Exhibition boards describing the history of the fort prepared in 2022 as part of the project 'Fort III Pomiechówek - traces of our history' with funding from the Ministry of National Defence.
As a fortification, the gorge caponier was used to fire at the enemy approaching the entrance to the fort from the front or the sides. During World War II, it was altered and adapted to serve a new function.
During the Gestapo prison period, the prison administration and kitchen were located in the caponier building. A guard tower was also erected atop the caponier to better oversee the prisoners.
In the picture: The courtyard and the gorge barracks building, with the caponier tower on the left, April 1945.
In the picture: A view of Carnot Wall. The photo probably dates from 1940. The breach in the wall was replaced with a gate through which a narrow-gauge railway used to pass, carrying ammunition.
Picture from the German book Die Eroberung von Novo Georgievsk 1915 (The Capture of Novogeorgievsk, 1915). This name was given to Modlin Fortress by the Russians in 1834, after the fall of the November Uprising. A white flag is visible atop of the rubble.
The small left courtyard
During the exhumations conducted by the Institute of National Remembrance in 2018, the remains of the victims of the execution of July 30, 1944 were discovered in the small left courtyard of the fortress. It was the last execution carried out by the Germans at the fort during the decommissioning of the prison. These victims had gunshot wounds in their skulls, and their hands were tied behind their backs with barbed wire.
The left traditor
A concrete fortification element usually built at the back and on the sides of a fort, its purpose being to protect the back and spaces between the fort buildings using flanking fire.
The right traditor
A concrete fortification element usually built at the back and on the sides of a fort, its purpose being to protect the back and spaces between the fort buildings using flanking fire.
The grating fence
The grating fence fragment from Fort III is a unique exhibit, as it is the only preserved fence section from Modlin Fortress. The fence was approximately 2.8 metres in height, wrapped with barbed wire, and featured additional sharp spikes. It consisted of many sections, and unfolded to cover the entire moat along the front and side of the fort, at the base of the defensive embankment. The gorge, or the back section of the fort, was protected by Carnot Wall. In order to make it impossible for the enemy to move along the bottom of the moat, additional grating sections were placed within it every 50 to 100 metres to block passage. This structure prevented enemy troops from moving inside the moat or launching direct assaults on the embankment and the emplacements built upon it.
The moat
The moat was an important defensive element of the fort, lending it its characteristic trapezoidal shape. Equipped with a drainage system, it remained dry due to the shape of the terrain. The depth of the fort ditch ranged from 5 to 7 m, the width was about 13 m, and its total length was a staggering 1400 m.
When the garrison was preparing to defend against the German attack in July 1915, the fortress ditch was blocked with a grate and barbed wire.
This is a former guardhouse. It is adorned with a mural by Prof. Rafał Władysław Roskowiński. The mural commemorates three major stages in the fort's history from between 1939 and 1945 – the heroic defence of September 1939, the transit camp period and the remand prison period. The mural was unveiled on July 30, 2022.
The ceremony was attended by Barbara Wolff, the daughter of Jan Kaczmarczyk, a prisoner who was killed here on July 30, 1944.
The original gate to the barracks
In the picture: Gate to the gorge barracks before renovation.
The original gate from the late 19th century, preserved in perfect condition, has been witness to many events. It remembers the reign of Tsar Alexander III, the soldiers of the 1st Infantry Regiment of Józef Piłsudski’s Legions and the ‘Czwartacy’ 4th Legion Infantry Regiment stationed at the fort, as well as its heroic defence in September 1939 and the tragic events that transpired during the German occupation period.
In 2023, thanks to the efforts of the Military Property Agency, the gate underwent a thorough renovation that saw it returned to its former splendour.
In the picture: The inscription ‘Markiewicz Płock’, left by Czesław Markiewicz, was discovered in the last cell on the right in 2020. The room remained walled up for many years.
He was a gymnastics teacher at the Bolesław I the Brave Public School in Płońsk, a well-known social activist, youth educator and scout – assistant scoutmaster and commander of the Płońsk Troop of the Masovia Banner.
