1 Killing site(s)
Józef P., born 1930: "After the liquidation of the Kałuszyn ghetto, the Germans systematically hunted down hidden Jews, capturing individuals and entire families. They were held in the detention house until a group of 30 to 40 people had been assembled. This process continued for several days after the ghetto’s liquidation. Poles were then forced to dig graves in the Jewish cemetery. We knew executions were imminent whenever the diggers were summoned. As boys, we watched in secret as the Jews were marched in rows of four to the graves. There, they were executed with machine guns. Those who survived the initial shootings were finished off with pistols.” (Testimony N°YIU492P, interviewed in Kałuszyn, on August 02, 2015)
"Approximately 1,000 Poles and Jews were executed at the Jewish cemetery in 1942." [Court Inquiries about executions and mass graves in districts, provinces, camps and ghettos = Ankieta Sadow Grodzkich, 1945 Reel 13 File 43.]
Kałuszyn is a town in central Poland, located in the Masovian Voivodeship within Mińsk District. It lies 27 km (16.8 miles) east of Warsaw and 17 km (10.5 miles) northeast of Mińsk Mazowiecki.
The Jewish community in Kałuszyn began to develop during the 17th and 18th centuries, eventually comprising about 80% of the town’s population by the late 19th century. Jews in Kałuszyn were primarily engaged in artisanal work, with the production of tallits (prayer shawls) being a notable specialty. In 1827, the Jewish population numbered 1,826, making up 80% of the total population.
By 1913, the Jewish population had grown to 8,257. However, approximately 50% of the community was illiterate at that time. In 1921, the Jewish population had decreased slightly to 5,033, but still represented 82% of the town’s total population. The Jewish community played a central role in the town’s economy, dominating trade, crafts, and small industries. Notable enterprises included tanneries, a tallits factory, and breweries.
The Jewish community was centered around several synagogues, prayer houses, and communal institutions. The first synagogue, built in 1768, was destroyed by fire in 1783. A second synagogue, constructed in the late 18th century, was also destroyed by fire in 1902. The last synagogue, built thereafter, was blown up by the Germans in 1942.
According to the 1921 census, Jews made up 67.7% of Kałuszyn’s population. By 1939, the Jewish population was estimated to be between 5,200 and 6,500, remaining a vital part of the town’s social and economic fabric.
On September 10, 1939, Kałuszyn was bombed, resulting in the deaths of 42 people, predominantly Jews. Following the German occupation of the town on September 11–12, 1939, over 30 Jews, including women and children, were murdered, with their bodies buried in the Jewish cemetery. In response, many Jews attempted to flee to areas controlled by the Red Army.
Shortly afterward, a new administration was established. The German Gendarmerie was based in the nearby town of Mrozy, while a unit of Polish (Blue) Police and a detention house were set up in Kałuszyn. In November 1939, a Jewish Council (Judenrat) was created. Anti-Jewish measures were quickly implemented, forcing Jews to perform various types of labor, including road and railway construction, drainage work, and other tasks. Jews were also required to wear white armbands bearing a blue Star of David and pay heavy contributions to the Germans. In April 1940, 38 Jews were sent to forced labor near Biała Podlaska, followed by another group sent to Janów Podlaski later that summer.
An open ghetto was established in Kałuszyn in late summer 1940. Initially, Jews were allowed to leave the ghetto during the day, with curfew and blackout restrictions enforced only at night. According to a local witness interviewed by Yahad, the ghetto was surrounded by barbed wire, and the Jewish Police were tasked with maintaining order. By December 1941, the ghetto housed around 4,000 inmates, including Jewish refugees from nearby towns such as Łódź, Pabianice, Kalisz, Mińsk Mazowiecki, Dobre, Latowicz, and Stanisławów. Eventually, the ghetto was closed off, and trading with outsiders became punishable by death. In 1941, 12 Jews were executed in the Jewish cemetery for leaving the ghetto. Harsh living conditions also claimed the lives of many inmates.
Jews aged ten and older were conscripted for forced labor, including paving roads and airfields using headstones from the Jewish cemetery. A group of ten Jewish workers accused of arson was executed. On September 19, 1942, the Judenrat was ordered to deliver 500 Jews to work in Jeziorki. When most Jews went into hiding, the Judenrat chairman, Mojsze Kishelnitski, was arrested and executed.
The liquidation of the ghetto began on September 25, 1942. Deportation commandos from Warsaw and Mińsk, assisted by German Gendarmes from Mrozy, Polish Blue Police, and possibly Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Latvian auxiliaries, carried out the operation. Ghetto inmates were rounded up in the market square. Up to 1,000 Jews, including Abram Gamze, the Judenrat chairman, were murdered during the liquidation—in their homes, gathering places, the Jewish cemetery, or during the march to the Mrozy train station. The remaining 2,000–3,000 Jews were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp.
According to Yahad’s witnesses, after the ghetto’s liquidation, Jews in hiding were gradually captured by the Germans and detained in the Kałuszyn detention house. Once a group of several dozen had been assembled, they were taken to the Jewish cemetery, where they were executed and buried in mass graves dug by requisitioned Poles.
On October 28, 1942, German orders designated Kałuszyn as one of six remaining ghettos in the Warsaw district. Jews from nearby labor camps and those who came out of hiding were relocated there. By December 1, 1942, the ghetto housed 2,000–2,500 detainees. The second ghetto was liquidated on December 9, 1942. Children were murdered in Kałuszyn, while adults were marched to the Mrozy train station for deportation to Treblinka. Many were shot during these forced marches.
Do you have additional information regarding a village that you would like to share with Yahad ?
Please contact us at contact@yahadinunum.org
or by calling Yahad – In Unum at +33 (0) 1 53 20 13 17