Population Losses in the Wola Area During the Warsaw Uprising 1944. A Review of Research and an Attempt at Balance

Abstract

This article reviews the research of Stanisław Płoski and Ewa Śliwińska, Adam Borkiewicz, Hanns von Krannhals, Maria Turlejska, Antoni Przygoński, Joanna Hanson, Maja Motyl and Stanisław Rutkowski, Piotr Gursztyn, Norbert Bączyk and Grzegorz Jasiński and Hubert Kuberski, which indicates that there were between 10,000 and 57,600 victims of the Wola massacre. A comparative analysis of mass executions in Rumbula near Riga, Babyn Yar near Kyiv, and executions carried out as part of the ‘Ertnefest’ operation has shown that the German forces in Wola were sufficient to exterminate even up to approximately 60,000 people. It was also demonstrated that the Wola district covered the area west of Towarowa and Okopowa streets, composed of 14 statistical districts belonging to 7 police districts. The estimated population of Wola in the summer of 1944 was approximately 100,000 people – potential victims of mass executions. The above findings indicate the need to develop a new methodological proposal and conduct further research on the number of population losses in Wola in 1944.