Ochota Massacre - Arrival of RONA in Warsaw

Arrival of RONA in Warsaw

On the day of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, on August 1, 1944, SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler ordered the destruction of the city and the extermination of its civilian population.

On August 4, 1944, at 10 a.m., units of SS RONA commanded by Bronislav Kaminski entered Ochota. The staff of RONA, having in its command 1,700 soldiers in total, was based in the building of the "Polish Free University" (Pol.: Wolna Wszechnica Polska) in Opaczewska 2a Street (today Banacha 2 Street), while one of RONA's battalions was based in the building of the 21st Hugo Kołłątaj Secondary School (Pol.: XXI Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Hugona Kołłątaja) in Grójecka 93 street. They were to fight the insurgent post "Kalisz Redoubt" (Pol.: Reduta Kaliska). On the same day, the RONA units launched the first of a series of rapes, robberies and murders, targeting the civilian population of Opaczewska street. Detached groups of RONA men rushed into flats, expelled their residents, and shot old persons and those reluctant to leave the rooms. The murders were accompanied by robbery, destruction of property, and arson. Most buildings in Opaczewska street were burnt on that day. On August 4–5, 1944, people were also murdered in nearby garden allotments, while hand grenades were thrown into cellars where people were hiding. The residents of the building in Gójecka 104 street were killed in this way. In the first hours of the massacre, RONA collaborators entered the institute for terminal cancer victims, where they killed the patients, many of whom were first gang raped, a pattern which was repeated elsewhere.