Mędrzechów | Lesser Poland Voivodeship

The house where the Jewish prayer room was located; today it serves as a private shop. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum This building that housed the Polish Police post during World War II and today functions as a private shop. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Mieczysław Z., born in 1928: “There were six Jewish families in Mędrzechów. Three of them lived in the village district called Brzeźnica. They were mainly traders, while one family made its living from farming.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Helena S., born in 1926: “I remember that several Jewish families lived in Brzeźnica, including the Rajza, Chusyd, and Major families. The synagogue was in Bolesław, and the Jewish cemetery was in Dąbrowa Tarnowska.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Jerzy Z., born in 1934: “Before the war, there were a few Jewish families in Mędrzechów. One of the Jewish surnames in the village was Feld. Two other Jewish families lived in nearby Tonia”. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Jerzy Z., born in 1934: “Before the war, my grandfather bought a house from a Jewish family, with the agreement that they could continue to pray in one of its rooms. This room became the only Jewish house of prayer in Mędrzechów”.©Piotr Malec/Yahad–In Unu Jerzy Z., born in 1934: “There was a Polish Police post in Mędrzechów. A Volksdeutsch, Guzdek, sent from Kock by the General Government, worked there and was responsible for the deaths of many Jews.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Jerzy Z., born in 1934: “I know of two shootings of Jews in Mędrzechów: one of six Jews hiding in a bunker by the river, the other near the cemetery. Both were carried out by Guzdek.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Mieczysław Z., born in 1928: “There were about six policemen in Mędrzechów. A German named Guzdek, in a different uniform, stayed in the village. It was known that if anything happened to him, ten locals would be shot.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Helena K., born in 1928: “When the ghetto was established in Dąbrowa Tarnowska and Jews from the nearby villages were transported there, one of the Jewish families decided to hide in a place called Kępa.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Helena K., born in 1928: “People say that Guzdek spotted smoke from the oven and ordered a search for their hideout. In the spring of 1943, my father was appointed by the sołtys to look for the Jews.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Cecylia K., born in 1930: “I remember five or six Jews hiding in an underground dugout behind the dyke. They sometimes asked for food at nearby houses. In the end, they were denounced and killed on the dyke, in front of my house.”©Piotr Malec/Yahad–In Unu Cecylia K., born in 1930: “After the shooting, local men were forced to dig the pit and burry the victims. Their bodies were never exhumed.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Jerzy Z., born in 1934: “In early spring 1941 or 1942, about ten Jews were brought by cart near the cemetery and shot beside a pit dug by locals on the sołtys’ order. The shooting was carried out by Guzdek.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Jerzy Z., born in 1934: “Guzdek was drunk during the shooting and missed some victims, who fell into the pit wounded. One Jew, still alive, begged a digger to kill him.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum The killing site of approximately ten Jews, men and women, located at the corner of the cemetery. The place is unmarked. The victims were probably exhumed shortly after the war. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Helena K., born in 1928: “About 5-10 Jews were hiding in this bunker in Kępa. When appointed men found them, they had to dig a pit near the hideout and then cover it for the Jews who were shot.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Helena K., born in 1928: “Their grave is still somewhere here. One boy initially escaped but was caught a few days later. On Easter Sunday, Guzdek transported him by cart, then shot and buried him in the field.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum The approximate location of the bunker and killing site of the Jewish family from Tonia, who were hiding between the riverbank and the dyke near the family’s field. Years of flooding prevented identification of the exact spot. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum The killing and burial site of a Jewish boy shot by Guzdek. According to YIU’s witnesses his name was Aaron and he was from Tonia. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum

Destruction of Jews from Mędrzechów, Tonia and nearby villages in Mędrzechów

3 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Catholic cemetery (1); riverbank (2); field (3)
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
At least 28

Witness interview

Mieczysław Z., born in 1928: "Before the war there were six Jewish families living in Mędrzechów. Three of these families lived in the part of the village known as Brzeźnica quarter. Most of the Jewish residents made their living as traders, while one family was engaged in farming. I personally knew Jewish children from the village and attended school together with them. Relations in everyday life were normal, and we grew up side by side. The Jewish community in Mędrzechów had its own house of prayer. Their cemetery was not located in the village itself but in Dąbrowa Tarnowska.

When the German occupation started, they were forced to wear armbands. One day of summer, a group of six Jewish men from Mędrzechów were shot by the Germans behind the cemetery. They were brought to the place of execution by cars. After the Jews had been shot, local Poles were ordered to cover the pit in which the bodies lay. Among those forced to take part in covering the pit was my uncle, Franciszek. A Polish policeman from Mędrzechów supervised this work. At the time of the execution I was at home; I lived nearby, close to the place where the shooting occurred, near the artificial lake. After the war, the bodies of the murdered Jews were exhumed." (Witness N°1058, interviewed in Mędrzechów, on June 18, 2019)

Polish Archives

1. Date and place of execution: 1943 in Mędrzechów;

2. Type of execution (shooting, hanging, or other): shooting.

3. Data concerning the executed victims: 14 Jews brought from Bolesław and Świebodzin; no data concerning the names of the victims.

4. Is it known what the victims were accused of? Was the execution a retaliatory measure, etc.? For the sole reason that they were Jews.

