Editing Bloody Sunday (1939) (section)

==German reprisals and atrocities==
{{Main|German retribution against people of Bydgoszcz}}
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| image1    = Polish Priest as a German Hostage 1939.jpg
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| caption1  = Polish hostages in Bydgoszcz. September 1939

| image2     = Bydgoszcz-rozstrzelanie zakładników 9.09.1939.jpg
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| caption2   = Poles shot by Germans in Bydgoszcz, 9 September 1939
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| caption3  = Polish teachers from Bydgoszcz are led for execution in Death Valley, November 1, 1939
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The events were followed by German reprisals and mass executions of Polish civilians.<ref name="ChristFren"/><ref name="ND"/> In an act of retaliation for Bloody Sunday, a number of Polish civilians were executed by German military units of the [[Einsatzgruppen]], [[Waffen SS]], and [[Wehrmacht]].<ref name="ChristBrown29"/> According to German historian Christian Raitz von Frentz, 876 Poles were tried by German tribunal for involvement in the events of Bloody Sunday before the end of 1939. 87 men and 13 women were sentenced without the right to appeal.<ref name="ChristFren"/> Polish historian [[Czesław Madajczyk]] notes 120 executions in relation to Bloody Sunday, and the execution of 20 hostages after a German soldier was allegedly attacked by a Polish sniper.<ref name="ChristFren"/><ref name="ChristBrown32"/>

The assurances issued to the Citizen Watch which surrendered after being promised that they were to be treated in accordance with international law as POWs were not upheld by the Germans. The captured Citizen Watch members were handed over by the Wehrmacht to members of [[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe]] IV. Approximately 40 prisoners were subjected to fatal beatings by SS men using metal rods.<ref name=":4" /> The remaining POWs, which included the leaders of the Citizen Watch, [[Konrad Fiedler]] and Marian Maczuga, were executed by gunfire in the Bielawki neighborhood of Bydgoszcz.<ref>{{cite book |last=Biskup |first=Marian |title=Historia Bydgoszczy |date=2004 |publisher=Bydgoskie Towarzystwo Naukowe |isbn=83-921454-0-2 |volume=II |location=Bydgoszcz |page=84 |language=pl |trans-title=History of Bydgoszcz}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Böhler |first=Jochen |title=Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu w Polsce |date=2009 |publisher=Wydawnictwo "Znak" |isbn=978-83-240-1225-1 |location=Kraków |page=147 |language=pl |trans-title=Wehrmacht war crimes in Poland}}</ref>

Additionally, in the {{ill|Boryszew massacre|pl|Zbrodnia w Boryszewie}} fifty Polish prisoners of war from Bydgoszcz were accused by Nazi summary courts for taking part in "Bloody Sunday" and shot.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Sudoł |first=Tomasz |date=2011 |title=Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu na jeńcach polskich we wrześniu 1939 roku |trans-title=Wehrmacht crimes against Polish prisoners of war in September 1939 |url=http://www.polska1918-89.pl/pdf/zbrodnie-wehrmachtu-na-jencach-polskich-we-wrzesniu-1939-roku,2028.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej |volume=8–9 (129–130) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228235927/https://www.polska1918-89.pl/pdf/zbrodnie-wehrmachtu-na-jencach-polskich-we-wrzesniu-1939-roku,2028.pdf |archive-date=28 December 2021 |access-date=1 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Datner |first=Szymon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQ0uAQAAIAAJ&q=Zbrodnie+Wehrmachtu+na+je%C5%84cach+wojennych+w+II+wojnie+%C5%9Bwiatowej. |title=Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu na jeńcach wojennych armii regularnych w II wojnie światowej |date=1964 |publisher=Wydawn. Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej |pages=59–60 |language=pl}}</ref> 

According to a German version, Polish snipers attacked German troops in Bydgoszcz for several days (Polish sources and witnesses do not confirm this).<ref name="google"/> The German governor, General [[Walter Braemer]], (the commander of the rear army area), ordered the execution of 80 Polish hostages over the next few days.<ref name="ChristFren" /> By September 8, between 200 and 400 Polish civilians had been killed.<ref name="ChristBrown29" /> According to [[Richard Rhodes]], a number of Boy Scouts were set up in the marketplace against a wall and shot; a devoted priest who rushed to administer the [[Anointing of the Sick|last sacrament]] was shot too, receiving five wounds. Murders continued all week; 34 of the leading tradespeople and merchants of the town were shot, as well as many other leading citizens.<ref name="nytimes" />

Many Poles, particularly members of the intelligentsia and the Jews, were singled out for deportation, or killed outright.<ref name="ChristBrown32"/> By December 1939 the Germans killed 5,000 Polish civilians from the [[Bydgoszcz County]] (about a third from Bydgoszcz itself). These victims included the mayor of Bydgoszcz, {{ill|Leon Barciszewski|pl|Leon Barciszewski}} Many of those killings took place  in a part of the city that became known as the [[Valley of Death (Bydgoszcz)|Valley of Death]]. More broadly, they were also related to the wider [[Operation Tannenberg]], a large scale [[Anti-Polish sentiment|anti-Polish]] extermination actions.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Schenk |first1=Dieter |title=Albert Forster - gdański namiestnik Hitlera: zbrodnie hitlerowskie w Gdańsku i Prusach Zachodnich |last2=Kulesza |first2=Witold |last3=Tycner |first3=Janusz |last4=Tycner |first4=Wanda |date=2002 |work=Polnord - Oskar |isbn=978-83-86181-83-4 |location=Gdańsk |pages=243}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rossino |first=Alexander B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iL-uEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Operation+Tannenberg%22+%22Bloody+Sunday%22&pg=PA73 |title=Hitler Strikes Poland: Blitzkrieg, Ideology, and Atrocity |date=2003-05-01 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0-7006-1392-2 |pages=73 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Historia Bydgoszczy. T. 2 cz. 2: 1939-1945 |date=2004 |publisher=BTN |isbn=978-83-921454-0-0 |editor-last=Biskup |editor-first=Marian |location=Bydgoszcz |pages=123, 226}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Baxter |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sLs1EAAAQBAJ&dq=Valley+of+Death+%28Bydgoszcz%29&pg=PT32 |title=Himmler's Death Squad: Einsatzgruppen in Action, 1939–1944 |date=2021-08-26 |publisher=Pen and Sword Military |isbn=978-1-5267-7857-4 |pages=32 |language=en}}</ref> More than 20,000 Polish citizens of Bydgoszcz (14% of the population) were either shot or died in concentration camps during the occupation.<ref name="republika"/>