The Last Mass Execution of World War II: The Roundup Carried Out by Soviet Troops in the Augustów Forest in July 1945

The USSR placed great emphasis on fighting national resistance movements, due both to the Soviet leadership’s intention to ensure security to the rear of the invading Red Army and to the threat these movements posed to the prospect of Sovietization of the seized areas. Documents revealed in recent years in Russia indicate that in summer 1945, despite the end of World War II in Europe, Poland and Lithuania saw a series of dragnet operations targeting guerrilla fighters. According to the authors, these operations were connected with the fact that the Soviet leadership had seriously considered the hypothetical failure of the Potsdam Conference and the outbreak of World War III. The roundup carried out by the Soviet 50th Army in the Augustów Forest was the bloodiest of these dragnet operations. During the roundup, more than seven thousand individuals were detained, including at least around six hundred who were subsequently shot dead by SMERSH, which viewed them as hostile elements. Death sentences were pronounced without trial, on the basis of an administrative decision issued by Soviet bodies. In the authors’ view, this was the last mass execution of World War II. Despite censorship having been imposed, the memory of this crime remained vivid among the residents of this region throughout the entire period of the communist rule in Poland.