Dąbrówka Wisłocka (Radomyśl Wielki) | Subcarpathian Voivodeship

/ Józef B., born in 1929: “No Jews lived in Dąbrówka Wisłocka, while there were many in Radomyśl Wielki. There was also a synagogue and a Jewish cemetery there. Jews from Radomyśl came to the village to trade with locals.” ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad - In Unum Józef B., born in 1929: “Jewish family from nearby Radomyśl Wielki hid within a local man, Józef. The children, a girl and a boy, must have been 8-10 years old. The Jewish couple must have been in their 50s.” ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad - In Unum Józef B., born in 1929: “We helped them as much as we could for about two years. After that time they had to move to another farmer, Franek. Someone informed the Germans about Jews hiding in the village, and the hunt began.” ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad In Unum Józef B., born in 1929: “The Jews were caught by the local firefighters, and shot by three navy-blue policemen, on orders of the Germans from Radomyśl. They were buried in a graveyard for dead animals.” ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad - In Unum A pre-war graveyard for dead animals in Dąbrówka Wisłocka, where the corpses of the Jewish family of four from Radomyśl Wielki and a Jew from Zasów were buried after being shot by the polish navy-blue policemen. ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad - In Unum

Destruction of Jews in Dąbrówka Wisłocka

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Graveyard of dead animals in the forest
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
5

Witness interview

Józef B., born in 1929: There were no Jewish families living in Dąbrówka Wisłocka before the war, but a large Jewish community thrived in Radomyśl Wielki, located 5 km from Dąbrówka Wisłocka. An elderly Jew named Pinechez and his son, Haskiel, used to come from Radomyśl to Dąbrówka Wisłocka on Tuesdays and Fridays to trade. They would go door to door, buying and selling various goods, mostly grain. When the war began, some Jews from Radomyśl came to Dąbrówka Wisłocka seeking shelter. One such family was that of a hatmaker named Copkarz. He, along with his wife and two children, found refuge in the home of a Polish man named Józef. Józef was quite poor, so the Copkarz family would visit my house every two or three days to ask for food. My family, being slightly better off, helped them willingly. My parents, who had known the Copkarz family from their visits to Radomyśl before the war, provided them with wheat, split peas, oatmeal, potatoes, and other foodstuffs. The Copkarz family remained hidden at Józef’s house for about two years. Initially, they stayed in the barn, but during the winter, it was likely too cold, so they probably stayed inside the house. At some point, they moved to another family’s home. I’m not sure whether they left voluntarily or if Józef asked them to leave. The second family lived near the forest, in an area with only three houses. Perhaps the Copkarz family believed they would be safer there. Sadly, someone eventually denounced them to the Germans.” (Witness N°1560P, interviewed in Dąbrówka Wisłocka, on July 27, 2024)

Historical note

Dąbrówka Wisłocka is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Radomyśl Wielki, within Mielec County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. It lies approximately 15 km (9 mi) southwest of Mielec and 51 km (32 mi) west of the regional capital, Rzeszów.

Available sources do not provide information about a pre-war Jewish community in Dąbrówka Wisłocka. However, interviews conducted in the village by a Yahad team confirmed that no people of Jewish origin lived in Dąbrówka Wisłocka before the war. The closest concentration of Jews was in the nearby town of Radomyśl Wielki, about 5 km from Dąbrówka Wisłocka. The Jews of Radomyśl were primarily engaged in trade, with many Jewish merchants visiting nearby villages, including Dąbrówka Wisłocka, to buy and sell various goods. Through these interactions, they often formed friendly relationships with the villagers.

It was also established that one of the two nearby Jewish cemeteries was founded in 1850, near the road leading to Dąbrówka Wisłocka.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Available archival sources only mention the shooting of a group of 18 Roma by the Nazis in 1944 in Dąbrówka Wisłocka. However, a Yahad team uncovered additional evidence indicating that a Jewish family named Copkarz, from Radomyśl Wielki, was also murdered in the village. A local resident interviewed by Yahad remembered this family well—a couple and their two children—who had a close relationship with the witness’s family before the war.

Following the liquidation of the Radomyśl Wielki ghetto on July 19, 1942, the Copkarz family sought shelter with a Polish farmer in Dąbrówka Wisłocka, where they hid for nearly two years. The farmer and the witness’s family provided food and did their best to protect them from discovery by the Germans. Eventually, the family had to relocate to another hiding place, moving to a house near the forest. But someone went on to report their presence to the Germans.

The Germans confronted the village head (sołtys) of Dąbrówka Wisłocka, beating and threatening him with death unless he revealed the Jews’ location. Under duress, the sołtys ordered local firefighters to locate the hiding family. The Copkarz family was arrested and locked in the school building.

The Navy-Blue Police (granatowa policja) from Radomyśl Wielki were informed of the arrest and contacted the Germans. However, the Germans, citing a lack of time, instructed the police to execute the family. About two hours after their capture, the police led the family members out of the school one by one and shot them in the head with pistols. A local villager with a cart was forced to transport the bodies to a site traditionally used for burying dead animals. The bodies remain there to this day, in an unmarked grave.

After the war, those involved in the murder of the Jewish family were sentenced to six years in prison.

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