Jedlińsk | Mazovian

/ Maria R., born in 1932:”When the Germans left the execution site, we came closer to take a look at the bodies. There were about 50 bodies or so.”  © Cristian Monterroso  /Yahad-In Unum Tadeusz S., born in 1929: “We heard the shooting, it was during the day. Later, we saw about 20 bodies shot dead. We wanted to approach but the Germans chased us away. ”  © Cristian Monterroso  /Yahad-In Unum Yahad’s team with Tadeusz S. at the execution site.  © Cristian Monterroso  /Yahad-In Unum Maria R. points out at the barn from where she saw the execution.  © Cristian Monterroso  /Yahad-In Unum Former place of the Jewish synagogue that was dismantled.  © Cristian Monterroso  /Yahad-In Unum Former place of the barracks where the Jews were detained.  © Cristian Monterroso  /Yahad-In Unum The former location of the ghetto which existed from spring 1941 to summer 1942   and numbered over 1,000 Jews.   © Cristian Monterroso  /Yahad-In Unum Yahad-In Unum team visiting the execution site with a witness  © Cristian Monterroso  /Yahad-In Unum Execution site found by Yahad with the help of one of the witnesses. At this place 50 Jews were killed.   © Cristian Monterroso  /Yahad-In Unum Approximate place of the execution shown by one of the witnesses. At this place 20 Jews were killed.   © Cristian Monterroso  /Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Jedlińsk

2 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Field
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
About 70

Witness interview

Tadeusz S., born in 1929, says: «The Jews hid in the bushes near the canals. Poles brought them food. But, someone denounced them to the Germans who came and surrounded the bushes. However, they didn’t come close. They left some space to make the Jews believe that they could run away. But once the Jews started to run trying to escape the Germans fired and shot some of them dead on the spot. This happened at the time when other Jews had been already confined into the barracks.” (Witness N°699, interviewed in Jedlińsk, on June 13, 2017).

Polish Archives

“Franciszek C., a commander of a local police, participated in the killing of 56 Polish citizens of the Jewish origin in autumn 1943; took away their food and denounced to Germans the cases of  illegal slaughter carried out by Poles, as a result of which, some of them were sent to the concentration camps where they died.” [RG‐15.180M,Sąd Apelacyjny w Kielcach (SAK)(Sygn.GK217), 1945‐1966; File 157]

Historical note

Jedlińsk is a town located 90 km south of Warsaw. The first records about the Jewish community dates back to the 18th century. In 1827, 157 Jews lived in Jedlinsk, but by 1867 its population grew up to 267. According to the 1921 census, the Jewish community numbered 762, making up 50% of the town’s entire population. According to the testimonies of the local residents, only Jews and Poles lived in the town. The Jews were mainly shopkeepers. They sell groceries, textiles and meat. There was a synagogue and a Jewish cemetery. Before the German occupation, there were approximately 1,000 Jews in Jedlinsk.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Jedlinsk was occupied in September 1939. Immediately after the occupation the Jews fit to work were taken to the forced labor throughout the district by the Germans. All the commercial activities were banned by 1940. A Jewish police and a Judenrat were created. The open ghetto was established in the spring of 1941 and numbered over 1,000 Jews from Jedlińsk and surrounding villages, such as Przytyk and Blotnica. However, according to one of the witnesses interviewed by Yahad, there were two ghettos, one was located on the Pocztowa street and another one- on the Warecka street.  There were no guards around.  All the Jewish inmates were forced to wear distinctive armbands in form of a Star of David. At the beginning of 1942, it was forbidden to leave the ghetto under threat of death. However, some Jews managed to escape and stayed in hiding. During 1942, several of them were caught and executed afterwards.  The liquidation of the ghetto took place in the summer of 1942. During the liquidation aktion the majority of Jews was transported to Bialobrzegi ghetto and then to the Treblinka death camp.  The remaining 68 Jews, mostly old and sick, were killed on the spot, in Jedlińsk.  According to some sources, in December 1942, a labor camp for “Baudienst” was created, as well as a camp for the Jews. Some 2,000 Poles and Jews were detained there. It was liquidated in February 1944. Before the liquidation, in Autumn 1943, according to the Polish archives, 56 Jews from the camp were shot in Jedlińsk. Today there is no any memorial at the two killings sites identified by Yahad.

Nearby villages

  • Wolska Dąbrowa
  • Dąbrowa Kozłowska
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