Warta | Łódź Voivodeship

Destruction of Jews in Warta

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:

Jewish cemetery

Memorials:

Yes

Period of occupation:

1939-1944

Number of victims:

A few dozen

Witness interview

Władysław C., born in 1930: “I was born in Włyń, a village about 5 km from Warta. Before the war, Warta had a significant Jewish population and even had its own synagogue. The town was also home to a psychiatric hospital, which was severely overcrowded. To alleviate the situation, some of the more capable patients were sent in pairs to live with farmers in nearby villages, where they could have better living conditions. Each family received 50 zlotys per patient, totaling 100 zlotys per month. At night, a senior nurse would inspect the patients’ living conditions. If they were deemed inadequate, money would be deducted from the payment. My family took in two patients: Abraham Strausenberg, a Jewish man who was unable to speak, and Konstantyn Kerner, a Polish man who had suffered an accident. Both were between 30 and 40 years old and lived with us for about five years. During the German occupation, the authorities ordered farmers to bring the patients to the roadside. My father complied, dropping them off as instructed before leaving. Later, I learned that the patients from the psychiatric hospital were executed and buried in the forest near Pierzchnia Góra and Rossoszyca.” (Witness N°1637P, interviewed in Włyń, on October 28, 2024)

German archives

Warta
District commission for the investigation of Nazi crimes in Lodz. Protocol of interrogation of the witness Kazimierz Andrysiewicz, born in 1910 in Warta; gardener;
The witness testified as follows: In April 1942, a gallows was erected in the square opposite the synagogue. I do not recall the exact date, but it was a Thursday. That day, approximately 1,000 people—both Jews and Poles—were gathered in the square, surrounding the gallows. Shortly after, about ten Jewish prisoners were brought in, their hands tied behind their backs. Each was led by two fellow Jews, while Gestapo officers escorted them. The Gestapo men wore various uniforms—some black, some green—many with skull insignias on their caps. Local gendarmes, including Lasz, Dreger, Hintz, Witzner, and others, were present, along with members of the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) in uniform, who carried out policing duties. These German youths mistreated elderly Jewish women, beating them and forcing them to march to the execution site. Once the prisoners were assembled, a Gestapo officer read the sentence aloud in German. The condemned were then led to the gallows. Jewish assistants placed nooses around their necks—except for one man, Landau, who put the noose on himself. One by one, they were hanged. Their bodies remained suspended from 11 a.m. until evening. That night, Jewish workers removed the corpses and buried them in the Jewish cemetery. There was no exhumation; their remains still rest there today. Among those hanged were the following: Rabbi Laskowski (age about 60), his son Hersz Laskowski (age about 20), the chairman of the Jewish ghetto Landau (age about 40), Szmul Jerczolimski (age about 50), Majerowicz Israel (age about 40), Einstein and others”. [B162-7417-Wieruszow, Wielun, Warta; District Lodz]

Polish Archives

Historical note

Warta is a town in central Poland, located in the Łódź Voivodeship on the banks of the Warta River. The town experienced significant growth between the 15th and 17th centuries. It was during the first half of the 16th century that Jewish settlers from Bohemia and Moravia arrived in Warta, establishing a vibrant community.

The Jewish population was engaged in a variety of businesses. They traded grain, livestock, and leased orchards for fruit production. They also ran a bottling facility that produced beverages such as beer, lemonade, and vinegar. Additionally, Jewish merchants operated stores selling food, household goods, stationery, and hardware. Butchers and bakers had designated market stalls, known as butcheries, where they sold their products.

From 1826 onward, Jews played a significant role in local industries, managing enterprises such as oil mills, leather tanneries, a groats factory, soap production, soda manufacturing, textiles, and match production. Many Jewish vendors also traveled between villages, selling small goods—mirrors, combs, safety pins, needles, thread, and other everyday necessities—carried on their backs.

Warta had a synagogue and several houses of prayer, including one in the Market Square and others located on Garbarska, