1 Killing site(s)
Zdzislaw O., born in 1920: “The sawmill in Hordzieżka was guarded by a single German, Imbek, and ten Ukrainian auxiliaries. These Ukrainians were young men, around 20 years old, dressed in black uniforms. Their role was to capture and kill Jews, and they were feared by all the surrounding villages. One day, Imbek and his men arrived in Krzywda and demanded that the Jews hand over all their gold. A week later, in the afternoon, they returned to the village. The Ukrainians went door to door, forcing adult Jews from their homes and gathering them in the village square. The roundup lasted about two hours. While some Ukrainians searched the houses for anyone in hiding, others stood guard over those already rounded up. Once all the Jews were gathered, they were ordered to strip down to their underwear and dance. Among them were two young Jewish girls, Szyma and Pesa, the youngest in the group. After being forced to dance for half an hour, they were made to lie face down on the ground and were executed with a shot to the back of the head. In the same manner, around 70 people were murdered that day.” [Testimony N°YIU834P, interviewed in Krzywda, on June 21, 2018]
"October 27, 1942: At the end of last week in the village of Krzywda they took 150 Jews, put them in a row, ordered them to undress, set clothes aside, lie down on the ground, face down, and killed everyone. The corpses laid there for a few days." [Stanislaw Zeminski, Report 302/30, Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute – ŻIH]
"In 1942, in the village of Krzywda, 240 Jews from the Radoryż gmina, were shot and buried in two mass graves." [Minutes of the Municipal Court in Lukow, October 10, 1945; IPN 337E 1064]
Krzywda is a village in Łuków County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is located about 24 km (15 miles) southwest of Łuków and 83 km (52 miles) northwest of Lublin, the regional capital.
On the eve of war, several Jewish families lived in Krzywda. According to local witnesses interviewed by Yahad, the Jews of Krzywda rented accommodations on the Holnicki-Szulc family estate. Among the members of the Jewish community were Rylowicz, Wancer, Perc, and Sukno.
The local Jewish residents provided essential services, including bakery, tailoring, and shoemaking. Jewish and Catholic children attended the same school, and young Jews such as Lejbus, Rywka, and Czarna were classmates of a local witness.
Religious gatherings took place at the home of Rabbi Szaja (or Siaja), while the nearest synagogue and Jewish cemetery were located in Adamów, a town 9 km to the southeast.
In early September 1939, the Krzywda railway station was bombed by the Luftwaffe and swiftly fell under German control, along with the entire Łuków district. Later that month, the Soviet army briefly occupied the area before withdrawing in early October, leaving it permanently under German rule.
Although the Germans did not establish a gendarmerie in Krzywda, they set up a base in Korwin, at the sawmill in Hordzieżka, about 8 km south of Krzywda. According to historical sources and local testimonies, an SS officer named Imbek, assisted by Ukrainian auxiliaries, operated from Korwin, terrorizing the region. They looted farmers and persecuted Jews from nearby settlements.
A local witness reported that Imbek’s unit arrived in Krzywda to confiscate gold from Jewish residents. A week later, they returned, rounding up the local Jewish population in the village square. The victims were forced to undress and dance before being ordered to lie down in a row. The perpetrators then executed them with shots to the back of the head. Their bodies were loaded onto carts by requisitioned Poles and taken to the outskirts of the village, where they were buried at a site previously used for disposing of dead animals.
Yahad witness accounts estimate that 70 Jews were killed in this massacre, while Polish archives state that around 150 Jews were murdered in Krzywda in October 1942. After the war, the bodies were exhumed and, according to a local witness, reburied at the cemetery.
Additionally, archives report the killing of 240 Jews from the Radoryż gmina in Krzywda that same year. Historical sources place this execution near the Krzywda railway station. A Yahad witness recalled seeing the bodies of dozens of victims, including adults and children, lying behind the station. Archives state that the bodies of the victims were buried in two common graves.
According to a witness, two Jews from Krzywda survived the war with the help of Polish locals. One was Gersz, a pre-war baker, and the other was a woman named Zyska.
Do you have additional information regarding a village that you would like to share with Yahad ?
Please contact us at contact@yahadinunum.org
or by calling Yahad – In Unum at +33 (0) 1 53 20 13 17