Wylewa | Subcarpathian Voivodeship

/ In Wylewa, the Yahad team interviewed Olga B., born in 1936. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum Olga B., born in 1936: “Only a few Jewish families lived in Wylewa before the war, I don’t remember how many exactly. Jews had many children. We would play altogether. Many more Jews lived in the nearby town of Sieniawa.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum Olga B., born in 1936: “Before the war, my mother and I went to Sieniawa to buy different products. At least a half of Sieniawa population were Jews. Most of them were merchants. They owned shops and sold on the local market too. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad - Unum Olga B., born in 1936: “About 10 Jews were shot in Wylewa by the Germans. They were found in a house and shot right next to it. Poles had to bury their bodies after the shooting.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum Olga B., born in 1936: “The Jews were from here, from Wylewa. They are still buried there, on that property. Hardly anyone knows about it today.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum Execution and burial place of ten Jews from Wylewa, shot in the village during the German occupation. The place remains without any memorial. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad - In Unum

Execution of Jews in Wylewa

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Private property
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
About 10

Witness interview

Olga B., born in 1936: “Before the war, Wylewa was a small village, as small as it is today. There were several Jewish families living here alongside the Polish Catholics. One family lived nearby, the other lived on the opposite side of the main road. The Jewish families were rather wealthy, and they had many children. We often played with Jewish children. The Jews were mainly traders, and many of them would sell their products on the market in Sieniawa, where almost a half of the population was Jewish. They sold scarfs, shoes, and many other things. When a Polish woman did not have any money, she could exchange a hen or some eggs for the product she wanted to buy from Jews. When the Jewish seller knew you, he could give you the product on credit and you could pay him later. The synagogue and the Jewish cemetery were in Sieniawa.” (Witness N°1384P, interviewed in Wylewa, on September 24, 2022)

Historical note

Wylewa is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Sieniawa, Przeworsk County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. It lies approximately 3 km (1,86 miles) north-east of Sieniawa, 18 km (11 miles) north-east of Przeworsk, and 49 km (30 miles) east of the regional capital Rzeszów. Not much is known about the pre-war Jewish community in Wylewa. According to Yahad witness Olga B., born in 1936, several Jewish families lived in the village before the war. They were mainly involved in small trade and craft. Olga remembers that Jewish families had many children who would play with non-Jewish children. A much larger Jewish community lived in the nearby town of Sieniawa. In 1921, 1,971 Jews lived in Sieniawa, making up circa. 5% of the total population. By 1939, the community had grown to circa. 3,000 individuals. Jews from Wylewa attended the synagogue in Sieniawa. They also buried the dead in the Sieniawa cemetery.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

In the years 1939–1941, Sieniawa, as well as Wylewa, found themselves under Soviet occupation, a period which was quite peaceful for the inhabitants. The Germans entered the town on June 22, 1941. They had selected Sieniawa as the main place of concentration for the Jews before their final deportation to extermination or labor camps. Available sources differ, but the liquidation of the Jewish community from the Sieniawa region probably took place in August 1942. The women were deported to the Belzec extermination camp, while healthy men were transferred to labor camps. Many children and elderly people were murdered in and around Sieiawa during this Aktion. After this first liquidation, Jews from other localities were brought to the Sieiawa ghetto and used as a forced labor for several labor camps located in the surrounding region. According to available sources, at least 15 Jews were killed by the Germans in nearby Wylewa in December 1942. The Yahad team managed to interview Olga B., born in 1936, who confirmed the information about the shooting of Jews in Wylewa. According to Olga, at least ten Jews were shot and buried on a private property next to the main road leading from Jarosław to Biłgoraj.

 

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