We offer for sale a true rarity. This photo was taken in 11 May 1942, the day that 20 Poles were executed by hanging by the SS in Poppenhausen. The story begins in April 1942 when 2 Poles used as forced laborers, made the decision to assassinate a German policeman that had previously battered them heavily. These 2 Poles decided to kill this policeman, so the SS eventually captured one of them (the other could escape) and as a reprisal, they decided to execute 20 Poles in Poppenhausen. Apart from the captured Pole, Nazis brought to very same place of the assassination of the policeman and 19 other Polish prisoners from KL Buchenwald, and they hanged them all. The image is really gruesome, but it depicts the cruelty of the war and the hard times Europe went through during those years.

On April 26, 1942, a Polish forced laborer, who worked at Bauern Schmidt's courtyard was beaten to the point of unconsciousness by a German policeman, Albin Gottwald. Two Poles took revenge on Gottwald and stabbed him to death on a forest path between Poppenhausen and Einoed. The two Poles then escaped. One of the two Poles, Jan Sowka (b. 10/19/22 in Thayngen, Switzerland) was apprehended shortly after his escape. On May 11, 1942, nineteen prisoners from Buchenwald were taken to the place in the woods where Gottwald's body had been found. The Buchenwald SS built three gallows -- two consisted of ten hooks each, and one was a single gallows. The nineteen Polish prisoners were positioned behind the gallows, and Jan Sowka stood on the opposite side. The executions began at 10:50 where the prisoners and Jan Sowka were hanged one after another on the single gallows. At the end, they were all hanged from the two group gallows. Hundreds of Polish forced laborers from the surrounding area were rounded up and forced to watch the executions.