Żabno | Lesser Poland

/ Jewish cemetery in Zabno, Lesser Poland ©Victoria Bahr- Yahad-In Unum The actual view on the street where the Jewish ghetto in Zabno was located during the war ©Victoria Bahr- Yahad-In Unum Eugeniusz W., born in 1930, recalls: “Seven Jews were shot in the manor. There was one woman among them. She was screaming, crying and running around to avoid being shot (…)”©.” ©Victoria Bahr- Yahad-In Unum Leonard K., born in 1923, recalls, “I saw the Jews from the ghetto being brought to the station. If someone couldn’t walk, he was shot on the way and left behind. At the station, there were cattle trucks waiting for them (…)”©Victoria Bahr- Yahad-In Unum Leonard K., born in 1923, recalls: “One day, the Germans from Tarnow killed about 20 Jews in Zabno, mostly old people. I saw a cart full of cadavers passing by my house. They were buried in a mass grave (…)”©Victoria Bahr- Yahad-In Unum The research team during the interview ©Victoria Bahr- Yahad-In Unum Eugeniusz W., born in 1930, recalls: “This is where the Jewish boy was shot. He gave the German some gold, hoping to remain alive but the German shot him anyway (…)” © Victoria Bahr- Yahad-In Unum Leonard K., born in 1923, indicates the execution site of six Jews to the Yahad team. ©Victoria Bahr- Yahad-In Unum Execution site of six Jews from Zabno. Their corpses were burried at the Jewish cemetery. ©Victoria Bahr- Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Żabno

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Brickyard
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
Around 50

Witness interview

Leonard K., born in 1923, recalls : “One day, I saw a dead body of a Jewish old man. He was shot in his own bed. I was passing by with my cow and my horse while I was going to the meadow. The door of his house was wide open and I saw him dead, laying on his bed. He was probably shot in his sleep, he was quite old. He was at least 80 years old. I didn’t know him, he was brought to Zabno from Radlow. I saw a bloodstain on his chest (…)” (Eyewitness n°216, interviewed in Zabno, on Septemebr 09, 2013)

Historical note

Zabno is located 69 kilometers east-northeast of Kraków. The Jews started to settle in Zabno in 1675. On the eve of World War II, between 500 and 600 Jews were living there, making up 50% of all Zabno’s citizens. Mostly traders, they ran many shops on the marketplace and surrounding streets. The Jews from Zabno had a synagogue, a Jewish cemetery, a bathhouse and a house of prayer.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Once the Germans occupied the town, the Jews were subjected to many restrictions. All the Jews, even children, had to wear armbands with the Star of David. Jewish children couldn’t continue their education, schooling was prohibited for them. Adults were required to perform forced labor. As they couldn’t go more than 2 kilometers beyond the limits of the town, they had many difficulties in purchasing food. In November 1940, the Zabno Judenrat established a community kitchen that distributed meals for the Jews. On March 10 or 11, 1942, between 30 and 40 Jews were shot near the brickyard by the Gestapo from Tarnow and some members of the Order Police from Dabrowa Tarnowska. Their bodies were buried in one mass grave at the Jewish cemetery in Zabno. In May 1942, a ghetto was established in Zabno. Most of the 650 or so Jews from the Zabno ghetto were sent to the Bełzec extermination camp.

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