Poland
Casualties and Victim Assistance
Casualties
Two new ERW casualties in Poland were reported in the media in 2011. A 10-year-old boy and his 9-year-old sister were killed in eastern Poland by an explosive remnant of war (ERW), likely dating from World War II.[1] Previously, 10 ERW casualties were identified in 2008.[2]
The Monitor identified a total of 206 mine/ERW casualties in Poland from 1999 to the end of 2011 (40 people were killed and 166 injured).[3] The total number of mine/ERW casualties in Poland is not known. Due to incomplete data collection, casualties may have been under-reported. Between 1945 and 1973, 3,833 civilians (including 3,189 children) were killed and 8,221 (including 6,656 children) were injured in mine/ERW incidents.[4] Between 1944 and 1994, 658 soldiers were killed and several thousand injured in clearance operations.[5]
[1] “Likely WWII Bomb Kills 2 Polish Children,” Huffington Post, 24 March 2011, http://huff.to/gyApYF, accessed on 22 August 2012.
[2] Monitor analysis of data provided by email from Adam Kobieracki, Director of Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 April 2009.
[3] See previous Landmine Monitor reports on Poland, www.the-monitor.org.
[4] Letter from Maruisz Handzlik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[5] Ibid.