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ARCH. MED. SĄD. KRYMINOL., 2012, LXII, 87-97
ORIGINAL PAPERS
Reconstruction of methods of execution of the death penalty
by shooting in the years 1949-1954 based on exhumation
research of “prison fields” in Osobowicki Cemetery in Wroclaw
Part II – Analysis of gunshot injuries and an attempt
at reconstructing the course of execution
The analysis of gunshot injuries in prisoners who
were executed in Wroclaw penitentiary in the years
1949–1954 shows divergences from legal regulations
describing the method of execution. This observation
leads to the conclusion that the predominant
method of execution of the death penalty
was a gunshot or gunshots to the back of the head,
which is analogous to the results of exhumation
works on collective graves of war prisoners executed
during World War II in the territory of the former
Soviet Union.
Key words:
death penalty, gunshot injuries, execution,
exhumation
INTRODUCTION
The discussed in Part I of the present report results
of analyzing historical materials, such as a
deposition of a prison employee and data derived
from medical records on pronouncement of death
by execution combined with conclusions drawn
from two test exhumations (2006 and 2008) of the
remains of political prisoners – Stefan Półrul and
Mieczysław Bujak – who had been executed in the
Wrocław prison allowed for postulating that the
method of executing the death penalty by shooting
considerably differed from detailed guidelines provided
by regulations, i.e. the Circular letter of Minister
of National Safety of 1946 [1].
MATERIAL AND METHOD
In view of the above determinations, in the course
of exhumation works in the so-called ”prison”
fields No. 81A and 120 in Osobowicki Cemetery in
Wrocław, the authors performed a thorough medicolegal
analysis of the remains of all 223 exhumed
bodies 1 and in particular of 41 prisoners who – as
it followed from archival materials collected by Institute
of National Remembrance (IPN) – received
the death penalty by shooting. The objective of the
analysis was a detailed medico-legal assessment of
the character of gunshot injuries and shooting
mechanism, as well as an attempt at reconstructing
the method of execution of the death penalty
by shooting in the period in question, i.e. in the
years 1949-1954. The analysis aimed at answering
two fundamental questions:
• Was the death penalty executed in keeping
with regulations in force, i.e. by several gunshots
fired to the chest by a firing squad positioned in
front of the convict and at a distance
• Otherwise, was the death penalty executed
contrary to regulations, and if so, in what percentage
of cases did this occur and what was the mechanism
of such gunshots
RESULTS
The medico-legal analysis of 41 cases of prisoners
executed by shooting demonstrated gunshot
head injuries in 38 cases. Only in three cases, in
view of considerable cranial bones erosion, did the
investigators fail to demonstrate gunshot wounds
indicated by archival data on the exhumed individuals.
In two of these cases, the degree of cranial
bones preservation allowed only for assuming infliction
of massive head trauma with fracturing of
the cranium. Thus, a gunshot character of the injuries
could not be ruled out, but advanced bone
1
Opinion on the exhumation in question issued by team of experts, Department of Forensic Medicine , Medical Academy, Wrocław No. ZO-36/12
dated 08.02.2011 and commissioned by IPN in Wrocław.
2012 © by Polskie Towarzystwo Medycyny Sądowej i Kryminologii, ISSN 0324-8267