During the German occupation period, he joined the underground Home Army, serving as a commander of the Podolszyce Post of the Płock Home Army District. He was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Płock, and was later transferred to the prison in Fort III, where he was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out in the fort on what was known as the ‘hill’ on February 5, 1944.
In the picture: A gymnastics lesson in the playground of the Płońsk primary school, taken in the 1930s. Czesław Markiewicz can be seen standing on the right-hand side.
In the picture: Scout Czesław Markiewicz (last row, second from the right) is surrounded by other scouts and teachers in front of the Płońsk school building, 1929.
After the war, Florentyna Zyblewska, Zygmunt's wife, attended the exhumations at the fort. Her husband's body was never found. She did not know that Zygmunt had left his name on the wall in one of the cells. The cell, which had been walled up many years earlier, was only opened in 2020. After 76 years, Zygmunt’s daughters could see the last word addressed to his loved ones, a kind of testament.
Zygmunt Zyblewski, second from the right. He was a musician, singer and violinist, as well as a teacher at a primary school in Zatory, in the district of Pułtusk in Northern Masovia. His music education was interrupted by the outbreak of the war. As a reservist of the Polish Army of the Second Polish Republic, he fought at Mława, Modlin and Warsaw in September 1939. During the occupation period, he became involved in the underground resistance movement.
In the picture: Florentyna and Zygmunt Zyblewski. They had two daughters. Ewa witnessed her father's arrest. Iwona never met her father, as she was born after his imprisonment.
In the picture: A frame from the IPN film Fort.
It is an authentic recording of the moment when Zygmunt's daughter, Ewa Twarowska, sees her father's name engraved on the wall for the first time, and kisses it overwhelmed with emotions.
Watch the film: FORT – a documentary about the Pomiechówek
Gorge barracks
The gorge barracks are the largest fortress building, boasting a length of 113 metres. The interior comprises 16 identical rooms, 8 on each side. The dimensions of every room are 12.70 x 5.45 m. A 1.5 metre-wide corridor runs along them, and a 3.3 metre-wide underground passage called a postern can be found in the middle of the building. The passage enabled movement between the fort’s wall emplacements without risking being exposed to direct enemy fire.
During World War II, these rooms were used as a prison by the Germans. In 1941, displaced families from Sochocin and Jews from nearby ghettos were held here. From 1943, when the fort became a Gestapo remand prison, members of the resistance movement, mainly soldiers of the Home Army, were imprisoned here. The cells were overcrowded, dark and stuffy. Prisoners would scribble messages, names, dates and places they came from on the walls.
The barracks, which together with other facilities take up an area of around 5 hectares and are protected by a high embankment, became a place of martyrdom and death of several thousand Polish citizens. Józef Jezierski, a former prisoner of the fort, once said: ‘Pomiechówek was a shut coffin, well-isolated from the outside world.’
The moat
The moat was an important defensive element of the fort, lending it its characteristic trapezoidal shape. Equipped with a drainage system, it remained dry due to the shape of the terrain. The depth of the fort ditch ranged from 5 to 7 m, the width was about 13 m, and its total length was a staggering 1400 m.
When the garrison was preparing to defend against the German attack in July 1915, the fortress ditch was blocked with a grate and barbed wire.
In the 1950s, the moat was partially filled in by the Polish Army to create access to the ammunition shelter.
According to 19th-century fortification principles, the role of Carnot Wall was to make it difficult for enemy troops to storm the fortress ditch. This particular wall was between 90 and 130 cm thick.
Carnot Wall underwent a trial by fire during the siege of Modlin Fortress during World War I. Fort III played an important role in the defence of the fortress, serving as the command post of the ‘Pomiechów section’, control of which was key to conquering Modlin. When the Germans stormed the fortress in August 1915, an artillery shell pierced the wall of Fort III. Faced with a massive German assault, the troops stationed at the fort surrendered, causing the fortress itself to capitulate as well.
During the occupation, the Germans reinforced the brick Carnot Wall and altered the gate to better adapt the fort to serve as a prison.
