Pysznica | Subcarpathian Voivodeship

/ Stanislaw S., born in 1922, saw several dozens of Jewish corpses lying in the meadow. One Jewish child was calling her mother who was already dead. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Maria P., born in 1925, saw Germans throwing Jews through a window of an attic. She didn’t know if they were still alive or already dead. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Stanislaw S. showing the execution site.© Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum The mass graves where the Jewish victims were murdered by Germans from 1942-1944 were buried. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Stanislaw S. and Maria P. near the mass grave of the Jewish victims. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Former place of the synagogue which was destroyed. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Yahad’s team during an interview. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Pysznica

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Field
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
Between 250 to 300

Witness interview

Maria P., born in 1925, recalls: “During the occupation, Jews fled to the forest. Once, I was on my way back from the church, it was on Sunday. I saw the Jews being brought in carts by Germans in the direction of the forest. They stopped just in front of my today house, back then it was a shop. There were about 10 Jews on the cart. I don’t know how they were shot, because I didn’t follow the column, I went home. Two Jews attempted to escape, but they were shot dead in the field of my parents-in-law. From the very beginning, they were buried there, but then, they were exhumed and buried with other Jews.” (Witness n°917, interviewed in Pysznica on November, 6th 2018).

Polish Archives

“1/ Date and place of execution: October 1943.

 2/ Type of execution: Shooting.

3/ Data concerning the killed people: Jews

How many: 250 people.

Where were the victims from: from the area of Nisko and Stalowa.

 Name, age, job, address: unknown.” [Questionnaire on mass executions and mass graves n°479, t.III, 35 (306-484). (Miejscowosc: Pysznica; Gmina: Nisko, Powiat: Nisko, Wojewodztwo: Rzeszow). RG-15.019M]

Historical note

Pysznica is located 75km north-east of Rzeszow. There is no exact information about the Jewish community in the historical sources. According to the local residents, Jews were numerous, but it was predominately still Polish . According to Stanislaw S., born in 1922, Jews were mainly traders and owned shops in the city center of the village. Poorer Jews were selling their merchandise from door to door. According to Maria P., born in 1925, Jewish and Polish children went to the same school. There was a wooden synagogue in the village, but it was destroyed.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Pysznica was occupied by Germans in September 1939. All the Jews continued to live in their own houses until their execution. From the archives, we know that about 250-300 Jews killed in Pysznica in the period from 1942 to 1944. However, after the investigation, we can assume that the victims weren’t killed in one big shooting, but in several smaller executions. The victims were Jewish inhabitants of Pysznica caught by the Germans in the village, as well as many Jews who escaped from other places and were hiding in the forest.

Jewishgen

Go to the Jewishgen Kehilalinks Townpage

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