In his series of haunting images, Michał Dyjuk rethinks photography in an attempt to preserve the memory of a lesser-known tragedy of the 20th century that unfolded in the forests of Augustow, his home in Poland.
A man’s naked body appears through a hole in the haystack, and another man is hiding in a tree. Something—or someone—is lurking in the forest. Can we discern a set of eyes there in the bushes, or is it just stray lights from a flashlight? In the morning light, the fog sets in. But this forest is no less haunted in the daylight, and the phantoms of the past cross paths with those burdened by the atrocities of the present day. Traces of text superimposed onto the photos, grotesque portraits and ghostly landscapes give away a hint of the tragedy at the center of the project.
In July 1945, in the forests of Augustow, Soviet troops rounded up thousands of members of the Polish resistance, who had fought against both the Nazi and Communist occupations of their country. Approximately 2000 were arrested, and at least 600 disappeared without a trace, their subsequent fate and resting place unknown to this day. The haunted atmosphere of the images is not just a stylistic exercise. “I was born here, and it is an idyllic place, with its forest, lakes, and rivers,” says Michał, the photographer behind the project. “But in opposition to this, the area used to be a constant battlefield. If you could peel off this layer of idyllic scenery, you would start to see a lot of bad things that happened in the past. I think I am the only local who hates the forest.”
No wonder then, that Michał came to the project only after moving away and coming back. “When I was younger, all I dreamt of was getting away from this area. I could not see myself in this rural place. My only wish was to run away.” And so he moved to Warsaw, where he started working as a photojournalist, both locally and internationally. Yet he felt haunted by the local history even during his time away. “One of my earliest memories was a picture of a man in military uniform. I was told that this is my great-grandfather, who was captured in a manhunt in Augustow. When I grew older, and became more conscious; I realized what a ‘manhunt’ really means.”
It was during lockdown that Michał decided to move back home and make a project about this history. Yet the survivors of the era had mostly passed away, and he found that many of the younger generation did not remember the events. “I was so used to shooting as a photojournalist. Now I did not know what to do when things were no longer happening in front of my eyes.” So what can a documentary photographer do when images of the event are missing?
For the project, Michał had to readjust his attitude towards what it means to ‘document’ an event. He started spending more time in the forest that he so detested, and also began meeting locals from the region that he had escaped. This was, as he soon learned, the generation that no longer has a memory of the tragedy that transpired. So, he decided that he would restage some of the episodes that oral history had preserved. Local youth became the vessels that would bring history back to life, by modeling the stories recounted by the survivors of the event. “Maybe I am too optimistic,” Michał says, “but I hoped this would also instill a sense of memory in them.”
– No windows?
– Yes, you can still see it today. He was afraid there were some attempts of revenge. He had a room without windows because he was afraid that someone would cut his head off.” © Michał Dyjuk
The project transcends the photographic, becoming an important historical research in and of itself. Michał started working with Dr. Barbara Szacka, a PhD researcher from the University of Warsaw who studies oral memory. In the course of his work, Michał has essentially created an extensive archive of the manhunt. Ever since Belarus has been pushing Middle Eastern refugees into Poland through the forest, the area itself has been declared off-limits by the Polish government, even for those providing humanitarian aid. Now, besides the ghosts of the past, refugees fleeing death and destruction in their countries inhabit the forest, only to be met with violence by the Polish border guards. Nevertheless, using available information, Michał managed to map out the possible locations of the massacres and mass graves.
Despite the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has been covering up the traces of the massacre, including the documents that might reveal the exact locations of the long-dead Poles. I spoke to Michał a few weeks before Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. Even then, he said “it is unlikely that Russians will ever allow research to confirm the details.” Now, it seems almost impossible. In the information war, even the past is under assault. To struggle against forgetting is an act of resistance in itself.
The landscape too seems to forget human suffering. Struggle as we might against forgetting, generations change, and tragedies are absorbed into everyday existence. Who remembers the turbulence of war of centuries long past? Do death and pain leave no trace?
Michał told me a story he had heard whilst working on the project. This happened, they say, during the Manhunt. A man was living near the forest, on what is now the Belorussian side. Once, as he was hearding his cows near a clearing in the forest, trucks started driving by and shots were fired. No one dared to see what was happening. When it was time to herd the cows back into the forest, they started behaving strangely. They mooed, they howled, they refused to go back into the forest. “Apparently, cows are very sensitive creatures. They can feel various pheromones in the air,” Michał says, “Cows can smell the scent of death.”
This work was selected as a winner of LensCulture’s Black & White Photography Awards 2021. See all of the winners.