Editing Malbork (section)

===World War II===
[[File:Marienburg bombed.jpg|thumbnail|left|[[94th Operations Group#World War II|94th Bomb Group]] B-17 Flying Fortress targeting the Focke-Wulf factory as described.]]
During [[World War II]] a [[Focke-Wulf]] aircraft factory was set up at the airfield to the east of Marienburg. It was bombed twice by the [[United States Army Air Forces|USAAF]] in 1943 and 1944. Today the airfield belongs to the [[22nd Air Base]] of the [[Polish Air Force]].

During the war, the Germans established the [[Stalag XX-B]] [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner of war camp]] in the present-day district of Wielbark, among the prisoners of which were Polish, British, French, Belgian, Serbian, Italian, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian POWs. Also a [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] camp was established,<ref name=PWN>{{cite web|url=https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Malbork;3936678.html|title=Malbork|website=Encyklopedia PWN|access-date=26 November 2019|language=pl}}</ref> and several forced labour subcamps of the Stalag XX-B POW camp.<ref>{{cite book|last=Daniluk|first=Jan|editor-last=Grudziecka|editor-first=Beata|title=Stalag XX B: historia nieopowiedziana|language=pl|location=Malbork|publisher=Muzeum Miasta Malborka|page=12|chapter=Stalag XX B Marienburg: geneza i znaczenie obozu jenieckiego w Malborku-Wielbarku w latach II wojny światowej|date=2021 |isbn=978-83-950992-2-9}}</ref> Some [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled Poles]] from Pomerania were enslaved by the Germans as forced labour in the town's vicinity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2017|title=Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939-1945|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|pages=119, 130|isbn=978-83-8098-174-4}}</ref>

The [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]] was present in the town and would smuggle underground Polish press<ref>{{cite book|last=Chrzanowski|first=Bogdan|year=2022|title=Polskie Państwo Podziemne na Pomorzu w latach 1939–1945|language=pl|location=Gdańsk|publisher=IPN|page=57|isbn=978-83-8229-411-8}}</ref> and data on German concentration camps and prisons, and organize transports of POWs who escaped the Stalag XX-B to the port city of [[Gdynia]], from where they were further evacuated by sea to neutral [[Sweden]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chrzanowski|first=Bogdan|title=Organizacja sieci przerzutów drogą morską z Polski do Szwecji w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej (1939–1945)|journal=Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum|language=pl|volume=5|pages=29, 31|issn=0137-5377}}</ref>

Near the end of World War II, the city was declared a [[German World War II strongholds|fortress]] and most of the civilian population [[Evacuation of East Prussia|fled or were evacuated]], with some 4,000 people opting to remain. In early 1945, Marienburg was the scene of fierce battles by the Nazis against the [[Red Army]] and was almost completely destroyed. The battle lasted until 9 March 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2009/0117/horizonte/0007/index.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719035904/http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2009/0117/horizonte/0007/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 July 2012|title=Aktuell|website=www.berlinonline.de|access-date=3 March 2018}}</ref> Following the town's military capture by the Red Army, the remaining civilian population disappeared; 1,840 people remain missing. In June 1945, the town was turned over to Polish authorities who had arrived in the town in April and renamed it to its historic Polish name, Malbork. The German population that had not fled was expelled in accordance with the [[Potsdam Agreement]].

Half a century later, in 1996, 178 corpses were found in a mass grave in Malbork; another 123 were found in 2005.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,603131,00.html|title=Death in Marienburg: Mystery Surrounds Mass Graves in Polish City|first1=Georg|last1=Bönisch|first2=Jan|last2=Puhl|first3=Klaus|last3=Wiegrefe|newspaper=Der Spiegel |date=23 January 2009|access-date=3 March 2018|via=Spiegel Online}}</ref> In October 2008, during excavations for the foundation of a new hotel in Malbork, a mass grave was found containing the remains of 2,116 people. All the dead were said to have been German residents of pre-1945 Marienburg, but they could not be individually identified, nor could the cause of their deaths be definitely established. A Polish investigation concluded that the bodies, along with the remains of some dead animals, may have been buried to prevent the spread of typhus, which was extant in the turmoil at the end of World War II. The investigation was thus closed on 1 October 2010 as no justifiable suspicions of any crime were found. Majority of the dead were women and children most likely dead from hunger, diseases, cold and as collateral casualties of war operations, only a few of the bones had markings showing possible gunshot wounds.<ref>[https://ipn.gov.pl/pl/dla-mediow/komunikaty/10710,Komunikat-o-umorzeniu-sledztwa-w-sprawie-zabojstwa-w-1945-r-ok-2110-osob-ktorych.html] Komunikat o umorzeniu śledztwa w sprawie zabójstwa w 1945 r. ok. 2110 osób, których szczątki ujawniono w 2008 r. w Malborku</ref> On 14 August 2009, all the dead people's remains were buried in a German military cemetery at [[Stare Czarnowo]] in Polish Pomerania, not far from the German border.<ref name="suffering1">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/world/europe/27poland.html|title=Facing German Suffering, and Not Looking Away|first=Nicholas|last=Kulish|newspaper=The New York Times |date=26 February 2009|access-date=3 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,600216,00.html|title=Malbork Massacre: World War II Mass Grave Unearthed in Poland|newspaper=Der Spiegel |date=8 January 2009|access-date=3 March 2018|via=Spiegel Online}}</ref>