On the morning of August 25, throngs of military police descended upon a village called Surkonty in northwestern Belarus and proceeded to block all roads leading toward the area’s military cemetery, where members of Poland’s World War II resistance force, known as the Home Army, lay buried. Construction equipment was brought in, and authorities began to demolish the cemetery — graves and all.

“No one was allowed in because they were afraid that people would take pictures, protest, and block the work,” said Marek Zaniewski, the vice president of the Union of Poles in Belarus, relaying accounts from people who witnessed the operation in the predominantly ethnic-Polish district. 

A Catholic priest was able to get inside the perimeter but was soon ejected, and authorities threatened people who tried to take pictures with prosecution. Later that day however, photos emerged online showing that the cemetery site had been leveled to the ground.

Zaniewski said when he heard the news, his initial shock soon gave way to despair.