Kazimierza Wielka | Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship

Group of survivors from Kazimierza Wielka.  Among those pictured are Israel Zalzman; his brother Arye Zalman with his wife, Bat Sheva Zalzman; and Bat Sheva’s mother, Hava Kaplan. ©USHMM, courtesy of Samuel (Rakowski) Ron our Jewish cousins pose in a family-owned lumberyard in Kazimierza Wielka.asha Banach (b. 1930) was the only prisoner who died while working at Oskar Schindler’s factory in Krakow_Zabloci. She succumbed to disease.  ©USHMM,courtesy of Samuel (Rakowski) Ro / Kazimierz K., born in 1934 saw the execution site. Many details about the shootings were explained to him. © Cristian Monterroso/Yahad-In Unum Yahad’s team during an interview. © Cristian Monterroso/Yahad-In Unum Execution site of more than 50 people killed during the 4th action. They belonged to a group of 100 people who managed to hide. Back then, it was a ravine. Today it is a playground. © Cristian Monterroso/Yahad-In Unum The playground today where several dozen Jews were murdered. © Cristian Monterroso/Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Kazimierza Wielka

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Ravine not far away from the city center
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
More than 50

Witness interview

Kazimierz K., born in 1934: “My friend, who was also my neighbor, told me this story. He was older than me. At the beginning of the forest, a pit was dug. It was done by the Baudienst from Krakow. They had to surround the area. This friend saw his neighbor Morawiecki among the group of Jews who were brought to the pit. The Nazis asked them to undress. His daughter was with him, but she didn’t want to undress and stay naked. A Nazi cut her belly; she bent and fell alive into the pit. They shot her dead inside the pit. They drank and did the same to others.” (Witness n°553, interviewed in Kazimierza Wielka on April, 2nd 2016).

Polish Archives

1/ Date and place of execution: November 7, 1942 in Kazimierza Wielka.

2/ Type of execution: Shooting.

3/ Data concerning the killed people:

Poles, Jews, foreigners: Jews

How many people were killed: about 22 people

Where were the Jews brought from: Local Jews

8/ Where are buried the corpses: In Kazimierza Wielka, next to the cemetery.  [Court Inquiries about executions and mass graves n°451. (Miejscowosc: Kazimierza Wielka; Gmina: Kazimierza Wielka; Powiat: Pinczow; Wojewodztwo: Kieleckie). RG-15.019M]

Historical note

Kazimierza Wielka is located 91km south of Kielce. The first records about the Jews settling down in the town and its area goes back to the 18th century. In all, 61 Jews lived in the area. At the beginning of the 20th century, out of 2,188 people living in Kazimierza Wielka, 293 were Jewish, making up only 13% of the total population. The majority of Jews were traders and artisans. They had a synagogue, but they didn’t have their own cemetery; the closest one was located in the nearby town of Koszyce. 

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Germans invaded Kazimierza Wielka in September, 1939. Straight after their arrival, the Jewish synagogue was destroyed and the anti-Jewish measures were implemented. All the Jews were marked with distinctive badges in form of six pointed star. The Jewish shops were closed.  The Jews, used as slave labor, were forced to sew uniforms for Germans soldiers, to build a pool and to irrigate the fields. According to the local witness interviewed by Yahad, there wasn’t any ghetto and the Jews continued to live in their own houses up until the first action. The main aktion took place on November 14, 1942, when from 224 to  500, according to different sources, were taken to the forest located close to the village of Słonowice and shot. An isolated shooting took place on November 7, 1942, in Kazimierza Wielka itself. During this shooting 22 Jews were murdered next to the cemetery. Between 1940 and 1945, about 50 Jews were murdered in Kazimierza Wielka during the isolated shootings.

For more information about the killings in Słonowice, please refer to the corresponding profile

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