After the end of World War II, the survivors started knocking on the door of the Department of Forensic Medicine in Krakow. They were looking for the graves of their loved ones. Their allies were heroes who, risking their lives and in absolute secrecy, saved the memory of Poles murdered by the Germans. It's high time their story also saw the light of day.
During the war and occupation, the bodies of various people were sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute in Kraków. At that time, the center was in the hands of the Germans, but Polish personnel also worked there. In some cases, all activities were carried out officially, including visual inspection and autopsy, photography and fingerprinting (in cases of which the Kripo - the Nazi criminal police was interested).
During the uprising, the bodies of refugees and displaced persons from Warsaw, mainly the elderly, without documents, were sent to the Krakow facility. Also, with regard to these deceased employees, the activities involved taking pictures of the deceased, securing personal belongings and fragments of clothing that could be used for identification. The corpse was recorded in the autopsy register, although there was no question of an autopsy or even a thorough inspection.
Knowledge forbidden
The situation was different when the corpses from Krakow and the surrounding area, referred to as "NN", were sent to the plant. According to the information from Przegląd Lekarski from 1971, most of them were the bodies of people who died in the police prison on ul. Montelupich (where the penitentiary operates so far), the Gestapo at ul. Pomorska, or died during street round-ups, manhunts and "cauldrons". The number of these bodies grew with each subsequent year of occupation.
Initially, the German director of the Department, Dr. Werner Beck, did not admit Polish personnel to them. Unidentified, unrecorded and undeclared, they were kept under a key, and after some time were quietly taken to the cemetery. Many of these bodies bore traces of heavy interrogations (characteristic bruises, wounds, abrasions).
Department of Forensic Medicine in Krakow. Contemporary photo from the website of the Department of Pathomorphology, Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University.
During the occupation, families looking for the dead "NN" reported to the Forensic Medicine Institute. On the other hand, the silent recognition of the bodies was important to the underground. Nevertheless, Polish personnel realized that the war would end someday and the search for graves would begin. Therefore, with the greatest discretion and with the cooperation of the funeral parlor and the cemetery management, the employees of the Department described the bodies marked as "NN" on their own.
At the same time, they collected all the details that could help in their identification (e.g. characteristic scars and birthmarks, general physical condition, color of hair and eyes, condition of teeth and the like). Then, in the section book, next to persons with established identities, they wrote down information in an encrypted manner about the location of the grave of the nameless deceased. This autopsy book was taken by Dr. Werner Beck while fleeing Krakow. The information contained in it was largely restored by the employees thanks to the preserved dissection protocols and the phenomenal memory of the employees themselves.
Absolute memory
The author of the article "On the identification activities of employees of the Forensic Medicine Institute in Krakow during the occupation", Maria Byrdy, mentioned that apart from the official section documentation the employees were forbidden to make notes about the body. Especially with regard to the dead "NN", writing down details allowing for identification was not allowed. Polish personnel, avoiding any suspicions, simply memorized details and recorded them outside the Plant. As the author writes, observations of this kind, made in a state of constant tension, developed in us an almost photographic memory. Thanks to this, even many years after the war, the employees of the Department were able to recall many of the smallest details about the condition and appearance of the corpse. The sacrificial work of these people helped many people after the war. An example is the bodies of three young people who appeared in the Forensic Medicine Institute at the end of July 1944.
Three bodies (two men and women, about 20 years old) were transported from the prison in Montelupich. After making an inspection, the employees (probably older gunshot wounds, which were festered two weeks earlier, and execution wounds - a shot to the head at close range) associated the facts. On July 11, an unsuccessful attempt was made against the senior SS and police commander in the General Government, Wilhelm Koppe. The group that carried out the action from "Parasol" suffered considerable losses as a result of it. The three "NN" were former Home Army soldiers. The assumptions of the employees of the Department were confirmed after the war. Thanks to their help, the families of the bombers were able to identify their dead. Thanks to the cooperation of the funeral home and the cemetery management, it was known exactly where they were buried. And that was just one example in a series.
Sources:
"Przegląd Lekarski", No. 1 (1971)