1 Killing site(s)
Helena W., born in 1930: “The Schupo policemen were stationed at the school. They not only targeted Jews but also Poles. Anyone who entered the school was certain to be killed. The Jews were brought to the school, and from there, they were taken behind the building and shot. Their bodies were never exhumed; they remain buried there to this day. The executions always took place at night.” [Testimony N°YIU1466P, interviewed in Rachanie, on August 19, 2023]
"A forced labor camp existed in Rachanie from April 1942 to August 1943, approx. 1,000 prisoners, Jews and Poles, were employed in land improvement work." [Minutes of the Municipal Court in Tyszowice, dated September 28, 1945; IPN, 337 O189]
Rachanie is a village in Tomaszów Lubelski County, located in eastern Poland. It lies approximately 14 km northeast of Tomaszów Lubelski and 105 km southeast of the regional capital, Lublin.
The earliest reference to Jewish residents in Rachanie dates back to 1550. Until the late 19th century, the Jewish population remained small. By the 1880s, there were 18 Jews living in the village, primarily engaged in artisanal work, usury, and small-scale food trade.
During the interwar period, the Jewish community in Rachanie was concentrated mostly in the eastern part of the village. They owned various businesses, including a granary, three shops (a grocery store, a general store, and a mud shop), a tavern located in the village center, three oil mills, and two water mills along the Rachanka River. Many Jews made a living through petty trade, itinerant selling, artisanal work, and renting out orchards.
Rachanie did not have a synagogue, so the Jewish residents traveled to Komarów, Łaszczów, or Tyszowce to pray. However, a private beth midrash operated in one of the village homes, and a small Jewish cemetery was located outside the village.
Local witnesses interviewed by Yahad recall several Jewish neighbors, especially those living in a prominent house on the main square. Jewish residents were regarded as skilled traders and owned several small markets. Soska ran a food store, and Estera managed a restaurant in the village.
According to the 1921 census, 78 Jews lived in Rachanie, comprising 7% of the total population. In the larger Rachanie municipality, there were 243 Jewish residents.
Rachanie was occupied by the Germans on September 13, 1939. After a brief period of Soviet control, the village returned to German authority on September 27, 1939.
In the spring of 1940, a gendarmerie post was established in the pre-war school building in Rachanie. At the same time, the Germans set up a water labor camp behind the school. The Jews of Rachanie, along with those from nearby villages, were expelled from their homes and forced into the camp. A few dozen workers were crammed into four overcrowded barracks and compelled to perform grueling labor improving the meadows in the valley of the local river. The conditions were inhumane—prisoners endured starvation, poor sanitation, and relentless abuse, including beatings with clubs. Elderly people, women, and children were among those imprisoned, and they suffered terribly. Gendarmes regularly executed prisoners, burying the bodies in graves dug by other inmates around the school.
Local witnesses reported that in late autumn 1940, when frost made river work impossible, the camp was liquidated, and the remaining Jewish prisoners were murdered.
Polish archives indicate that a second labor camp operated in Rachanie from April 1942 to August 1943. This camp, also located near the school, held about 1,000 prisoners, including Jews and Poles. When the camp was liquidated, the inmates were either deported or executed on site.
On May 23, 1942, the German authorities carried out a deportation Aktion in Rachanie. Jews from Rachanie and surrounding villages were ordered to assemble in the square near the communal building. Those with a Kennkarte (work permit) were allowed to remain, while the others were transported in horse-drawn carts to the Belzec death camp.
From 1942 onward, a 30-man unit of the Schutzpolizei (Schupo, the German State Security Police) operated from the Rachanie school, turning the village into a center of persecution. Both Jews and members of the Polish resistance were frequently captured, tortured, and executed at the school. Victims were buried in pits dug behind the building. While the remains of Polish victims were later exhumed and reburied in a cemetery, the bodies of the Jewish victims remain there to this day. A symbolic cross, erected by the local community, now marks the site as a memorial to the victims.
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