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1 Killing site(s)
Jadwiga J., born in 1928: "There had once been a quarry there, but it was destroyed, leaving a ravine. This was the place where Jewish victims were brought in groups and shot. I was about 500 meters away and saw many people—more than a hundred—arrive at the site and fall under the bullets. Before the execution, they were forced to undress and leave all their clothes in a pile. The victims were shot with machine guns by the Ukrainians and fell directly into the ravine. Their bodies were covered with lime, and then the pit was filled in with a bulldozer." [Testimony N°YIU726P, interviewed in Annopol, on August 18, 2017]
Annopol is a town in southeastern Poland, located in Kraśnik County, Lublin Voivodeship, on the banks of the Vistula River. It received its town charter in 1761, occupying the area of the 15th-century village of Rachów. As a result, the town is often referred to in historical sources as Annopol-Rachów.
Jews likely began settling in Annopol in the early 17th century, although the earliest documented records date from the 18th century. They played an important role in the local economy, working in the grain and cattle trade, alcohol production, innkeeping, leasing saltworks and orchards, and in various crafts. The Jewish community, which numbered 106 out of 239 residents (44%) in 1787, was established northwest of the town, where a synagogue and a cemetery were built. By the 19th century, the town had two synagogues—one brick and one wooden—and a new cemetery had been established on its outskirts.
The Jewish population grew significantly during the 19th century, contributing to the economic and social life of the town. Many were artisans, particularly tailors and shoemakers, and numerous Jewish-owned shops and businesses operated in the area. However, in 1845, tsarist laws banning traditional Jewish dress were enforced in Annopol. These restrictions targeted clothing, peyos, and beards, and led to the closure of Jewish schools and the local Jewish hospital. The measures sparked protests and anti-Jewish riots. Toward the end of the century, economic decline led many Jews to emigrate to larger cities or abroad.
In the early 20th century, Jewish political activity became more prominent in Annopol, with the emergence of Zionist organizations and Orthodox groups such as Aguda. Jewish education flourished, with numerous cheders, secular Jewish schools for boys and girls, and a communal Talmud Torah providing elementary instruction.
In 1921, Annopol had a population of 1,714, including 1,251 Jews—approximately 73% of the total. A local witness recalled that before the Second World War, Jews made up a large part of the town’s population and had their own house of prayer on Świeciochowska Street, next to the Jewish cemetery. By 1931, there were 1,388 Jews living in Annopol, comprising about 70% of the town’s population.
Annopol was occupied by German troops on September 12, 1939. The Jewish population was immediately subjected to persecution, and their shops were looted by the occupiers. Jewish men were forced into labor, particularly for the construction of a bridge over the Vistula River. During this work, two Jewish men were brutally killed by the Germans, becoming the first Jewish victims of the Nazi occupation in Annopol.
In December 1939, Jewish refugees from Kalisz, Łódź, Poznań, and Warsaw arrived in Annopol, followed in November 1941 by approximately 200 Jews from Kraków. From 1940 onward, Jews were forbidden to leave the town, and the Jewish quarter became, in effect, an open ghetto. A Judenrat (Jewish Council) was also established in the town.
In 1941, a forced labor camp was created on the Annopol-Rachów estate. Around 500 prisoners, working in the estate’s fields and in a phosphate mine, were housed in three wooden barracks near the farm buildings.
By June 1942, the Annopol ghetto housed nearly 2,000 people. It was liquidated in October 1942. On October 15, following an initial selection, 100 people were sent to the labor camp in Gościeradów and 300 to the Janiszów camp, located 8 km from Annopol. Elderly and infirm Jews were killed on the spot. Approximately 1,500 others were deported to the Kraśnik ghetto and, on October 18, 1942, transported to the Bełżec death camp.
On November 7, 1942, the Nazis also liquidated the Janiszów labor camp, killing around 50 Jews during a forced march to Annopol. The remaining prisoners were sent to the Budzyń labor camp. Those who fled into the forests were hunted down and murdered; only a few survived for a short time. A local witness recalled isolated shootings of Jews caught in the area. The bodies of the victims were brought to the Jewish cemetery in Annopol by local residents and buried there in the presence of the sołtys (village head).
In 1943, Jewish prisoners in the Annopol-Rachów labor camp continued to work under forced conditions. In July 1943, they were joined by hundreds of Czech and Slovak Jews transferred from the Krychów labor camp. In mid-November 1943, according to various sources, between 200 and 400 of these prisoners were executed near the Annopol phosphate mine, where they had been working at the time of the camp’s liquidation.
Local witnesses reported seeing groups of Jews being led to a ravine, where they were shot with automatic rifles by Ukrainian auxiliaries. The victims fell directly into the ravine, which served as a mass grave.
At the northern edge of town, a memorial now marks the killing site, bearing the following inscription:
"Jer. 31:15
A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.
In remembrance of the Jews killed by the Nazis in 1943. – Annopol 1995."
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