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1 Killing site(s)
Wladyslaw R, born in 1923: “One day, all the Jews were on the street. All of them had to go to the market place. The Jew called Gengras was a clever fellow. He was skinny but clever. A Nazi stood there with one of our neighbours. […] He arrived lightning-fast, jumped above the fence and went to the attic of our stable. Other Jews were marched by the street leading to the market. We did not have the possibility to observe the scene. By the way, it was very unpleasant to see Jews walking with their carriages. It was very unpleasant to see them cry. Elderly, mothers, children and even babies were killed on the road, just after the exit of the village, after the bends. They requisitioned Polish people to dig the pit. The Germans shot there elder Jews, as well as mothers, and their children, and all people unable to walk.” (Witness n°790, interviewed in Jordanow, on March, 19th 2018)
“1/ date and place of the execution: August, 30th 1942.
2/ How: Execution with bullets
3/ Victims: Jews, about 68, native of Jordanow, no names.
4/ Why: Because of Jewish origin.
5/ Who shot: Gestapo
6/ Name of perpetrators: König, Mazurkiewcz, Wiktorini and others.
7/ What did they do with the corpses: buried in Jordanow, near Makowska Street.
8/ Where were buried the corpses: In Jordanow, near the Stracze river, on Stolaska Aniela’s ground.
9/ Description of grave: about 6m long and 2.5m wide, about 68 victims.
10/ Exhumation: no. 11/ Possible exhumation: Yes.” [IPN Kr 1/11621/DVD/1; RG.15.019M: 394]
Jordanow is located 70 km south of Krakow. There is no exact information about when the Jewish community settled down in the village. However, we know that Jewish merchants, mainly selling salt, passed by Jordanow since 1564. The number of Jews increased during the 18th century, after Galicia was taken over by Austrians. There was a cemetery and a synagogue constructed most probably during the second half of the 19th century. However, the building was destroyed during WWII. In 1880, 80 out of 1,236 were Jews. By 1900 the Jewish community grew up to 158 residents. In 1921, 238 Jews lived in the town comprising only 16% of the total population. The majority of Jews lived off small scaled trade and craft. The town was occupied by Germans in September 1939. Many Jews including the Rabbi managed to flee to Lviv before the Germans’ arrival.
Shortly after the occupation, the Germans started to persecute the Jews. From now on, the Jews were forbidden to excel their activities and had to surrender their agricultural tools. Moreover, all the Jews, men and women aged from 14 to 60, were subjected to perform forced labour in road and railway constructions. The ghetto was created straight after and existed until its liquidation in late August 1942. During the liquidation the remaining Jews were first gathered at the market place, from where about 400 Jews were deported to the death camp Belzec. During the roundup many Jews were shot on the spot, on the streets of the Stracze district. Their bodies were taken to be buried at the Jewish cemetery. According to the archives another execution was conducted the following day, during which about 68 Jews, mainly elder people, women and children were taken in the direction of the Makowska street and were shot in the ditch on the left side of the road outside Jordanow.
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