During the Second World War, the Germans occupied Vilnius on 24.06.1941. They soon used the site of the unfinished liquid fuel depot near the railway station in Ponary near Vilnius for a large-scale extermination campaign. Within three years, from July 1941 to July 1944, they murdered more than 100,000 people here.
It is assumed that approximately 70,000 people of Jewish origin were exterminated in Ponary: Vilnius Jews and refugees from central Poland.
Among the victims of the executions in Ponary were Poles from the Vilnius region. Probably about 1,600 people of Polish nationality were murdered, but it has been possible to establish the names of only about 300 of them. They were killed as political opponents who resisted the invaders. Among Poles, the most numerous group of those murdered in Ponary were young people active in the Union of Free Poles and the intelligentsia: among others, three professors of Stefan Batory University: Kazimierz Pelczar, Mieczysław Gutkowski and Mieczysław Engiel.
Due to the fact that the separated area was quickly filled with the corpses of the victims, and in order to cover the traces of the crime, the Germans organised the burning of these remains. The ashes resulting from the burning of the corpses were scattered in the area.
Immediately after the war, a wooden cross was erected in Ponary to commemorate the Poles murdered here, but it was destroyed in 1952. The memorial to the murdered Jews, erected just after the war, was also destroyed by the Soviet authorities. In 1948, the Soviets erected an obelisk with a five-pointed star and a laconic inscription. For many years the site remained forgotten and neglected. It was only after 1980 that the site began to be gradually cleaned up. At that time, commemorations dedicated to the victims of various nationalities were set up and a museum exhibition was opened.
In 1990, a cross was erected again in memory of the Polish victims. At its foot a granite plaque was placed with the inscription: "1941-1944 / To the memory of the many thousands of Poles murdered in Ponary. In tribute to the Compatriots of the Vilnius Land. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on them. Amen". The Ponary Family Association, bringing together families of murdered Poles, led in 2000 to the extension of this memorial according to a project by architect Jarosław Skrzypczyk, which was financed by the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites. At that time, plaques with the main inscription were placed on the inner wall marking the extent of the Polish commemoration: "Soldiers of the Home Army, the Polish Underground State, Polish intelligentsia and youth who gave their lives for the freedom of their native land. Honour to their memory. Government of the Republic of Poland" // "Armijos Krajovos, Lenkijos valstybes pogrindżioLenku inteligentija ir janunimas,paaukoję gyvybę uż gimtosios żemes laisva, garbe ju atminimui Lenkijos Respublikos Vyriausybe" and plaques with the established names of the victims, which a few years later were supplemented with further data obtained. At the entrance to the Polish quarters there are plaques with the inscriptions: "POLISH WAR QUARTERS 1941 - 1944" // "LENKU KARIU KARAVIETE 1941 - 1944".