1 Killing site(s)
Marianna B., born in 1928: “The Jews from Bobrowniki were taken to Dęblin. They had been ordered to prepare for departure. It was the sołtys (village head) who forced the Jews out of their homes. First, they had to gather, form a column of four, and begin the march to Dęblin. There were many women and children in the column because many of the men had managed to escape. Two Germans guarded the group—one walking alongside and others riding in a cart behind them. Anyone who couldn’t keep up or tried to run was shot. There were also Polish carts that had been requisitioned by the sołtys. About a dozen carts moved with the column. When five or six bodies accumulated, they were loaded onto a cart, which then turned around and went to the Jewish cemetery. The coachmen helped one another place the bodies onto the carts. A large pit was dug at the cemetery for the burials. Some of the victims were still alive when they were thrown into the pit. As they lay there, some people tried to take their shoes, skirts, or shirts. The women resisted—screamed and moaned—but in the end, they were thrown into the pit, and more bodies were piled on top of them.” [Testimony N°YIU830P, interviewed in Podwierzbie, on June 19, 2018]
Bobrowniki is a town located in Ryki County, eastern Poland. It lies in the northeastern corner of historic Lesser Poland, approximately 10 km (6 miles) south of Ryki and 56 km (35 miles) northwest of the regional capital, Lublin.
The first Jews likely settled in Bobrowniki during the third quarter of the 17th century. By 1676, five Jewish families were recorded as paying local taxes. In 1721, Jews were officially granted permission to reside in the town, and they soon established a Jewish cemetery and built a synagogue in 1744. The Jewish quarter developed in the southwestern part of the town.
By 1789, the Jewish community had grown to 24 families, comprising approximately 150 people. Throughout the 19th century, the Jewish population expanded significantly, consisting mainly of merchants and craftsmen. The number of Jewish residents rose from 310 in 1827 to 519 in 1857, making up nearly half of the town’s total population at the time. During this period, efforts were made to industrialize Bobrowniki, and several small businesses were established, including textile workshops, soap, candle, aniline, and glass factories.
However, worsening economic conditions by the end of the century led to a decline in the Jewish population. By 1897, the number had dropped to 282, and many Jews migrated to Dęblin-Irena, a growing settlement that subsequently became the seat of the Jewish religious community for the area.
In the interwar period, the Jews of Bobrowniki were active in trade, crafts, and services, and some leased orchards and gardens. In the 1920s, about 34 Jewish children attended the local public school. According to the 1921 census, 164 Jews lived in the town, representing 14% of the total population. By 1939, the Jewish population had increased slightly to around 200.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Bobrowniki was briefly occupied by German forces in mid-September 1939. Although there was no German gendarmerie stationed in the town, gendarmes from nearby Dęblin regularly patrolled the area.
The Jews of Bobrowniki were not confined to a ghetto. According to local witnesses, they continued to live in their homes and pursue their daily activities until May 1942, when the local Jewish community was annihilated during a large-scale deportation operation carried out across the Ryki district between May 6–8, 1942. During this Aktion, approximately 4,000 Jews from Bobrowniki, Baranów, Łysobyki, Ryki, and Stężyca were forcibly gathered and marched to Dęblin. From there, they were either sent to the nearby Dęblin airport forced labor camp, or deported by train to the Sobibór death camp.
In Bobrowniki, the operation began on May 6, 1942, when German forces and collaborating local authorities rounded up the Jewish residents. The sołtys (village head) helped lead the operation. Jews were driven from their homes and assembled in the marketplace, where they were subjected to brutal treatment by the guards. Witnesses recalled scenes of fear and violence, as families were forced to wait for hours before being marched toward Dęblin.
The elderly and infirm were executed on the spot or along the road. A local witness reported following the column and seeing bodies of Jews left behind. Carts, requisitioned from local farmers, followed the deportation column, collecting the dead and transporting them to the Jewish cemetery in Bobrowniki, where mass graves were prepared.
That same day, in the Dęblin-Irena ghetto, about 7 km away, German police, a detachment of SS, and Ukrainian auxiliaries ordered Jews to gather in the central square. When the deportation columns from surrounding towns, including Bobrowniki, arrived in Dęblin, the assembled Jews were sorted: young men were selected for forced labor at the Luftwaffe camp at Dęblin airport, while an estimated 2,300 to 2,500 people were deported by train to Sobibór. Between 42 and 50 people who asked to join the labor group were shot on the spot.
Throughout the May 6–8 deportations, hundreds of Jews were murdered along the routes leading to Dęblin. Local witnesses reported that about 300 victims were transported by requisitioned carts to the Jewish cemetery in Bobrowniki. Carts filled with bodies traveled back and forth for several days. According to testimony, mass graves were dug at the cemetery by local residents, under the supervision of German forces and the sołtysi of Bobrowniki and neighboring villages.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that some of the Jews transported to the cemetery were still alive when their clothing was stripped and they were thrown into the pit alongside the dead. The mass grave at the Jewish cemetery of Bobrowniki holds the remains of approximately 300 Jews.
Today, the site is marked with a commemorative plaque, although it was not photographed by the Yahad documentation team.
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