A photo of German soldiers posing next to the enormous breach remains among the most iconic documents related to Fort III. The breach has since been bricked up, but its outline is still visible today – the colour of the newer bricks is different from the rest.
In the picture: Soldiers of the German Empire stand triumphant in the enormous breach in Carnot Wall, opened by an artillery shell in August 1915.
In the picture: German soldiers in the breach with the upper part of the wall partially removed. The arrangement of the bricks indicates that the shell, fired from the front of the fort, did not damage the earth-covered barracks building. Apart from the hole in the wall, the fort did not suffer any major damage during the siege, August 1915.
Picture from the German book Die Eroberung von Novo Georgievsk 1915 (The Capture of Novogeorgievsk, 1915). This name was given to Modlin Fortress by the Russians in 1834, after the fall of the November Uprising. A white flag is visible atop of the rubble.
In the picture: A group of German soldiers marches along Carnot Wall. The photo depicts the second entrance gate to the fort, located on the right side of the caponier, September–October 1939.
In the picture: A view of Carnot Wall. The photo probably dates from 1940. The breach in the wall was replaced with a gate through which a narrow-gauge railway used to pass, carrying ammunition.
In the picture: Outline of the old breach, filled with new bricks, most likely during World War II. The breach outline was uncovered when the fort was being cleaned by the army. Photographs from 1915 helped determine its exact location.
Pictured is one of the two entrance gates to the fort located to the left of the caponier building, 1945. The original gates of Fort III were located in the Carnot wall on either side of the caponry. None of them have survived in their entirety to the present day.
In the picture: A group of German soldiers marches along Carnot Wall. The photo depicts the second entrance gate to the fort, located on the right side of the caponier, September–October 1939.
In the picture: A general view of the fort from the Second World War, with one of the entrance gates visible next to the caponier building.
This is where the Germans led prisoners to eat meals that were served out of the caponier. In the morning and in the evening, a piece of bread with coffee was served, and dinner consisted of a ‘soup’ made with rotten vegetables. The rations were miniscule, and the prisoners had 2–3 minutes to eat them. The hot soup had to be drunk directly from metal bowls, burning the prisoners’ mouths and throats.
In the picture: The only known photo of the oppressors – the Volksdeutsche garrisoning the fort. The photo probably dates from 1943, i.e. from the Gestapo prison period.
The road leading from the barracks was used by the Germans to escort prisoners to the execution area.
In the picture: Wehrmacht officers in the courtyard in front of the gorge barracks. The narrow-gauge railway tracks running on the right-hand side, next to the caponier, were used to transport ammunition. Photo courtesy of the Bundesarchiv, Bild 1011-001-0266, taken by Otto Pohle.
In the picture: Adam Bomert carved his inscription on the wall of the second-to-last cell on the left-hand side of the barracks building.
During the war, Adam Bomert lived with his family in Gralewo near Płońsk in Northern Masovia. He was a Volksdeutscher – a person entered into a list of people of German descent. Bomert ran a colonial shop that employed Poles. This way, he saved many of them from being deported to do forced labour. He was also a member of the Home Army, operating under the codename Bagnet (Bayonet). He was exposed and arrested in April 1944, and was tortured by the Gestapo in its headquarters in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki. On May 24, 1944, a police court sentenced him to death. He was held in Fort III, where he awaited his execution. The sentence was carried out on May 26, 1944.
In the picture: The Bomert family: Adam and Władysława and their children – Bogdan, Gizela (next to her mother) and Halina.
In May 2018, a letter from Germany was sent to the email address of the Fort III Pomiechówek Foundation: ‘My name is Bogdan Bomert, and I am the son of Adam Bomert. My father ran a colonial goods store in Gralewo from 1941 to April 1944, when he was arrested by the Gestapo. I was almost 11 years old at the time and I was there when my parents were arrested.’
Bogdan Bomert had been looking for information about his father's death all his life. He was the first person whom the Foundation helped find the place of execution of a family member.
In the picture: Bogdan Bomert with Piotr Jeżółkowski, president of the foundation, in front of the fort gate, September 2019.
