Koniuchy Massacre
In 1944, probably on 29 January, the Polish village of Koniuchy was completely destroyed and most of its inhabitants murdered by partisans from the Lithuanian Brigade, including a group of Jewish soldiers of the Red Army, under the command of Jacob Penner and Shmuel Kaplinsky. The village was not fortified, and the villagers were armed with only a few old rifles. A total of about 36–50 men (as reported by IPN; initial reports by partisans themselves told about three hundred people and no survivors), women and children were massacred indiscriminately and sixty households destroyed. After the war, some of the partisans (including Chaim Lazaar, Israel Weiss) boasted of the crime. No criminal charges were filed. Their participation in the action may be the reason for the pride of some of the culprits.
References - Lazar, Chaim. Destruction and Resistance. Shengold Publishers, New York, 1985.
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