it was decided to destroy it.

The Polish detachment was led by 18-year-old Vlodzimierz Mikut "Yarema." Previously, he participated in the liberation of Vilnius, later joined the detachment of Serbiusz Kostyalkovsky "Fakir", and after his death he took command.

In February 1945, he had about 60 people under his command: armed soldiers, as well as nurses. The battle in the village of Lavzhi was the last for the unit. In one of his interviews, Mikut said:

- Our last battle was near the village of Lavzhi near Oshmyany. It lasted all night, and the village was almost completely destroyed. Polish partisans caught by the NKVD were shot on the spot. I escaped only because I was a squad leader.

Four days before the tragedy
February 19, 1945. A detachment of armed men enters the village of Lukshany.

Local residents (survivors) recalled that people were dressed in Polish, German and Lithuanian military uniforms. There are 23 horse carts in total. Without particularly asking the villagers, the soldiers occupied the huts, led the horses to stay in the barn, and demanded food. The locals did not resist, fearing for their lives, they let uninvited guests into the house and did not realize that in front of them were disguised Chekists.

A meeting was scheduled for February 23 with the AK detachment, which was stationed in the neighboring village of Lavzhi. The "Vlasovites" allegedly wanted to agree on how "the two groups will act further."

Several people came forward from the Poles to the meeting. A small detachment of negotiators was led by Włodzimierz Mikut. Among others were also Wanda Tseiko, Anna Shishko, Regina Geishtor, Nina Golmirska, Witold Shupovsky, Stanislav Prokopovich - about 10 people in total.

In Lukshany, in the house of a local resident, Edvard Yuzel, AK soldiers met with a major in a German uniform, as well as an officer in a Polish uniform. There were still people in the house.

Here is how Tomasz Balbus describes the meeting:

“The conversation took place in a relaxed atmosphere. They talked, drank moonshine, danced. During this meeting, the owner of the house was asked to leave, and he went to a neighbor. He returned when the Vlasovites, together with the Polish partisans, were about to leave and leave Lukshan. He noticed that the Polish commander was drunk."

Then, during the interrogation, Mikut said that he spoke Russian with the "Vlasovites", and the topic of conversation was the same - cooperation. They offered the Polish detachment to attack together the NKVD unit located in the surrounding forests. After drinking and talking, we made a new meeting. The AK partisans were about to leave, the "Vlasovites" volunteered to hold them. A kilometer from the village, the Chekists attacked the Polish partisans. Mikut was the first to be "removed" from the sled, then Wanda Tseiko and Stanislav Prokopovich were tied. Some members of the group were killed. The survivors were taken to Oshmyany.

“Alcohol, the lack of vigilance and experience of the commander led to the tragedy of the village of Lavzhi,” sums up Tomasz Balbus.

Only one family survived from the whole village.
On the night of February 23-24, the Chekists surrounded the village, dug trenches, and took up positions for the attack. The village was attacked from three sides. First, houses and outbuildings were fired upon with machine guns, then they were pelted with grenades and Molotov cocktails. People who tried to escape were shot.

The reason for the massacre, as the Chekists later said, was "the friendly reception of the partisans by the local Poles."

The surviving (he was only wounded) Polish partisan Boleslav Simonovich "Kvyat" later talked about how everything happened. Then he stood guard near one of the houses. It all started around 22.00. The man noticed some movement and heard a sound resembling a volley.

“After the changing of the guard, when I was going to rest, the nurse Irena comes running, shouting that we are surrounded. We grabbed our pistols and ran out into the street. Irka, who was the first to run out of the house, was shot by machine gun fire and fell to the ground. We ran to her. She was already dead. The fight lasted all night. The whole village was on fire. Civilians ran out of the house. People asked the attackers to let them live. But no one listened to them. They shot these people on the spot. Our squad was destroyed. I realized that I have no choice. I threw away my weapon and lay down among the corpses, pretending that I was dead. I heard how they finish off the wounded.”

In the book of the Russian researcher Elena Yakovleva "Poland against the USSR 1939-1950" mentions, among others, the village of Lavzhi. The author refers to the Polish magazine Nasz Czas:

“Another eyewitness account: “Lavzh was not. Everywhere on the former farmsteads lay the corpses of murdered children, women, men. One of the residents "sat" dead by the fence with a hole in his head. The wife of Jerzy Dzedulevich was lying on her back, and in one and the other hand she held the hands of her dead grandchildren ... Next to the ruins of each of the eight estates, the picture looked like this.

