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1 Killing site(s)
Maria Z., born in 1923: "There was a shooting of Jews in Markuszów. It happened in the summer. After the shooting, I saw the bodies lined up, one next to the other, lying face down on the ground. I only saw the bodies of the men. Afterward, the sołtys [village chief] requisitioned two-horse carts in front of the communal office to transport the bodies to the Jewish cemetery.” [Testimony N°YIU823P, interviewed in Markuszów, on June 16, 2018]."
Markuszów is a village in Puławy County, within the Lublin Voivodeship in eastern Poland. It lies approximately 22 km (14 miles) east of Puławy and 25 km (16 miles) northwest of the regional capital, Lublin.
While the first written mention of Markuszów dates back to 1317, Jewish settlement in the town began in the mid-16th century. By 1661, there were 9 Jews living in Markuszów, making up about 6% of the population. The 18th century saw steady growth in the Jewish community: 237 Jews were recorded in the 1764 census. This number increased to 368 in 1857 (41% of the population), and to 1,123 by 1897, comprising 65% of the village’s population.
By the end of the 17th century, the Jewish community in Markuszów had gained independence, establishing its own synagogue and cemetery. The Jewish quarter developed in the southeastern part of town and was home to a community primarily engaged in trade and craftsmanship. During the 19th century, as the Jewish population expanded, the quarter extended to the eastern outskirts of the village.
At the end of the 19th century, Hasidism gained strong influence among local Jews. The interwar period saw the rise of Zionist movements alongside flourishing religious and communal life. The Jewish community maintained a synagogue, a beit ha-midrash, old and new cemeteries, a mikveh, and a ritual slaughterhouse.
In 1921, the Jewish population numbered 1,001—about 54.2% of the total population. Despite the economic difficulties brought on by the First World War and the Great Depression, as well as rising antisemitism, Jews continued to dominate the local economy, particularly the market.
A local witness interviewed by Yahad recalled the vibrant Jewish life in the 1930s: Jewish merchants were active during the weekly Monday market held in the town center, religious services were conducted in the synagogue, and young Jewish men formed a paramilitary group that paraded through the village. According to historical sources, among the 373 Jewish families living in Markuszów in 1939, there were 197 merchants and traders, 42 shoemakers, 25 tailors, 14 carpenters, and 7 bakers.
By 1939, the Jewish population had grown significantly to around 2,000—two-thirds of the town’s total population of 3,000.
On September 8, 1939, during the German bombardment of Markuszów, the village center—home primarily to the Jewish population—was destroyed. Three days later, on September 11, 1939, the Wehrmacht entered the village and established temporary headquarters in the local school and the presbytery.
Immediately upon occupation, Jews were subjected to forced labor and the obligation to wear armbands bearing the Star of David. Many Jewish families, rendered homeless by the bombing, fled to Opole Lubelskie. In their place, 12 Jews—primarily from the destroyed town of Kurów—resettled in Markuszów.
Following the army’s departure, the village came under the control of the German gendarmerie based in nearby Grabów and the Gestapo post in Zagrody. Day-to-day order in the village was maintained by the Polish Granatowa (Blue) Police.
At the beginning of 1940, the Germans established a Judenrat (Jewish Council) and a Jewish Police force in Markuszów. For a time, the rents paid by the Judenrat to the German administration helped delay the imposition of stricter movement restrictions on the Jewish population and enabled some rebuilding of homes.
However, by spring 1940, forced labor quotas were significantly increased. Jewish laborers were sent to work on the Vistula River drainage project at the Janiszów labor camp, and others were assigned to the construction of fortifications at the Bełżec camp. Beginning in July, 300 to 360 Jewish laborers per day were required for road construction and the building of barracks to accommodate around 650 homeless Jews.
Between July and the fall of 1940, the Jewish population of Markuszów grew from 1,320 to 1,500, largely due to an influx of refugees from Warsaw fleeing ghettoization. By March 1941, 1,643 Jews were registered in the village. Two months later, in May 1941, the Jews were confined to an open ghetto. The ghetto was subject to frequent German inspections aimed at tax collection, intimidation, and humiliation. Poor sanitary conditions and severe overcrowding led to a typhus outbreak in April 1942.
According to local witnesses, deportations from Markuszów occurred over several Aktions spanning two months. The first began in April 1942, when approximately 500 people—mostly the elderly and ill—were deported, likely to the Bełżec death camp. An SS detachment, assisted by Granatowapolice, ordered the Jews to form a column for the march to the
Nałęczów railway station. Those who could not keep up were shot along the way.
On May 8 and 9, 1942, the second and largest deportation Aktion took place. Members of the German gendarmerie, SS, and Hiwis (collaborators) gathered the 1,500 remaining Jews—including recently arrived Slovak Jews—in the town square. According to eyewitness testimony, local volunteer firemen were used to force Jews from their homes and escort them to the assembly point on Lubelska Street. The deportees were allowed to bring only some food, but no belongings.
One group was sent directly to the Sobibór death camp. Others were taken first to the emptied ghetto in Końskowola, where they spent the night, before being moved to the Puławy railway station for transport to Sobibór. Witnesses reported that elderly Jews left behind during the roundup were shot on the spot.
Many Jews from Markuszów attempted to avoid deportation by fleeing into the surrounding forests, where some joined a group of Jewish partisans. However, historical sources indicate that almost all escapees were eventually caught and killed. A local witness interviewed by Yahad–In Unum recalled the murder of 30 Jews captured in the area and imprisoned in a makeshift detention center in Markuszów. A German unit arrived to carry out the execution. The victims—including a woman and her two children—were lined up in a courtyard in two close rows and shot. Their bodies were loaded onto carts by local firemen and transported by requisitioned Polish peasants to the Jewish cemetery, where they were buried in a mass grave.
In addition, a forced labor camp—sometimes referred to as a ghetto—was established in Markuszów in late May 1942 for about 100–150 Slovak Jews. It operated until September 1943, when the camp was liquidated. The inmates were forced to march to the Nałęczów railway station. Their fate remains unknown.
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