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1 Killing site(s)
Stanislawa R., born in 1926: "Jews were killed in Sielec. A Polish man captured some Jews, but he was later killed as well. The Jews were executed in a pit, and today there is a house on that site. The bodies remain there, never exhumed. This location is in the center of Sielec. Another Jew was killed in a ravine near the river." [Testimony N°YIU43P, interviewed in Sielec, on July 9, 2011]
"In May 1942, 1 Ukrainian and 25 Jews were shot in the village of Sielec. The victims were brought to the killing site by members of the local population, including 30-year-old Wiktor K. and others. The shooting was carried out by members of the Gestapo and the gendarmerie. The corpses were never exhumed. The Ukrainian was buried in the local cemetery, the Jews in the mass grave in the village of Sielec." [Deposition of Jozef Mielniczuk, mayor of the commune of Rakolupy, aged 52 years old, resident of Pliskow compiled on November 9, 1945; IPN, GK 175/43]
Sielec is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Leśniowice, within Chełm County in eastern Poland. It is located approximately 14 km (9 miles) south of Chełm and 71 km (44 miles) east of the regional capital, Lublin.
The first Jewish settlers likely arrived in Sielec at the end of the 17th century, with historical records from 1693 noting a population of 441 Christians and 15 Jews. During the interwar period, 40-50 Jewish families resided in Sielec, most involved in handicrafts and small-scale trade. The village did not have an independent Jewish community or synagogue; instead, local Jews were connected to the larger community in Chełm.
However, a Beth Midrash was located in the home of Josek Cymerman. According to a witness interviewed by Yahad, Sielec had a vibrant Jewish community, evidenced by numerous Jewish homes in the village center and a house of study, though all traces of these were erased in the years following the war.
In September 1939, after a brief occupation by the Soviet army, Sielec was taken over by German troops.
In 1940, about 80 Jewish refugees and expellees from Krakow arrived in Sielec. According to the data from 1941, the number of Jews in Sielec was then about 450.
In May 1942, 25 Jews and 1 Ukrainian were gathered by the local population and taken to the shooting place in a field in Sielec, where they were shot by members of the Gestapo and the gendarmerie. The Jewish victims were buried in a pit at the killing site.
In addition, two Jewish families from Sielec were shot and buried in a mass grave in the village of Kumów Majoracki on May 12, 1942.
The other Jews from Sielec shared the fate of the Jews from Wojsławice and were marched on foot to Chełm, probably in October 1942, and then to Włodawa, from where they were transported to the Sobibor death camp.
For more information about the killing of Jews from Wojsławice, please follow the corresponding profile.
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