2 Killing site(s)
Kazimierz C., born in 1928: "At the moment of the shooting, we heard the terrible screams of men, women, and children. Mr. Boruch and his daughter managed to survive and later sought refuge in the Dubienka ghetto. The 14 Jews were rounded up by the Germans and confined in a wooden building on the property; it all happened quickly, in about 15 to 20 minutes. I was in a barn about 300 meters away. The pit where the Jews were buried lies near a meadow, close to Mrs. Jawor’s current property. The Jews had been working along a small path there before being gathered up. There is only a single grave for the 14 Jews. Mr. Du Chateau gave the order for several people, including my father-in-law, to fill in the pit.” [Testimony N°YIU35P, interviewed in Strzelce on July 6, 2011]
Kazimierz C., born in 1928: "At the moment of the shooting, we heard the terrible screams of men, women, and children. Mr. Boruch and his daughter managed to survive and later sought refuge in the Dubienka ghetto. The 14 Jews were rounded up by the Germans and confined in a wooden building on the property; it all happened quickly, in about 15 to 20 minutes. I was in a barn about 300 meters away. The pit where the Jews were buried lies near a meadow, close to Mrs. Jawor’s current property. The Jews had been working along a small path there before being gathered up. There is only a single grave for the 14 Jews. Mr. Du Chateau gave the order for several people, including my father-in-law, to fill in the pit.” [Testimony N°YIU35P, interviewed in Strzelce on July 6, 2011]
Strzelce is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Białopole, within Chełm County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is located approximately 5 km (3 miles) east of Białopole, 31 km (19 miles) southeast of Chełm, and 92 km (57 miles) east of the regional capital, Lublin.
In 1926, Strzelce was a diverse community, a mosaic of nationalities and religions. The population included a Ukrainian majority, along with Poles, Czechs, and Jews. The village was centered around the Strzelce manor, which belonged to the family of Count du Chateau at the outbreak of the war. According to local witnesses interviewed by Yahad - In Unum, there were three to four Jewish families living in Strzelce before World War II, primarily involved in trade. In the village center, three Jewish-owned boutiques operated from the homes of their owners. All village children attended the same school, fostering a shared community life.
After the outbreak of war, Strzelce was initially occupied by the Soviet army, which withdrew at the end of September, leaving the village under German control as per the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Local Jews were allowed to remain in their homes until 1942, though they were required to wear white armbands with a blue Star of David. In May 1942, German gendarmes from Teratyn arrived in Strzelce to carry out an Aktion, targeting the Jewish population.
The gendarmes arrived in several trucks, searching the village for Jews. That day, most Jewish residents had left their homes—even on Shabbat—to work in the fields of Count du Chateau in nearby Kolonia Strzelce, hoping this would shield them from a potential raid. The only Jews who remained in the village were a young, bedridden woman, her mother, and three little girls playing in the courtyard with Polish children. The gendarmes first shot the sick woman in her home, and her body was buried in a pit dug nearby. They then proceeded to the fields, where they rounded up all the Jewish men, women, and children working there and executed them near the site of their labor. The landowner instructed local villagers to dig a grave and bury the 14 victims.
Of the Jewish community, only three young girls, absent during the shooting, and one man—the father of one of the girls who hid in a stable—survived. The following day, in an attempt to save his life, the man, along with the three girls, sought refuge in the Dubienka ghetto.
A memorial was erected in 2009 at the site where the 14 Jewish victims were buried in Strzelce. Polish archives also reference a large POW camp, purportedly a transit camp for Jews from Poland and abroad, in Kolonia Strzelce. The camp was said to house between 2,500 and 3,500 individuals, with around 1,000 reported deaths, including 500 Jewish victims. However, Yahad - In Unum’s investigations in Strzelce and Kolonia Strzelce found no evidence to confirm the existence of this camp.
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