1 Killing site(s)
Marianna T., born in 1929: "When the Germans arrived in the village, everyone—adults and children—was forced to gather near the school. At our house, my younger sister and my grandmother were allowed to stay behind by a soldier, but my mother, my other sister, and I had to join the crowd in front of the school. SS soldiers in black uniforms arrived with dogs and announced over loudspeakers, in Polish, that no one was allowed to move. The Jews were separated into a separate column, arranged by age, with the oldest at the front and the youngest at the back. The SS men ordered the oldest Jews to jump like frogs. These people quickly grew exhausted, but whenever they fell, they were forced to get up and jump again. It was a cruel method to wear them out. After this ordeal, the SS soldiers told the Poles to return home, while the column of Jews was taken to the outskirts of the village. Among them was a mentally disturbed Ukrainian man. My husband witnessed what happened next. He saw the Jews being forced to dig pits using shovels. Once at the killing site, the SS men ordered them to stand around the pits. The mentally disturbed man was made to force the Jews to walk around the pits before the SS men shot them. After the shooting, the victims’ bodies were buried in two pits.” [Testimony N°YIU261P, interviewed in Andrzejów, on October 21, 2013]
Andrzejów is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Urszulin, within Włodawa County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It lies approximately 3 km (2 miles) southeast of Urszulin, 30 km (19 miles) southwest of Włodawa, and 48 km (30 miles) east of the regional capital, Lublin.
According to the 1921 census, the village had a small Jewish community of 26 people, out of a total population of 353. Local witnesses interviewed by Yahad - In Unum recalled several Jewish residents living in Andrzejów on the eve of the Second World War. Among them were the family of Boruch Rubinsztein, who was the oldest Jew in the village, and Chanina, a local dressmaker.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Andrzejów was administratively assigned to Chełm County in the Lublin District of the General Government. According to the account of a local witness, the Jewish inhabitants of Andrzejów—five to six families in total—were permitted to remain in their homes until the Aktion on May 26, 1942, when the local Jewish community was wiped out.
On the morning of Pentecost, German soldiers, accompanied by a Ukrainian auxiliary unit, surrounded the village and gathered the residents in the square in front of the schoolhouse. The Jewish residents were singled out and separated from the rest of the population. The men were separated from the women and children, beaten, and humiliated. After this, the Polish residents were allowed to return to their homes, while the Jews were forced to march in a column to the outskirts of the village, where they were executed.
According to a Yahad - In Unum witness, the victims were shot while being forced to walk around the pits. Other sources report that the Jews were ordered to line up in front of the pit and jump inside one by one, where they were shot and left lying in the pit. The soldiers reportedly took turns shooting the victims with rifles. Women and children were killed first and buried in the first pit by the men. Afterward, the men were executed and buried in a second pit, which was filled in by Polish and Ukrainian men.
Some sources suggest that following the Aktion in Andrzejów, the same German unit conducted similar atrocities in the nearby villages of Urszulin, Zastawie, and Wereszczyn.
A memorial stone was later erected at the killing site to honor the victims. The monument includes the names of Boruch Rubinsztein and his family, Chanina Orzech and his family, and Uszer Wender and his family.
Do you have additional information regarding a village that you would like to share with Yahad ?
Please contact us at contact@yahadinunum.org
or by calling Yahad – In Unum at +33 (0) 1 53 20 13 17