Posen – Rusalka
In western Poznan (german Posen) there is an artificial lake called Rusalka. It was the Nazi governor, Arthur Greiser, who in 1941 decided to build the lake by damming the Bogdanka river. The lake was built with the help of Polish and Jewish slave workers and was completed in 1943. It would be part of a larger recreation area that the Germans planned to build. To reinforce the shoreline and the bottom sections, gravestones collected from Jewish cemeteries in Posen were used. As Germany sufferred miltary set backs from 1943 and onwards the work on the lake and its surroundings stopped. In 1940, before the lake began to be built, the Germans shot thousands of poles in the forests around the lake.
Current status: Preserved with monument (2021).
Location: 52°25' 25.47" N 16°53' 17.67" E
Get there: Car.
Follow up in books: Epstein, Catherine: Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the occupation of western Poland (2010).
There are four monuments around the lake for both those murdered in 1940 and for the slave workers who were used in the construction of the lake. Over time, some of the gravestones used in construction have washed up towards the shore. Since 2019, attempts are being made to salvage the gravestones used in its construction. The idea is to create a memorial out of the stones. In 2021, the lake and its surroundings are a popular recreation area for people.