5. Who carried out the execution (gendarmerie / Gestapo / SS / police / Wehrmacht): gendarmes Guzdek and Engelman. […]

8. Where the bodies were buried (exact location): Mędrzechów, near the cemetery. There’s no memorial at the site.

[Court Inquiries about executions and mass graves in districts, provinces, camps and ghettos. RG-15.019M Reel#3 part 3.pdf]

1. Date and place of execution: 1943 in Mędrzechów;

2. Type of execution (shooting, hanging, or other): shooting.

3. Data concerning the executed victims: 7 Jews; no data concerning the names of the victims.

4. Is it known what the victims were accused of? Was the execution a retaliatory measure, etc.? For the sole reason that they were Jews.

5. Who carried out the execution (gendarmerie / Gestapo / SS / police / Wehrmacht): the gendarmerie and the Polish police […]

8. Where the bodies were buried (exact location): Mędrzechów, near the cemetery on the northern side.

[Court Inquiries about executions and mass graves in districts, provinces, camps and ghettos. RG-15.019M Reel#3 part 3.pdf]

Historical note

Mędrzechów is a village in Dąbrowa County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It’s the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Mędrzechów.

Little is known about the prewar Jewish community of Mędrzechów. Witnesses who remember the inhabitants from that time report that about ten Jewish families lived in the village. Most of the Jews resided in the district called ‘Brzeźnica’ and were primarily engaged in trade, while one family made its living from farming.

Jerzy Z., born in 1934, recalls that one of the surnames of the Jews living in Mędrzechów was Feld. Two Jewish families lived in nearby Tonia, which today is a district of Mędrzechów; they were neighbors of Jerzy and his family. These families were poor traders and farmers, and their surnames were Szlama, Rywka, Mordka, and Sądawka. One of the children was named Aron.

Helena K., born in 1928, also remembers both families from Tonia. One of these two families bore the surname Zewald. She recalls that one family was involved in trading tobacco, while the other worked in farming.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

The German occupation in Dąbrowa Tarnowska County began in September 1939 and was marked by the persecution of the Jewish population, confiscation of property, and terror. At the beginning of the war, Jewish families began arriving in the Mędrzechów commune, as in other parts of Dąbrowa County. Some came from larger cities to join relatives, while others had been forcibly displaced from territories incorporated into the Third Reich. According to a 1940 census, the twelve villages of the commune were home to 167 Jews.

Initially, the scattered settlement of Jews made it difficult for the occupying authorities to enforce anti-Jewish measures. In the summer of 1942, however, an order required Jews to relocate to ghettos in Dąbrowa Tarnowska and Żabno. The Dąbrowa Jewish district was sealed in July 1942, and all contact with Jews was forbidden under penalty of death. Some Jewish residents of Mędrzechów and the surrounding area managed to avoid deportation to the ghettos by going into hiding, while others were able to escape during the liquidation of the ghettos and hide in nearby forests or with local families.

In 1943, senior gendarmerie sergeant Engelbert Guzdek, known as the ‘Executioner of Powiśle’ (kat Powiśla), was assigned to the gendarmerie post in Mędrzechów. For several months, he stayed at the Blue Police station and worked closely with the Volksdeutsch head of the commune, Leopold Wendland. Together, they conducted searches for Jews in hiding. Local residents were often forced to participate, assisting in searches and, in some cases, in killings.

Archival sources indicate that in 1943, 28 Jews were killed in Mędrzechów in three separate shootings. The victims of at least two of these shootings, 14 and 7 Jews respectively, were buried near the cemetery. During a Yahad–In Unum investigation in the area, witnesses confirmed the killing of Jews near the Catholic cemetery. According to Jerzy Z., born in 1934, a group of approximately 10 Jewish men and women were killed and buried at this site. Another witness, Mieczysław Z., born in 1928, stated that six Jewish men from Mędrzechów were killed there. He recalled that the victims were brought by car and that local Poles, including his uncle, were forced to cover the pit afterward. After the war, the victims’ remains were exhumed and reburied elsewhere.

Two additional killing sites were identified during the investigation trip. According to Jerzy Z., born in 1934, two Jewish families from the nearby settlement of Tonia were hiding near the Vistula River in an area known as ‘Kępa’ (‘the bushes’). They were discovered and denounced to Guzdek, who ordered local men to remove them from the bunker. Guzdek then organized their shooting, and the victims were buried in a pit near the hiding place. Another witness, Helena K., born in 1928, recalls that a Jewish boy Aaron, presumably the son of one of the hiding families, managed to escape the shooting near the bunker. He was later spotted and captured by a local farmer and, on Easter Sunday, was taken by Guzdek to a field, where he was shot and buried.

None of the three identified killing sites are currently marked or commemorated. All victims were buried in present-day Mędrzechów.

According to witnesses, some of the local Poles who had been forced to take part in these actions were arrested and imprisoned after the war.

Engelbert Guzdek, responsible for numerous murders of Jews, Roma, and other victims in the region, died on 22 August 1943 during a harvest festival in Otfinów, reportedly after being accidentally shot by another German Gendarme while pursuing an escapee. He died before the end of the war and was never tried or prosecuted. He was buried in Tarnów. The most significant crime committed by Engelbert Guzdek was his participation in the murder of 93 Roma in Szczurowa on 3 July 1943.

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