WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland held a state burial Monday for more than 700 victims of Nazi Germany’s World War II mass executions, whose remains were recently uncovered in the so-called Valley of Death in the country’s north, decades after their deaths.
The observances in the town of Chojnice began with a funeral Mass at the basilica, leading to an interment with military honors at a local cemetery of the victims of the Nazi crimes. The remains were contained in 188 small wooden coffins with ribbons in national white and red colors across them.
Joining the events were relatives of the victims, an aide to President Andrzej Duda, local authorities and top officials of the state National Remembrance Institute, which carried out and documented the exhumations.
“We want to give back memory, we want to give back dignity to the victims of the crimes in Chojnice,” presiding Bishop Ryszard Kasyna said.
Duda said in a message that the only reason the victims were killed by the Nazis was because they were Polish and said they would always be held in the national memory.
The remains of Polish civilians, including 218 asylum patients, were exhumed in 2021-2024 from a number of separate mass graves on the outskirts of Chojnice. Personal belongings and documents helped identify around 120 of the victims of an execution in early 1945. Among them were teachers, priests, police officers, forestry and postal workers, and landowners.
Historians have established that the Nazis, shortly after invading Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, executed some of the civilians, in a drive to subdue the nation. The remains of another 500 victims are from the January 1945 execution, when the Germans were fleeing the area. Bullets and shells from handguns used by German forces were found in the graves.
Experts will continue to comb the area for more mass graves of the so-called Pomerania Crime.
Poland lost 6 million citizens, or a sixth of its population, of which 3 million were Jewish, in the war. The country also suffered huge losses to its infrastructure, industry and agriculture.
This story has been corrected to show that an aide to President Andrzej Duda attended the events, not Duda himself.
In this photo provided by Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, a view of the 188 coffins holding recently uncovered remains of more than 700 victims of Nazi Germany's World War II mass executions in northern Poland, during a funeral Mass at the basilica in Chojnice, Poland Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Mikołaj Bujak/Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, via AP)
In this photo provided by Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, a soldier carries one of 188 coffins holding recently uncovered remains of more than 700 victims of Nazi Germany's World War II mass executions in northern Poland, during state burial ceremonies, in Chojnice, Poland, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Mikołaj Bujak/Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, via AP)
In this photo provided by Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, a view of several of the 188 coffins holding recently uncovered remains of more than 700 victims of Nazi Germany's World War II mass executions in northern Poland, during burial ceremonies, in Chojnice, Poland, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Mikołaj Bujak/Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, via AP)
People lay a wreath at the monument to the 1939 heroic defense of the Westerplatte peninsula outpost during solemn observances of the 85th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, at Westerplatte, on the Baltic Sea, Poland, on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. Attacked by a German Nazi warship in the small hours on Sept. 1, 1939, the Westerplatte military outpost was supposed to hold out for 24 hours, but its soldiers put up resistance to the Germans for seven days. (AP Photo/Wojciech Strozyk)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Sphere, Las Vegas' transformational new masterpiece, stole the show Saturday night at UFC 306, but Merab Dvalishvili put on a performance not to be forgotten in capturing the bantamweight championship with a unanimous decision over Sean O'Malley.
The judges scored it 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 in favor of Dvalishvili (18-4), a 33-year-old from the country of Georgia. He used a ground-and-pound attack to control most of the action against O'Malley (18-2).
O'Malley, 29, who lives in Phoenix, was a slight -125 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook.
Valentina Shevchenko reclaimed the women's flyweight championship with all three judges awarding her a 50-45 victory over Alexa Grasso in the co-main event.
This was the third consecutive meeting between the two after Grasso took Shevchenko's belt in the first match. The second was a draw.
The third one wasn't closer, with the 36-year-old Shevchenko (24-4-1) using a ground-and-pound strategy to win all three rounds over 31-year-old Grasso (16-4-1) on the judges' cards.
“It's so huge," said Shevchenko, who is from Kyrgyzstan. "It like a dream come true fighting in the Sphere.”
This show at the Sphere was unlike any show in the UFC's history, taking full advantage of the 160,000-square-foot high-definition LED screen to create an outer-space type feel as the pay-per-view portion of the card was about to begin.
UFC President Dana White called this card his “love letter to Mexico,” and mini stories of the neighboring country's history and culture as part of a celebration of the country’s Independence Day weekend were told on the screen throughout the evening. One created the illusion the arena was moving as the video played out.
Seven Mexican fighters, including Grasso, populated the card, and chants from the crowd of “Mexico” broke out several times.
Aztec pyramids seeming to hover over one contest in the octagon changed from night to morning. Another fight took place with a Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) holiday scene that included dressed up male and female skeletons lighting up the screen. Other matches had similar scenes dominating the background.
The screen was used throughout to introduce a tell-of-the-tape of each fighter, and highlights were shown on the building's exterior.
White has said this is a one-and-done given the overwhelming undertaking to put together the show as well as the roughly $20 million cost. To help pay for it, White secured a title sponsor for the first time for one of his PPV cards, making the official name Riyadh Season Noche UFC.
But White has waffled as the event approached, and it's possible the UFC will have future cards at the Sphere, those the organization is contractually obligated to MGM Resorts, which includes T-Mobile Arena. An exception was made for this night and perhaps there will be more.
T-Mobile had its own tribute to Mexican Independence Day three miles away with Canelo Alvarez winning by unanimous decision as the headline fighter.
UFC's in-house production team crew worked with Antigravity Academy production led by founder and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Carlos López Estrada to put together this event.
Heavyweight champion Jon Jones, considered by many to be the greatest fighter in UFC history, will face Stipe Miocic in UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at New York's Madison Square Garden. Jones has not fought since moving up from light heavyweight to claim the heavyweight crown with a first-round submission of Ciryl Gane on March 4, 2023.
Jones, who was in the crowd wearing a black cowboy hat, and Miocic were scheduled to fight last year, but a pectoral injury forced Jones to postpone.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
Attendees watch Yazmin Jauregui fights Ketlen Souza in a women's strawweight mixed martial arts bout during UFC 306 at the Sphere, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Attendees wait for the main mixed martial arts event during UFC 306 at the Sphere, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Valentina Shevchenko, right, fights Alexa Grasso in a women's flyweight mixed martial arts title bout during UFC 306 at the Sphere, Saturday, Sep. 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Valentina Shevchenko celebrates after defeating Alexa Grasso in a women's flyweight mixed martial arts title bout during UFC 306 at the Sphere, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili appear on screen during UFC 306 at the Sphere, Saturday, Sep. 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
