in detail
When the Soviet winter offensive began at the start of 1945, the SS evacuated the sub-camps in East Prussia of the Stutthoff Concentration Camp. On the morning of 26 January 1945 members of the SS forced the inmates to start marching towards Palmnicken (now Yantarny) on the Baltic coast. They numbered about 7,000, most of them were young Jewish women from Poland and Hungary. Only about 3,000 survived the 50-kilometer march. On the evening of 31 January 1945 members of the local German home guard (Volkssturm) and SS guards drove the prisoners into the icy Baltic Sea. Thousands died; only about 15 survived the massacre. A mass grave was dug near the Anna amber mine.
A memorial stone was installed, but after the war few people knew about the site. Half a century later, someone who had witnessed the massacre initiated efforts to restore and secure the mass grave. With support from the German foreign ministry, the body that looks after German war graves (Volksbund) and the Russian organisation »Memorial«, the restoration work was carried out by groups of young Russians and Germans in 1999.
In January 2000 a new stone monument was erected in honour of the six or seven thousand people who perished during or at the end of the death march to Palmnicken.
On 31 January 1945 members of the German home guard (Volkssturm) and SS guards murdered thousands of Jewish prisoners from sub-camps of the Stutthof Concentration Camp who had been marched to the beach at Palmnicken (now Yantarny) on the Baltic Sea. Only about 15 survived the massacre.
A monument at the mass grave of some of the victims honours the six or seven thousand - most of them young women from Poland and Hungary - who perished during or at the end of the death march to Palmnicken.
January 1945
East Prussian sub-camps of the Stutthof concentration camp are evacuated.
26 January 1945
Between six and seven thousand inmates are forced to march towards Palmnicken (now Yantarny). Up to 4,000 perish on the way.
31 January 1945
Members of the German home guard and SS guards kill the remaining 3,000 prisoners by driving them into the icy Baltic Sea, apart from about 15 who survive.
1999
A mass grave for some of those killed is restored by young Russians and Germans.
2000
A new memorial stone is erected to honour the six or seven thousand who perished during or at the end of the death march to Palmnicken.
Palmnicken, before World War II, beach with amber mine in the background, Martin Bergau.
Yantarny, 24 February 2000, Memorial stone, Russian Holocaust Research and Education Center, Moscow.
Yantarny, 2004, Commemoration ceremony beside the Baltic Sea, Russian Holocaust Research and Education Center, Moscow.
