Bobrówka | Subcarpathian Voivodeship

/ Maria Ś., born in 1932: There were about 4 Jewish families in the village. They were merchants, some would buy and sell cattle. There was a food store where you could buy the basics.” ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad - In Unum Maria Ś., born in 1932: “I know that a Jewish man ran away from someone’s house, and further into the village he was shot by the Germans. He was buried there in a field. After the war someone came to recover the body." ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad-In Unum Helena S., born in 1935: “One day, the kids spread the word about the shooting so we all went to see if it was true. We saw six dead people, we could see the bullet wounds. The Poles were requisitioned to bury them.” ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad-In Unum Helena S., born in 1935: “Trains that were going to Bełżec passed near the village. One day, my father and I saw a Jewish woman jumping off the train from a distance. She was shot and wounded. We took her home to help her heal.” ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad-In U Helena S., born in 1935: “Later, this woman was caught and shot by a German. Poles who buried her took her coat and brought it to my mother so she would fix it for them. It was covered with blood. We recognized her coat.” ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad - In Unum The execution site of a Jewish woman saved by the family of Helena S. ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad - In Unum The execution site and mass grave of six Jews: three men and three women. ©Pawel Szupiluk/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Bobrówka

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Road
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
6

Witness interview

Maria Ś., born in 1932 : “During the war, the Germans deported the Jews. But the Jews were hungry before. I remember one day my grandmother was peeling potatoes in the field. She had gone to get a knife and when she came back there were no more potatoes. She saw a Jewish woman running away with them. Jews would come to the villagers’ houses asking for food, bartering with the Polish families. They would give them their clothes in exchange for something to eat. At some point, the Germans arrived in cars and deported them. I didn’t see the deportation, but I heard adults saying that the Jews were all taken somewhere (…) All of the Jews’ homes were dismantled after the deportation. They were old wooden houses. No Jew came back to the village after the war.” (Witness N°1371P, interviewed in Bobrówka, on September 19, 2022)

Historical note

Bobrówka is a village in Poland located in Jarosław County, Laszki municipality, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. In 1939, the population of the village was 740 Ukrainians, 70 Poles (including 60 colonists) and 24 Jews. Little is known about the pre-war Jewish community from Bobrówka. Thanks to Helena S., born in 1935, the Yahad team managed to establish that there were circa. six Jewish families living in Bobrówka. They were mainly craftsmen and merchants and they owned a shop in the village. They were not very wealthy Jews, some of them bought cattle and sold them. There was no synagogue in Bobrówka. According to Helena, the closest synagogue and Jewish cemetery were in Jarosław, located about 14 km from Bobrówka.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Holocaust by bullets in figures On September 1, 1939, as the Seoncd World War broke out in Europe, German troops attacked Poland from the west. Soon afterwards, Soviet troops struck from the east. The territory of the municipality came under German occupation for a few days. From the end of September 1939, the area around Gmina Laszki was already occupied by Soviet troops and remained so until June 1941. Within a week, the Laszki area, due to its central location, found itself on the border of the Soviet Union. The border ran along the San River. In June 1941, as a result of the German aggression against the USSR, the area of the municipality was incorporated into the General Government. Not much is known about the fate of the Jewish community from Bobrówka during the German occupation. According to Helena S., born in 1935, six Jews were shot in Bobrówka near the road. Their bodies remained in the ditch for some time before they were buried by requisitioned Poles. It is not certain that the victims were Jews from Bobrówka. Helena S. told the Yahad team that many Jews would jump off the trains deporting them to the Belzec extermination camp. Most of them were shot on the spot by the German soldiers guarding the train. There is a monument commemorating the Jews murdered in November and December 1942 in Bobrówka, who escaped from a transport on its way to the Belzec extermination camp. The monument is located near the railroad tracks. The number of murdered Jews remains unknown.

 

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