The best traffic-free bike rides around Mikaszewo

The Augustów Roundup Victims Memorial is located near the village of Okółek, in the heart of the Augustów Forest. According to witnesses, this is where a temporary camp was located, where the NKVD held local residents before execution. The symbolic installation consists of a statue of Christ the Sorrowful, a memorial bell, and a cross, creating a space for reflection and prayer. The Augustów Roundup of July 1945 is considered the largest unsolved crime against Poles since World War II, and the new memorial allows for tribute to the victims and perpetuates the memory of the tragic events.

At the exit from the forest. Visible from the road. You can go inside.

As you leave the forest, it's visible from the road. You can go inside.

Mikaszówka is more than just a lock. The Church of St. Mary Magdalene and the adjacent park commemorating the Augustów Roundup are also worth visiting.

In 1999, John Paul II made the longest pilgrimage to his homeland, lasting almost 2 weeks. On the way, he rested in the Suwałki region. He stayed in the Camaldolese Monastery in Wigry and the surrounding area for 3 days. Interestingly, during his stay, John Paul II went to Leszczewo and unexpectedly visited the Milewski family. This route is now known as the papal route. The next day, he reached Augustów from where he sailed to Studzieniczna.

In July 1945, Red Army units, with the help of the Polish Army and officers and collaborators of the Security Office, carried out a large-scale pacification action in the Augustów Forest and its surroundings, referred to as the Augustów Roundup. On the Soviet side, units of the 50th Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front, the Internal Troops of the NKVD and officers of the military counterintelligence "SMERSH" participated in the operation. Officers of the Public Security Office, the Citizens' Militia and local informants supported the Soviets' actions as guides and translators, and also assisted in interrogations. Soviet units searched the forests and villages, arresting those suspected of contacts with Polish independence partisans. We do not know the exact date of the beginning or end of the operation - it is most often placed between July 12 and 28. In total, several thousand people were detained, some of them imprisoned and subjected to brutal interrogation.

Gorczyca Lock - It is located on the 57th kilometer of the canal, in the village of the same name, on the Orlewo Canal. There is a bridge over the lock, so there is no problem in finding it.

Rigol Weir and hydroelectric power plant The Szlamica River, which is a natural branch of the Czarna Hańcza River, incorporated into the Augustów Canal system, flows through the village of Rygol, located in the Augustów Forest. On this river there is a seven-gate, steel weir with iron and concrete abutments - built to replace the old one, destroyed in 1948. Excess water from Czarna Hańcza is drained here, which flows into Marycha through Szlamic, through Lake Wiedze and the border lake Szlamy, and then flows into the Niemen. In Rygola, on the regulated section of Szlamica, a private hydroelectric power plant was built in 1990, supplying electricity to the surrounding towns. https://www.polskaniezwykla.pl/web/place/54653,rygol-jaz-i-elektrownia-wodna.html