Of all the inhabitants of the village, only one family remained alive - the Dzedulevichi. They managed to escape, hide, and then secretly go to a neighboring village.
Alexander Dzedulevich, in whose house there were AK soldiers, later said that the Poles tried to take the locals out of the town, but nothing happened.

Yanina Gasparovich, a resident of Yuselishki village , told Radio Svaboda about the events of 75 years ago in 2015 . In 1945 she was 10 years old.

- They killed everyone. Was a Polish partisan after the war. And the NKVD was Russian. It was so cold! They stopped by to warm themselves. They entered the house. To the father: "Do you know, grandfather, who we are?" Dad says: "This is the world now - you don't recognize anyone." Dad was cunning, growing a beard so as not to get caught in the army. They warmed up a little, and many tricks ran over them. Not everyone came in, only a couple of people. Russian stars on hats. We warmed up and left. And our cow was just calving. Mother went to look at the cow at night. And he wakes up his father: "Wake up! What is happening in the sky. Something is burning, some kind of fire. The natuns must be on fire." Dad: "No. This is not Natuna. This is Lauzhy Gorat." Well, that's how it came out. Lauzhy. The next morning, the wounded are brought to us. They take and take. Then we hear that Lauzhy burned down, killed all the people. Only one guy was unmarried, he had gone to Vilnius. So he stayed alive.

Yanin also remembered Dzedulevich.

- It was from Friday to Saturday. And on Sunday, my mother went to church. And after the church, people gathered here to watch. Someone began to take away his relatives. Radnia came to pick up some bones. There was one murdered woman who was pregnant, and the child was lying next to her. Burnt. Everyone got burned there. And that Grandpa made a trench under the logs. And he scurried there with his coat and his wife. And he pulled the girl. Under these logs. Some of those logs were burnt. That's how they stayed alive. And then he put the house on fire. And then he left for Salechniki.

The girl's name was Danuta, and the wife's name was Maria.

The Polish partisan Vaclav Zhyla survived. When the village was on fire, he went to the neighboring village for provisions. Soon he was arrested by the NKVD and sent to Vorkuta.

Simonovich, in the morning, went to vegetable gardens to his native village, which was located 11 kilometers from Lavzhey. From there, wounded, he was taken to Korvelishki, he hid in Rakishki, and in 1958 he moved to Poland.

Residents of the surrounding villages recalled that on the morning of February 24, the “Vlasovites” were still in the burned village: they took off their clothes from the dead partisans, and then left in the direction of Oshmyany on wagon trains.

Here are the memories of Elena Turgel, a resident of the village of Osinovka, posted in an article by Tomasz Balbus:

“We went there with my mom. She learned from someone that the Russians had killed Polish partisans in Lavzhy. I don't know who told her about it. My brother - Stanislav Tur - was in the partisans. They didn't know what happened to him. Mom wanted to make sure that he was not among the dead. When they arrived at the village, there were already people from the surrounding villages. They searched for their relatives and buried the bodies. This was the day after the tragedy. There were no more Soviet soldiers on the spot. The whole village was burned down. Killed and burned people lay on the ashes: men, women and children. Most were so burned that it was impossible to identify them. There were many bodies there. How much, I can't say. I went with my mother among the dead in search of the body of my brother. Not found. Came back home. My mother went there two more times. I didn't want to go back there."

During the liquidation of the gang, 50 people were killed
After lunch on February 24, the leaders of the regional department of the NKVD in Oshmyany arrived at the scene. They drew up a protocol, where it was written that what had happened was “the liquidation of the Belopolskaya gang.”

In November 1947, the report of People's Commissar Sergei Belchenko on the fight against the anti-communist underground stated: “A Polish insurgent organization from the Home Army, consisting of 66 people, operated in the Oshmyany region in the Molodechno region, led by the Pole Vladimir Mikut. During the liquidation of the gang, 50 people were killed, the rest were arrested, including Mikut. A large amount of ammunition and other military equipment was seized.”

There were no reports of NKVD casualties.

As well as how many local residents were killed in February 1945.

August 4, 1945 Wlodzimierz Mikut was sentenced to 8 years in the camps. He received a relatively short term, according to historians, because he was a witness at the trial in Moscow of the leaders of the Polish underground state - but that's a completely different story.

The remaining members of the AK detachment were sentenced to longer terms: from 10 to 20 years in the camps. For example, Wanda Tseiko received 20 years in the camps, served her sentence in Vorkuta.

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