1 Killing site(s)
Feliksa Z., born in 1928: "They were brought here on six carts. The destination was a hill known as ’Grodek.’ The carts stopped at the base of the hill, and each group of Jews from each cart was forced to climb the hill, one group after another. Everyone was crying—it was like one collective scream. At the top, they were lined up alongside the grave and shot with an automatic gun. Those who didn’t fall directly into the pit were kicked in.” [Testimony N°YIU450P, interviewed in Sułów, on April 2, 2015]
"In October or November 1942, Polish "Granatowa" police officers organized a roundup of 45 Jews from the village of Deszkowice. These Jews came from Szczebrzeszyn and were hiding in Panczyk’s barn. I don’t know who reported the hiding Jews to the police. The Jews were moved in column by the policemen to Sułów, then crowded into the communal office prison. I was not present at the execution. Other Sułów residents told me that the policeman, Jozef M., ordered mayor Tomasz B. to appoint people to dig the pits needed to bury the corpses. The pits were dug on the "Grodek" hill, some 500 m from the village. In the evening, as I was told, the policemen brought the Jews to this spot. M. ordered them to undress and to lie down in groups near the pit. He placed them in such a way that he could kill several people with a single bullet. They pushed the dead into the pit with his foot. After the execution, the villagers had to bury the bodies. M. collected some of the Jews’ clothes for himself and distributed the rest to the population." [Deposition of Franciszek Kot, 63 years old, resident of Sułów, compiled on November 07, 1968; DS 1/00/Zn p.7-8 doc 24-24rev]
Sułów is a village located in the administrative district of Gmina Sułów, within Zamość County, in the Lublin Voivodeship of eastern Poland. It lies approximately 23 km (14 miles) west of Zamość and 60 km (37 miles) southeast of the regional capital, Lublin.
The earliest reference to Sułów dates back to the 13th century, but evidence of a Jewish community in the area appears much later. A census from the second half of the 19th century indicates that the commune of Sułów, which included several nearby localities, had 42 Jewish residents out of a total population of 6,315 (0.6%). By the 1921 census, the village of Sułów itself counted 88 houses and 541 residents, of whom 20 were Jewish.
According to testimonies recorded by Yahad, only one Jewish family, consisting of five people who owned a small shop, lived in the village before the Holocaust. The Jewish residents of Sułów were historically connected to the larger, long-established Jewish community of Szczebrzeszyn, located just 8 km away.
After the outbreak of the war, Sułów was first occupied by German forces in September 1939. Shortly after, between September 27 and October 6, 1939, the village came under Soviet control. The Germans then reoccupied Sułów on October 6, 1939.
Beginning in May 1941, approximately 4,000 inhabitants—both Jews and Christians—from the Sułów, Szczebrzeszyn, and Radecznica areas were requisitioned by the Luftwaffe to work at an airfield in nearby Klemensów.
In October 1942, during the liquidation of the ghetto in Szczebrzeszyn, a group of 45–46 Jews who had been hiding in the surrounding areas was transported by carts to Sułów and executed on a meadow at "Grodek" hill. Details of this massacre vary between the accounts recorded in Polish archives and the testimonies of witnesses interviewed by Yahad.
According to the Polish archives, the Jews from Szczebrzeszyn were first detained in the communal office prison in Sułów. They were then led by Polish policemen to "Grodek" hill, where they were executed with single bullets to the head. The same Polish policemen reportedly carried out the killings, and the victims were buried in a pit dug by local residents.
In contrast, a local witness interviewed by Yahad - In Unum described a different sequence of events. According to this account, the Jews were transported to the base of "Grodek" hill in six carts under German supervision. Jewish men were first ordered to dig a pit, while the others waited in the carts. Groups of approximately 15 people were then forced to walk to the pit, where they were executed with machine-guns. Anyone who did not fall directly into the pit was pushed in. Before being killed, the victims were forced to undress, and their clothing was burned on-site by the perpetrators.
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