Zagroby | Mazovian Voivodeship

/ Maria S., born in 1931: “On my way back home from school we saw two Jewish girls captured by Germans. They took them to a field and forced to dig a pit. Then, they killed them and threw their bodies into the pit.” © Cristian Monterroso /Yahad-In Unum The witness showing the location of the bunker where a dozen of Jews or so stayed in hiding. They escaped from the Chmielew ghetto, but were found and shot dead on the spot. © Cristian Monterroso /Yahad-In Unum Execution site where two Jewish girls were killed by German Gendarmes. © Cristian Monterroso /Yahad-In Unum Yahad-In Unum team during an interview in Zagroby © Cristian Monterroso /Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Zagroby

2 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Forest
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
From 13 to 21

Witness interview

Maria S., born in 1931, says: “There was one Jewish tailor whom my mother knew. She wanted him to come and make some clothes. But, when he came to our house, the Germans caught him. They attacked my mother and wanted to kill her for dealing with Jews. We have never seen this Jew after that again.” (Witness n°695, interviewed in Zagroby, on June 12, 2017).

Historical note

Zagroby is a village located 49 km southeast of Warsaw between two rivers –Pilica and Vistule. According to the witnesses interviewed by Yahad, there were no Jews in the village of Zagroby. The nearest Jewish communities lived in Warka and Magnuszew where they had synagogues and schools. The first Jewish settlements in the district appeared in 18th century.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Germans occupied Zagroby in September 1939 coming from the direction of Deblin. Little is known about the Jewish victims in the village. Some sources say that the Jews that hid in the bunker had escaped from the Chmielew ghetto located 5 km from Zagroby. The same sources claim that those 19 Jews were shot in Autumn 1943. However, according to the testimonies collected by Yahad-In Unum 10 Jews stayed in hiding in the village until February-March, and were shot on Ash Wednesday. In addition to the first execution, there was another one of two Jewish girls who were murdered on the road leading to Rozniszew. They were taken to a field and had to dig the pit themselves. They were 10-12 years old. Unfortunately, Yahad-In Unum couldn’t establish when this execution took place, but we could identify the execution site.

Nearby villages

  • Radwankow Krolewski
  • Dębówka
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