About project

The Memory Guards Project is an attempt to commemorate tragic events from the beginning of the year 1945. On 22nd January 1945 wagons with prisoners of the concentration camp in Oświęcim arrived at the railway station in Rzędówka. The prisoners , who survived the transport in inhuman conditions and severe frost started the death march from there towards Racibórz. A number of people died on the way, some managed to escape. Some of the dead were buried in the mass grave at the graveyard in Książenice. The people, who escaped, sought shelter in the surrounding villages. Many of them survived thanks to the heroic attitude of local people, who helped refugees risking their own and their family’s lives as well as their possessions. They hid the refugees in cellars or barns.

The educational path, publication and website have been created to pay tribute both to the ones who lost and risked their lives. We would like to keep these tragic events in mind and pass them to future generations.

The project has been prepared by informal group – Together for Książenice, in cooperation with Humanistic Association Europe, Silesia , the smallest world (http://www.europa-slask.us.edu.pl/).
The text of the folder and for the plaques have been developed by Martyna Hanak, Janusz Mokrosz and Krzysztof Wręczycki.
The project of the maps has been prepared by Marek Szczech.
The website has been created by Marcin Markiewka.
Images and iconography from collections of Museum in Rybnik and from private collections of Marcin Markiewka.
English translation: Justyna Stadnicka.
German translation: Sabina Sczuka, Basia Turalska.