Tczew

About thirty kilometres south of Gdansk is a small town called Tczew. On the night of January 23, 1940, a fire broke out in a metal factory. The fire was probably caused by the Germans themselves when they tried to keep warm in the cold by making a fire that spread to nearby vehicles. The fire resulted in the destruction of eleven vehicles, but the Germans did not want to admit this and blamed Polish dissidents for the fire. Thirteen Polish men were chosen as punishment, who, on the pretext of being questioned, were taken to a local (pig) market where they were shot. The victims ranged from older men to younger men and they were buried in a forest outside Szpegawsk, about twenty kilometres southwest of Tczew. No one was held accountable for the massacre.