Father Cyryl Dardziński was a Capuchin friar. During the occupation period, he served as the guardian of the Friars Minor Capuchin monastery in Zakroczym. He was known for his generousness and courage. An active member of the underground, he supported the Home Army. He was arrested on July 25, 1944, and was sent to Fort III after a brutal interrogation. Dardziński shared a cell with other prisoners, and was the only clergyman there. Witnesses testified that he served as the fort’s priest. He acted as a confessor and consoled his fellow prisoners.
Dardziński was executed together with several other prisoners on July 30, 1944. His body was exhumed in April 1945 and buried in the basement of the Zakroczym monastery.
In the picture: Two women standing next to the cell, one of them is Zofia Dardzińska, the youngest sister of Father Cyryl.
Thanks to eyewitness accounts, it was possible to determine the cell Father Cyryl was held in.
In the picture: The body of Father Cyryl was found on April 11, 1945.
In the picture: Father Cyryl’s wire glasses found on his body during the exhumation. They survived the execution and remained buried with him for nearly a year. Witnesses present at the identification reported that Father Cyryl’s eyes were covered with his arm.
Zofia Krauze (Krauzówna) was a resident of Zakroczym. She was active in the local unit of the Home Army. Arrested by the Gestapo on July 2, 1944, she was imprisoned at Fort III. Her interrogation was brutal. She was killed on July 30, 1944 as part of a mass execution. During the exhumation in April 1945, her body was identified and moved to the cemetery in Zakroczym.
The ammunition storage (next to the right courtyard)
Originally, the building was used as a storage room for materials needed to defend the fort. Additional side exits made it possible to pass through it.
The Germans used this room during executions carried out in the right-side courtyard. Prisoners were led through the main entrance, ordered to undress, and then escorted through the corridor to the side exit, which led straight to the execution square and the gallows.
Tip - How to navigate the virtual tour.
A fort from the time of the transit camp (1941). Pictured are the Jews. Photo from the resources of the Jewish Historical Institute.
The fort surrendered on 29 September 1939 as the last place of resistance of the Modlin Fortress. In the background, Polish soldiers at the POW assembly point in the fort (photo from a Wermacht propaganda brochure).
In the picture: A family being deported from Sochocin on March 5/6, 1941. The Germans deported nearly 2,500 Poles to the fort, including some 500 Polish citizens of Jewish descent.
All men held at the fort were assessed by the Germans, and those deemed fit enough were sent to perform forced labour in the Third Reich.
In the picture: A group of 14 men taken from the fort to perform forced labour.
Find out more:
Fort III - Baza więźniów - Czesław Kwiatkowski
In the picture: An inscription carved on the wall of one of the cells in the barracks. It is possible that it dates from 1941, when the camp held the families deported from Sochocin.
Monument in front of the Fort
Monument in front of the entrance gate to Fort III Pomiechówek erected in tribute to the prisoners murdered in the fort.Concrete ammunition shelters no 6. See an important point in the history of the Fort
Concrete ammunition shelters no 6. See an important point in the history of the Fort
One of the probable execution sites
Fort moat area where executions by firing squad most likely took place. Evidence includes hundreds of bullet holes in a small area. The holes are between 1 and 1.5 metres above ground level, approximately ten metres from the underground entrance to the moat. The wall, believed to have served as a bullet trap, still has German bullets embedded in its surface.
Jew Detention Camp, July–August 1941
In early July 1941, the Germans imprisoned some three thousand Jews in the fort barracks. These were people detained during document inspections in the ghettos of Nowy Dwór, Zakroczym and Płońsk. They were held in unsanitary conditions, forced to starve and had no access to drinking water. The Jews’ testimonies contain descriptions of their mistreatment at the hands of the guards, the women being raped, and the prisoners, including children, being humiliated and killed.
After six weeks, on August 14, 1941, the Jews were transported in carts to the border of the Third Reich and the General Government. After reaching the Krubin area, the Germans set fire to the straw in the carts, forcing the prisoners to jump through the fire. During their escape, many prisoners, especially the more feeble ones and the sick, died or suffered burns.
