In retaliation for the killing of a high-ranking German officer in Swieciany, local residents were executed. Approximately 1,000 Poles from lists prepared by the Lithuanians were arrested even in villages far from the scene of the attack. Twenty-seven people were killed in Nowe Święciany, including two priests: the parish priest (from 1934) Bolesław Bazewicz and Jan Naumowicz, a school prefect who arrived in Nowe Święciany in 1938. The bodies of the priests were allowed to be moved to the local cemetery, while the other victims are buried in a mass grave, in front of the entrance to the town (there is a monument erected there by the Lithuanian authorities). The priests are buried in the quarters of Polish soldiers from the years 1919-1920.The gravestone monument is elaborate in form - in the centre there is a bas-relief of the head of Christ in a crown of thorns, on the sides there are two crosses, below them two figures of kneeling angels. Below the bas-relief is a black plaque with the inscription: "Beloved N. Swiecian pastors, who on 20.V. 1942 made their last sacrifice to God with their own blood and lives: Rev. Dean Boleslaw Bazewicz, 44, Rev. Prefect Jan Naumowicz, 41. Requiescat in Pace! A memento from the parishioners". A plain slab on the grave. Entirely fenced with four concrete posts, connected by chains.