Bloody Christmas Eve in Ochotnica Dolna
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Bloody Christmas Eve in Ochotnica Dolna – symbolic name given to the pacification of the Ochotnica Dolna village (currently Lesser Poland voivodeship, Nowy Targ County), made by German Occupiers in the last months of World War II. 23 December 1944 members of SS murdered 56 residents of Ochotnica Dolna and partially burnt the village. The name "Bloody Christmas Eve" refers to Eve of the Christmas, that previously was celebrated on 23 December.
On December 22, 1944, Germans arrived in Ochotnica Dolna, who within the so-called the food campaign robbed the village. Despite the opposition of the local residents, a group of Soviet partisans attacked German soldiers, killing two of them, including non - commissioned SS-Unterscharführer Bruno Koch.
The next day, about 200 SS men came from Krościenko with six cars. The Germans ran into the homes, demanding money first and then murdering people. Children were thrown alive in the fire or brutally murdered.
The Germans wanted to burn and plunge the next village Ochotnica Górna, but the snow was too heavy and their cars were not able to travel up the hill.
Executioners
The crime in Ochotnica Dolna was made on December 23 by the SS (SS-Kampfgruppe Jagdkommando Matingen) criminal special order under the command of SS-Untersturmführer der Waffen-SS Albrecht C. Matingen (number SS 338 969). This division consisted of soldiers of various nationalities. It was created in mid-1944 by members of the Waffen-SS and police in Montelupich prison in Krakow. Most of them were SS men from the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf and the 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division. The company was stationed from the autumn of 1944 at the school in Krościenko.
Albrecht C. Matingen (born June 3, 1920, died October 23, 1974) lived in West Germany after the war. Neither he nor any of his unit members was ever convicted of crimes committed in Poland.