Some of the Jews were able to reach the Warsaw ghetto. Their accounts of their imprisonment at Fort III, which they called a death camp, were recorded there, and later hidden around the ghetto. These testimonies, known as the Ringelblum Archive, miraculously survived the burning of the Warsaw Ghetto in a closed milk can. You can now read them in the 13th volume of the Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto, published by the Jewish Historical Institute.
Find out more:
"The final stage of resettlement is death. Pomiechówek, Chełmno nad Nerem, Treblinka" – Central Jewish Library (jhi.pl)
In the picture: Boxes and milk cans in which the Ringelblum Archive was hidden
The photo depicts Abram Szul. The Szul family came from Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki. Abram, together with his parents, brother Lajb and sister Bajla, were held in the camp in Fort III Pomiechówek. After managing to escape, they returned to Nowy Dwór. In 1942, the entire family was taken to KL Auschwitz. Only Abram Szul survived, his whole family having perished in the camp.
In the picture: Abram Szul's sister – Bajla (Bella). Together with the entire family at the fort. She died in KL Auschwitz at the age of seven.
The photo of Szul family.
The photo of Szul family.
The photo of Szul family.
A fort from the time of the transit camp (1941). Pictured are the Jews. Photo from the resources of the Jewish Historical Institute.
Star of David carved on a wall in the barracks.
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HTMLAn underground corridor, 3 metres wide, called a postern, which divides the barracks into two halves. It leads from the inside of the barracks to the defensive positions in the front section of the fort. One of the cells here bears a special designation. Prisoners awaiting execution were placed here, as well as those who were to be transported to concentration camps. This room was called cell ‘0’, or death cell. It was a place of horror and unbearable anticipation. The prisoners, uncertain what would happen to them or convinced that their death was imminent, would scribble names, initials and dates on the walls of their cells – leaving traces of their presence as messages to their loved ones. The death cell contains the most such inscriptions. Those who searched for the bodies of their relatives in the fort after the war said that the walls of this cell were black with inscriptions.
The names of 10 soldiers of the 11th Legionary Uhlan Regiment from Ciechanów can still be seen on the wall of the death cell. These are: Walenty Charszla, Franciszek Deras, Stanisław Raubo, Jan Bedyński, Tadeusz Rykowski, Bolesław Borowiecki, Stanisław Jaworski, Czesław Popielnicki, Wacław Komorowski and Edmund Przybyszewski. They were all held hostage at the fort, and on July 30, 1944, they were killed during the decommissioning of the prison. Their bodies were exhumed in April 1945 and moved to the cemetery in Ciechanów. The photo was taken in 1945.
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Fort III - Baza więźniów
Jan Chilicki (1909–1944), soldier of the Home Army, commander of the Zakroczym post. He was sentenced to death by a German summary court on May 20, 1944. To carry out the sentence, he was transported to KL Stutthof. Cell ‘0’ was probably where he waited for transport to the camp. He died on June 22, 1944.
Find out more:
Fort III - Baza więźniów
In the picture: For several years now, government and military representatives and relatives of the prisoners have gathered in front of cell ‘0’ every 30 July, on the anniversary of the decommissioning of the Fort III Gestapo prison. (Mariusz Błaszczak, Minister of National Defence, July 2019, photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defence)
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HTMLThe final inscription
After the Germans had executed all prisoners, the fort was abandoned for some time by the prison staff. Between August and September 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, the fortress was repurposed to serve as a labour camp. Poles arrested near Warsaw were held here. The prisoners were sent to work outside the fort to dig trenches and cover up any evidence of German crimes. The camp was evacuated between December 1944 and January 1945. Some of the inmates managed to escape, but the fate of those who did not remains unknown.
In the underground corridors of the fort, an inscription carved by several residents of Wołomin and Marki (Struga district) survives to this day:
‘December 26, 1944. The following people from Wołomin were here in the labour camp: Czajewicz Antoni, Pawłowski Marian, Ogonowski Kazimierz, Rębelski Stan. – Struga, Stręczkowski Stan. – Wołomin, Rębelski Władysław – Struga, Kussy Mieczysław – Wołomin.
