Pyeskawtsy, Voranava District

Pyeskawtsy (Belarusian: Пескаўцы, romanized: Pieskaŭcy; Russian: Песковцы, romanized: Peskovtsy; Polish: Piaskowce) is a village in Voranava District, Grodno Region, Belarus. It is part of Misyavichy selsoviet.

Pyeskawtsy Пескаўцы (Belarusian) Песковцы (Russian)
Village
Pyeskawtsy
Coordinates: 53°50′12″N 24°53′51″E
Country	Belarus
Region	Grodno Region
District	Voranava District
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK)

History

In the Polish interwar period, the village was situated in Wawiorka Commune, Lida County, Nowogródek Voivodeship, Poland. After the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, the village became part of the BSSR. In the years 1941–1944 it was under German occupation. After World War 2, the village once again became part of the BSSR. Since 1991, when the BSSR transitioned to the Republic of Belarus, the village has remained a part of Belarus.

World War II

During March 12–13, 1945, in Piaskowce and the surrounding area, the NKVD Operational Group deceptively liquidated a partisan unit, murdering Home Army soldiers and their commander, Franciszek Weramowicz "Kuna". Piotr Kuźmicz, an inhabitant of the village of Kunieje, who had been collecting information about this event for a long time, relates: The NKVD group, pretending to be a "green", or "Vlasovtsy" unit under the command of Mirkowski, joined the unit in a tricky manner. Mirkowski was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for this operation. Kuna's unit consisted of the local population, which included two Germans and a French person. There were over 50 soldiers and an underground network of reservists. The commander of "Kuna" personally knew one of the "greens" who was an NKVD agent under the pseudonym "Pierwyj". He trusted him, and allowed himself to be persuaded to merge the divisions. On March 12, the "Greens" (OG NKVD) began to liquidate the Home Army unit in the village of Pieskawtsy, using knives, axes and firearms. In the morning, the commander Franciszek Weramowicz was murdered in the "greens" headquarters. During the day, in the forest near the village of Dainowa, the Home Army patrols were murdered, and in the evening indiscriminate murder began in the village of Pieskawtsy. According to documents, 36 people were killed during this period. The bodies of those murdered in Pieskawtsy were taken by the police to Radun for recognition. Those killed on patrols were buried in the forest near the village of Dainowa. Some of the Home Army soldiers, including the Germans and the French person, broke away through the ring of Soviet troops surrounding the village of Pieskawtsy. At dawn on March 13, 1945, the NKVD started murdering the discovered reservists from the underground network in the villages of: Siewruki, Bobrowniki, Zaprudziany, Smilginie, Lipkunce, Rukance, and Kurdziuki. Then 23 people were murdered. The murdered individuals were interred in the cemeteries adjacent to these villages.

On the right side of the road Zieniewicze – Pieskawtsy, at the crossroads to the village of Dainowa, a high wooden cross, painted blue, was erected. In 2011, a metal cross with a granite plaque commemorating those murdered on March 12–13, 1945 was placed on a stone mound. The plaque was destroyed in 2022.