3 Killing site(s)
Jerzy P., born 1933: "When the war broke out, I was in the first grade at the Mikołaj Kopernik school, which the Germans later set on fire. When it started to burn, we all ran to watch. One of the Jewish men tried to escape by jumping through a window, but he got stuck, his legs caught in the frame. The Germans shot him with a machine gun. He tried to save himself, but with the building surrounded, there was no way out. We were standing about 100 meters from the school, and the Germans didn’t chase anyone away; they seemed almost pleased to have an audience." (Testimony N°YIU521P, interviewed in Mińsk Mazowiecki, on September 27, 2015)
"Ghetto. 1941-21.8.1942. Total: 7,000 Jews, including 1,770 shot during the liquidation of the ghetto." [Court Inquiries about executions and mass graves in districts, provinces, camps and ghettos RG-15.019M Reel #18 FILE 61]
Mińsk Mazowiecki, located approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Warsaw in the Masovian Voivodeship, has been home to a significant Jewish community since the early 19th century. By 1867, the community had established a synagogue, a mikveh, and a cemetery, with a second cemetery added near the road to Cegłów around 1870. The Jewish Council managed community affairs, overseeing religious services such as the provision of kosher meat, maintaining the synagogue and cemetery, and supporting the education of Jewish youth.
In the late 19th century, Mińsk Mazowiecki became a center of Hasidism. A Hasidic court was established in 1873 under Tzaddik Yaakov Perlow, which later grew into a prominent yeshiva. The Jewish community was also politically active, with groups supporting both Orthodox and Zionist movements. Integrated into the city’s political structure, the community regularly contributed to the city council and supported local initiatives. However, despite its influence, the community faced economic hardships, worsened by a 1936 pogrom that led many Jewish residents to relocate.
On the eve of World War II, approximately 5,000 Jewish residents lived in Mińsk Mazowiecki.
German troops entered Mińsk Mazowiecki on September 13, 1939. Shortly thereafter, a Judenrat (Jewish Council) and a Jewish Police force were established, and the confiscation of Jewish property began immediately. Jewish residents were also subjected to forced labor, with several dozen men sent to labor camps in the Lublin District in 1940.
A ghetto was established on November 15, 1940, eventually containing up to 7,000 residents, including local Jews and Jewish refugees from cities and nearby towns like Kałuszyn, Kalisz, Lipno, and Pabianice. The ghetto included streets such as Siennicka, Nadrzeczna, Warszawska, and part of the marketplace. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and starvation led to a typhus outbreak in the winter of 1940-1941. Forced labor was routine, and a Jewish underground movement emerged within the ghetto.
On the morning of August 21, 1942, German gendarmes, local police, Sonderdienst, and auxiliaries from Lithuania, Latvia, and Ukraine surrounded the ghetto, forcing the Jewish residents out of their homes and into the market square. Between 1,300 and 1,770 Jews—primarily the sick and those who attempted to escape—were killed on the spot or in their homes. The remaining residents were transported to the railway station and sent to Treblinka the following morning. While some managed to escape to join partisan groups in nearby forests, others who hid locally were often discovered and killed. A Yahad witness recounted the murder of a family of four—father, mother, and small children—found hiding near a railway bridge; they were shot and buried on the spot.
Following the deportations, around 370 skilled Jewish workers were retained in the town for forced labor. Approximately 150 worked at the Rudzki factory, while another group of 220 was confined in a labor camp set up in the Mikołaj Kopernik school on Siennicka Street. The camp population eventually grew as Jews in hiding, including women and children, were brought in. At the end of 1942, during a round-up, panic broke out and the Germans fired into the crowd, killing ten. Between 100 and 200 Jews, including those deemed unfit for labor, were selected and transported to Kałuszyn, from where they were later sent to Treblinka in late November 1942.
On December 24, 1942, 218 Jews from the camp were executed at the Jewish cemetery. The final liquidation of the camp, which held about 300 prisoners, began on January 10, 1943. Despite organized resistance, nearly all were killed. While some victims were taken to the cemetery and executed, most were burned alive or shot within the school building. On June 5, 1943, the last group of 104 Jews still working in the Rudzki factory was also murdered.
On August 21, 1967, marking the 25th anniversary of the liquidation of the Mińsk Ghetto, a monument was unveiled near the Jewish cemetery to honor the Holocaust victims of Mińsk Mazowiecki.
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