They discovered the bodies of nuns who had been brutally murdered

Archaeologists have recently discovered the skeletons of Catholic nuns who were murdered by the Red Army at the end of World War II. Their discovery closes with months of searching. They lost their lives in a particularly brutal way while helping in the hospital. The soldiers also killed patients.

The Red Army invaded Poland in 1944, when Nazi Germany withdrew its troops. During this time, Soviet forces sought control by imprisoning, deporting, and killing Polish soldiers, the clergy, and the civilian population.

There are records from 1945 that speak of the murder of seven nuns by Soviet soldiers. To find out where they are buried, archaeologists first excavated a site in Gdańsk in July 2020. There they found Sary Charytyna's remains. The excavation in Olsztyn then revealed the remains of Sisters Generosa, Krzysztofora and Liberia, who were nurses at Olsztyn's Hospital of the Virgin Mary.

Archaeologists searched for the remaining nuns. And so, in December last year, they dug in the municipal cemetery in Ornet. They dug a hole the size of about twenty square meters. They followed archival records such as a handmade funeral plan. In order to find the graves, they first had to exhume the newer ones above.

Eventually, they found the remains of the three remaining nuns, Sisters Rolanda, Gunhilda, and Bony. "Historical documents, the age and sex of the remains, and the presence of many religious objects, indicated that the skeletons belonged to the murdered nuns," archaeologists said in an official statement.

In the graves they found religious artifacts such as clothing associated with the Order of St. Catherine, small rosaries with polished beads, larger rosaries to be worn on a belt, a cross inlaid with metal patterns and two medallions with pictures of the holy family.

When the Germans began to withdraw from Poland in 1944, the Soviet Union took the chance to take control of the country. "Mass terror followed in Soviet-occupied territory," said the Warsaw Institute. As the Red Army advanced into cities and territories, soldiers looted and burned churches and religious buildings. The nuns were treated really cruelly.

In February 1945, Soviet soldiers attacked hospitals in Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz, Olsztyn and Orneta, where nuns in the Order of St. Catherine served as nurses. The soldiers beat and stabbed the patients and attacked the nuns, causing terrible injuries. Sister Rolanda's face was completely crippled beyond recognition, and Sister Gunhild was literally shot.

Sources: www.livescience.com