Romuald Rajs

Romuald Rajs, nom de guerre "Bury" (30 November 1913 – 30 December 1949), was a Polish soldier, a member of Home Army (AK) and National Military Union (NZW), an anti-communist insurgent and war criminal. In 1946 the unit under his command burned several Belarusian villages in the region of Białystok and massacred about 79 villagers. He was sentenced to death in a show trial held by the Polish communist government in 1949, charged with membership in delegalized NZW. Following the trial, he was executed in 1949. The verdict was nullified by the Military Court of Warsaw in 1995. In 2005, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance conducted an investigation which revealed that his actions bear the marks of genocide against Orthodox Belarusian community in post-war boundaries of Poland. Rajs is revered by regional nationalist Polish groups as a hero which creates tensions with the local Belarusian and Eastern Orthodox inhabitants.

Life

In 1913, Romuald Adam Rajs was born in the village of Jabłonka, in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. In 1934 Rajs graduated from the School for Non-commissioned Officers in Konin and took the parachute course in Biedrusko near Poznań. With the rank of Corporal he was assigned to the 85 Infantry Regiment in Nowa Wilejka, Wilno Voivodeship.

World War II

In August 1939 his unit was incorporated in the "Prusy" army. During the September campaign his unit was dispersed in the Battle of Tomaszów Mazowiecki and was destroyed by 15 September near Lublin. A few days later, a groups of soldiers led by Rajs was stopped by Belarusians near Kovel and sent to Bereza Kartuska to lay down their arms and horses.