1 Killing site(s)
Mieczyslaw C., born in 1926: "I was requisitioned by the sołtys to collect fascines from the forest and deliver them by chariot to the river. When I arrived at the river, a few Jewish men were there, unloading the cargo. They were dressed in old, soiled, and wet clothing. I made this trip two or three times. When the camp was dissolved, the sołtys again requisitioned me, along with several other men from the village, to dismantle the wooden barn where the Jews had been living. The barn was very large, nearly the size of my house. I can’t even begin to describe the state the place was in—it was heartbreaking. They must have been living in appalling conditions." [Testimony N°YIU427P, interviewed in Surhów, on March 24, 2015]
"The camp was established in May 1941. I arrived at the camp about 10 days after it was established. [...] A German named W. oversaw the camp, always wearing a German uniform with a yellow collar, an eagle and a swastika on his cap. He was a corporal - he wore two stripes on his epaulettes. A Ukrainian, whom everyone called "Wolodka", was the deputy commander. He had the same uniform as the commander but wore a black cap with a swastika on it. The commander had a Parabellum pistol and a small caliber five-shot rifle, but his deputy had no arm. In addition, four Ukrainians from the village of Drewniki guarded the camp. There was a barn where the Jews had their sleeping quarters. The whole area was surrounded by barbed wire. Prisoners were whipped for various kinds of infractions, especially theft. The camp existed from May 1941 until the fall of 1941, when it was closed for the winter. It was reestablished in the spring of 1942 and ran until July 1942. I didn’t work there anymore in 1942. At that time, every Jew had to walk one hour to the village of Izbica. That was the time of the liquidation of the Jews in Izbica". [Deposition of Stanislaw Dorosz, 49 years old, resident of Malochwia Duza; IPN, OKL Lublin, Ds.19/67, vol.1]
Surhów is a village in eastern Poland, situated in the administrative district of Gmina Kraśniczyn, within Krasnystaw County, Lublin Voivodeship. It lies approximately 11 km (7 miles) southeast of Krasnystaw and 60 km (37 miles) southeast of the regional capital, Lublin.
The earliest reference to Surhów dates back to the early 15th century, with a tax census from 1564 providing the first official mention of Jewish residents in the village. By the second half of the 19th century, Surhów was described as a large village, featuring a primary school, a manor house, a mill, and a distillery. Following land parceling at the end of the 19th century, the estate encompassed the villages of Surhów, Augustówka, and Dzierzawka.
Although the documentation of Jewish life in Surhów is limited, a historical source from 1910 indicates that the local Jewish community was part of the synagogue district of Kraśniczyn. At that time, the village’s Jewish population included individuals such as Szlem Gdal Bloat and Abram Mangiel. According to a local witness interviewed by Yahad, most of the Jews in Surhów before the war were itinerant merchants.
After the outbreak of the war, German troops first entered Surhów in September 1939. However, the village was soon handed over to the Red Army, which withdrew in early October, leaving Surhów under German control in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
In May 1941, a labor camp was established in Surhów tasked with draining the Wojsławka River. The camp was commanded by a German officer, Waldemar W. Among those forced to work there were Jews from Izbica, as well as deportees from Austria, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Approximately 30 women and children were also imprisoned in the camp. The number of Jewish prisoners fluctuated between 140 and 300.
Testimonies from Polish archives indicate that the camp staff included Polish workers responsible for technical tasks, while the physical labor of river drainage was performed by Jewish workers. These workers were housed in a barn on the Augustówka estate. The camp was guarded by Ukrainian auxiliaries and a Jewish police force comprising about 18 men.
The conditions in the camp were extremely harsh for Jewish prisoners. They suffered from malnutrition and were forced to work in freezing conditions, often wearing soaking wet clothing. Corporal punishment was common, and there are reports of individual executions. According to Polish archival accounts, a Czech Jewish doctor was killed by a Polish policeman, and a Polish Jew was shot by the camp commandant, allegedly because he had head lice. Reports indicate that 2–3 Jewish workers died each day from exhaustion or mistreatment. The deceased were buried in graves at the edge of a forest, approximately 2 km across the field from the Augustówka barn. A witness interviewed by Yahad recalled several graves in this area.
The camp was liquidated in August 1942, and all remaining prisoners were transported first to Izbica and subsequently to the Bełżec death camp.
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