December 27, 1944. We are leaving for Nowe Miasto and then further west. Good bye.’
Find out more:
Fort III - Baza więźniów
Originally, it was used as a rally point for troops and for conducting military exercises. During World War II, the Germans used the courtyard as a place for executing prisoners and a mass graveyard for the victims of their crimes. Fort prisoners referred to it as the ‘hill’. From the barracks building, the Germans led convicts uphill to the right fortress courtyard. According to prisoner accounts, there was a large gallows here large enough for 12 prisoners to be hanged at the same time. The Germans also ordered large pits to be dug for dumping the bodies of the executed. In order to eliminate all evidence of their crimes, the graves were dug up and the bodies extracted from them were burned on special grates.
During the exhumations of 1945 and 1948, the bodies of those victims who had not been burnt by the Germans, as well as the ashes of victims of earlier executions were extracted from the pits.
Between 2018 and 2020, the Institute of National Remembrance conducted an archaeological study on the ‘hill’, as well as an exhumation. This led to the discovery of still-unexhumed remains. They were buried in the war cemetery located in the left courtyard of the fortress.
In the picture: Excavating the corpses of prisoners in April 1945.
In the photo: remains of the victims discovered on the ‘hill’ during the exhumation conducted by the Institute of National Remembrance in 2019.
One of the versions of a commemorative album documenting the April 1945 exhumations.
One of the versions of a commemorative album documenting the April 1945 exhumations.
Temporary cemetery on fort premises where the bodies of those exhumed in April 1945 were transported, photo most likely taken in 1946.
Temporary cemetery on fort premises where the bodies of those exhumed in April 1945 were transported, photo most likely taken in 1946.
Temporary cemetery on fort premises where the bodies of those exhumed in April 1945 were transported, photo most likely taken in 1946.
According to eyewitness accounts, there were three three-armed gallows on the ‘hill’. This was confirmed by the results of archaeological research conducted in the fort in 2020. Traces of logs driven into the ground were discovered whose arrangement formed the shape of three-armed gallows.
Due to the number of people hanged on them, the gallows were referred to as ‘wholesalers’ by prisoners.
The photo shows the remains of a gallows.
The photo shows the remains of a gallows.
The pyre
Faced with the prospect of losing the war and the shifting frontline, the Germans began erasing all traces of their war crimes in the spring of 1944. A group consisting of 16 Jews was transported to the fort and forced to exhume the remains of executed prisoners and burn them on specially built scaffolds. Their ashes were scattered on fort grounds. A temporary cemetery for the victims was established here after the war.
The photo depicts the remnants of the pyre discovered during the archaeological research conducted between 2018 and 2020.
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HTMLLeft courtyard
Photo taken in September 1939. Wehrmacht troops set up camp on the left place-of-arms. In the foreground: food transports and a field kitchen. After the fighting concluded, Fort III became a transit camp for Polish POWs from the ‘Pomiechówek’ subsection. From here, the soldiers were sent to internment camps in Działdowo, Mława and Iłowo.
The second entrance gate to the fort
In the picture: A group of German soldiers marches along Carnot Wall. The photo depicts the second entrance gate to the fort, located on the right side of the caponier, September–October 1939.
Sochocin inscription
The picture of the Star of David
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HTMLSite of torture of prisoners
Wheels used to torture prisoners.
At these place, prisoners were suspended by their bound hands backwards until their bones were pulled out of their joints.%0D%0A%3Cdiv%20%20class%3D%22audio-player-wrap%22%3E%0D%0A%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22wrap%22%3E%0D%0A%20%20%20%20%3Caudio%20controls%20class%3D%22audio%22%20preload%3D%22none%22%3E%0D%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Csource%20src%3D%22img%2Fcrm%2F8d9766a69b764fefc12f56739424d136%2F20231005-203836-fort-iii-eng-75.mp3%22%20%3E%0D%0A%20%20%20%20%3C%2Faudio%3E%0D%0A%3C%2Fdiv%3E%0D%0A%3C%2Fdiv%3E%0D%0A%0D%0A
HTMLTip - How to navigate the virtual tour.