Jarocin | Subcarpathian Voivodeship

/ Place where the Jews were gathered before being brought to the execution place. The building has been rebuilt since the events. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Antoni P., born in 1927, witnessed a shooting of his father and his brother. He also saw a column of Jews being taken to the shooting. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Karol M., born in 1932, knew that 54 Jews were hiding in the forest. Once found, they were shot dead on the spot. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Genowefa F., born in 1936, heard the gunshots coming from the inn at the moment when the Jews were killed. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Yahad’s team during an interview. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum The mass grave of Jews murdered in Jarocin by Germans under the occupation. Place where the Jews were buried after being shot. According to Antoni P., there are about 100 Jews buried here. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Execution site of the Jews, located under the walnut tree today. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Jarocin

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Forest
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
Over 87

Witness interview

Antoni P., born in 1927, recalls: “Three Jewish men tried to escape from the inn. They were shot dead and the soltys had to organize people with some carts that would take them away. The corpses were taken to the forest which is located just next to a meadow. The forest still belongs to the gmina Jarocin. All three corpses were buried in one pit by a local man.” (Witness n°922, interviewed in Jarocin in November, 9th 2018).

Historical note

Jarocin is located 74km north-east of Rzeszow. According to Antoni P, there were six Jewish families living in the village before WWII. Jews were mainly traders, and they owned shops and restaurants. Jewish and Polish children went to the same school. There was a wooden house of prayer, but the local community didn’t have Jewish cemetery. The nearest one was located in Ulanów, 11km northeast of Jarocin, where the Jewish community was quite significant. In 1900, 1,369 Jews lived in the town comprising 40% of the total population. Their number decreased after the First World War. Due to immigration in 1921, only 861 Jews remained in the town comprising 39% of the entire population. On the eve of WWII, more than half of the Ulanów population was Jewish. There is no exact information on how many Jews remained in Jarocin.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Jarocin was occupied by Germans on September 10, 1939, and after in October 1939, once the Soviet army retreated. The persecution of the Jews started as soon as Nazis arrived . All the Jews were marked with distinguishing armbands, and some of the Jews were deported to labor camps. The young Jews had to work in a sawmill. There is no exact information about what happened to the Jewish community of Jarocin. It is possible that some of them were displaced to the ghetto created in Ulanów in January 1942, while others were shot in the course of different isolated shootings conducted in Jarocin. One such execution took place in October 1942, during which 52 Jews were shot in the forest by the Wehrmacht soldiers. Another shooting was conducted in November 1942 one month later. According to the sztetl.org, there was another execution of 11 Jews conducted in the forest near Katy-Kutyły in 1942. According to the residents interviewed by Yahad, a group of Jews including men, women, and children were shot dead in the inn, where they had been hiding. Their bodies were taken to the mass grave located in the forest and buried there by a local man. Apparently, all the bodies were buried at the same mass grave in the forest.

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