Zawady | Masovian Voivodeship

Zawady, v. in Siedlce Voivodeship, south of Mordy.

Labor camp. Established in the spring of 1942, liquidated in the spring of 1943. Located by the Warszawa–Brześć highway. Polish citizens of Jewish origin were held here, averaging 100 people. Prisoners worked at the Krzesk estate. During the liquidation of the camp, prisoners were transported to the Treblinka II death camp. [Source: AGK, ASG, sygn. 49, k. 137. GK, Zh III/31/35/68, o.pr., woj. warszawskie, k. 4.]

Zawady is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Zbuczyn, within Siedlce County, Masovian Voivodeship, located approximately 100 km (62 mi) east of Warsaw.

Little is known today about the prewar Jewish community of Zawady itself. Local witnesses recall only a few Jewish families living in the village, including the family of a Jewish trader. However, substantial Jewish populations flourished in nearby urban centers with which Zawady residents maintained regular commercial and social ties. Most notable were Łosice, located approximately 10 km southeast, where 2,900 Jews lived on the eve of the war, and Mordy, situated roughly 17 km southwest, a traditional shtetl where around 1,750 Jewish residents constituted a 50% to 60% majority.

For the inhabitants of surrounding villages like Zawady, these towns formed a vital economic ecosystem. Local farmers routinely visited their markets to trade produce for manufactured goods, while traveling Jewish traders regularly visited rural farms.

German forces occupied Zawady around September 11 to 12, 1939. While the fate of most Jewish families from the village remains uncertain, witness Józef P., born in 1928, remembers one family consisting of parents and two children. The father was a well-known trader, and the mother’s maiden name was Rybkowska. The family was interned in the Mordy ghetto during the occupation. On August 22, 1942, when the regional ghettos, including those in Mordy and Łosice, were liquidated, their inmates were forced to march to Siedlce for deportation to the Treblinka killing center. Numerous Jews were shot along the route. Józef’s cousin, who was requisitioned with his cart to transport weak Jews, witnessed a German gunman shoot the mother Rybkowska dead when her thirsty children started crying in the extreme heat.

Following the passage of the columns, witness Marian K., born in 1925, was requisitioned alongside other local men by the local sołtys [village head] to bury the victims killed along the road. According to his account, several Jews were buried near the road passing through Majówka Forest, while numerous other victims brought there by cart from the direction of Wojnów were buried in a clearing on the opposite side of the same road. The two identified burial sites remain unmarked to this day. The exact number of victims murdered and buried around Zawady cannot be determined precisely, but estimates range from a dozen to several dozen. It is known, however, that Jenta Rybkowska, the sister of Rybkowska, was the sole Jewish survivor from Zawady. Working for a local neighbor outside the ghetto, she attempted to rejoin her family when deportation began, but her neighbor held her back to save her life. After the war, she emigrated abroad.

In addition, archival records indicate that a forced labor camp existed in Zawady during the war, located along the strategic Warszawa to Brześć road. Established in the spring of 1942, the camp held an average of 100 Polish citizens of Jewish origin, who were forced to work at the nearby Krzesk estate. Operating for one year until its liquidation in the spring of 1943, the camp was closed when German authorities deported the remaining workers to the Treblinka II killing center.

For more information about the killing of Jews in Mordy and Łosice, please follow the corresponding profiles.