1 Killing site(s)
Marian R., born in 1929: “As soon as they arrived, the Germans began persecuting the Jews. They set up a camp next to the synagogue. All the Jews of Sawin were herded into buildings within the camp, where they were forced to work, mainly digging ditches to regulate the river. They wore armbands with a white Star of David. One day, the Germans brought Czech Jews to the camp in covered trucks. A German guard was posted at the entrance, and the commandant had his own house inside the camp. The mayor requisitioned Poles—including me—for tasks in the camp. I didn’t see Jews being killed inside the camp, but whenever someone became too weak, they were taken elsewhere and killed. I also remember that if a Jew spent too much time in the latrine, the Germans would shoot him. When the camp was liquidated, I saw the Jews being marched on foot to Sobibor. They were told they were going to work in a button factory. Anyone who couldn’t walk was shot in the head and buried on the spot. I saw those columns heading toward Sobibor and also one coming from Chełm. The elderly were placed on carts. The column was guarded by Ukrainians wearing black caps and carrying carbines.” [Testimony N°YIU83P, interviewed in Sawin, on August 17, 2011]
"Construction of the Sawin camp began around 1941 […]. It was mainly built by Ukrainians, Jews, and Poles. The camp covered one hectare and was surrounded by barbed wire. The prisoners lived in barracks. […] They fell ill with dysentery, and perhaps typhus. There was no hospital, only an infirmary. The prisoners dug improvement ditches and performed other physical labor. They started work at 8:00 am and returned around 4:00 pm. Work generally lasted eight hours a day, with five-minute breaks every hour. The prisoners were divided into groups and supervised by Poles with the skills required for the job. […] The Kommandantur and Ukrainian overseers often killed prisoners. During the camp’s existence, the commandant personally killed 3 Jews and wounded one Pole. However, the Germans also killed sick and elderly Jews who were unable to work. In some cases, prisoners died naturally. In other cases, prisoners were shot publicly and on the spot. The camp commandant shot prisoners directly. Those who were shot during the work were buried on the spot, while those who died naturally were buried in the cemetery." [Testimony of Franciszek Chlebie, 54 years old, dated 1966; IPN-OKL, OKL Lublin, Ds.252/67]
Sawin is a village in eastern Poland, located in Chełm County. It lies 14 km north of Chełm and 61 km east of Lublin, the regional capital.
The first known reference to Jews in Sawin dates back to 1563, with the earliest records preserved in the town mayor’s books from 1627. Until the mid-19th century, the Jewish population remained small and grew gradually. Most Jews earned a living through trade, leasing, financial services, and various artisanal activities. Toward the end of the 19th century, Jewish entrepreneurs established a glassware factory that provided employment for Jews in Sawin and in the nearby town of Ruda.
Originally under the religious jurisdiction of the Jewish community in Chełm, the Sawin kehilla gained independence in 1914. That year, 139 registered Jews lived in the town, comprising 7% of the total population. By 1925, the number had grown to 611 Jews, or 48% of the town’s population.
During the interwar period, the Jewish community in Sawin maintained a synagogue, a Beit Midrash, four cheders (religious schools), a mikveh (ritual bath), a ritual slaughterhouse, and a cemetery. Most Jews worked in trade and craftsmanship, while others were engaged in farming and carting. Jewish-owned businesses included several workshops and stores, a brickyard, an oil mill, three mills, and a timber trading company. Jewish political and youth organizations such as Beitar and He-Chalutz were also active in the town.
In 1920, the community received official permission to open a school for impoverished Jewish children. Many Jewish children also attended the local Polish elementary school.
On the eve of the Second World War, Sawin was home to approximately 882 Jews.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Sawin area was initially occupied by the Red Army. By mid-September 1939, control passed to the Wehrmacht following the German-Soviet border agreements.
According to local witnesses, the persecution of Sawin’s Jewish population began immediately after the German occupation. In 1940, a Judenrat (Jewish Council) was established, and the prewar Jewish quarter was transformed into a ghetto. Living conditions deteriorated rapidly, especially as the ghetto population swelled due to the forced resettlement of Jews from other regions, including Kraków, Gorzków, Wrocław, and Warsaw. By 1941, the ghetto held approximately 920 people.
The Jewish population was also subjected to violence. One witness recalled that around ten Jews were executed by German forces in the town center, near the school building. Villagers, requisitioned by the authorities, were forced to transport the bodies to the Jewish cemetery for burial.
In November 1940, the German authorities established a forced labor camp along a road in the center of the ghetto, in the heart of Sawin. Over time, adjacent Jewish-owned houses were absorbed into the camp’s perimeter. Known as the Sawin camp, it operated from November 1940 to December 1943 as part of a broader network of German water management labor camps. Prisoners were forced to perform physically demanding tasks such as regulating the Lepietucha and Uherka rivers, leveling terrain, digging tunnels, constructing irrigation systems, and draining swamps.
The camp infrastructure included five to six barracks and housed between 500 and 1,000 prisoners at any given time. While many inmates were local Jews, the majority came from other Polish towns and labor camps—including the nearby Ruda Opalin camp—as well as cities such as Kraków, Warsaw, Łódź, Kalisz, Tarnów, and Chełm. Additional prisoners were brought from countries including Czechoslovakia, France, Austria, and Yugoslavia.
At the center of the camp stood a roll-call square, which, according to witnesses, also served as a site for public executions carried out by successive camp commanders. Prisoners endured extreme hunger, insufficient clothing, physical exhaustion, and widespread disease. As a result, 10 to 20 prisoners died each day. Witnesses also recalled that elderly and ill inmates were taken to the Jewish cemetery and executed there. The cemetery thus served both as a burial site for deceased prisoners and as a killing site for those deemed unfit for labor.Beginning in May 1942, the systematic deportation of Jews from Sawin to the Sobibor death camp began. These deportations occurred in several waves—in May, June, October, and November 1942, and again in the fall of 1943. According to historical sources, between 3,000 and 5,000 Jews were deported from Sawin to Sobibor during this period. Local witnesses interviewed by Yahad described columns of exhausted deportees, including women and children, being marched toward Sobibor under the guard of Germans and Ukrainians. Those who could not keep up were shot along the route.
The Sawin camp was finally liquidated on December 9, 1943. As the Sobibor camp was no longer operational by that time, the remaining Jewish inmates were transferred to the Krychów labor camp.
The memory of the Jewish victims who perished in Sawin is preserved by a monument erected in the Jewish cemetery, which served both as a burial ground and a killing site during the Holocaust.
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