Content note: German occupation notice announcing the public shooting of 100 condemned prisoners in Warsaw. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Bekanntmachung, Warsaw, 2 February 1944: 100 condemned prisoners shot in public
Black-lettered German public notice posted in occupied Warsaw announcing that 100 prisoners already condemned to death were shot in public on 2 February 1944 after an attack that killed two Germans. The tell: the attackers are called 'criminal elements' of a secret organisation 'in the pay of England', and the shootings are presented as the consequence of the underground's own act rather than as the occupier's decision.
- Date
- February 2, 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, Distrikt Warschau (German occupation, General Government)
- Country
- General Government
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Leader
- Hans Frank
- Audience
- Enemy civilians
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Name-callingScapegoating
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (reproduced from W. Bartoszewski, Warszawski pierścień śmierci 1939-1944, Interpress 1970), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain per Commons (PD-GermanGov official work, s. 5 UrhG; PD-Poland, pre-1994 publication, PD in Poland 1996)
German Sicherheitspolizei und SD, Warsaw District; scan from W. Bartoszewski (1970), via Wikimedia Commons.
Text on the object
Bekanntmachung Trotz der wiederholten warnenden Aufrufe ist am 1.2.1944 von verbrecherischen Elementen der im Solde Englands stehenden Geheimorganisation P. Z. P. wiederum ein gemeines, hinterhältiges Attentat begangen worden, bei dem zwei Deutsche ums Leben gekommen sind. Es sind deshalb von den durch das Standgericht der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD wegen politischer Straftaten zum Tode Verurteilten, die zunächst für einen Gnadenerweis in Aussicht genommen waren, 100 Angehörige des P. Z. P. am 2.2.1944 in Warschau öffentlich erschossen worden. Warschau, den 2. Februar 1944. Der Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD für den Distrikt Warschau
Public notice Despite the repeated warning appeals, on 1.2.1944 a base, insidious assassination was again committed by criminal elements of the secret organisation P. Z. P., which stands in the pay of England, in which two Germans lost their lives. Therefore, of those sentenced to death by the summary court of the Security Police and the SD for political offences, who had at first been considered for an act of clemency, 100 members of the P. Z. P. were publicly shot in Warsaw on 2.2.1944. Warsaw, 2 February 1944. The Commander of the Security Police and the SD for the Warsaw District
The scan is cropped below the last printed line; the signatory's name is not visible. 'P. Z. P.' is as printed. Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering, machine-assisted and not verified by a fluent reader.
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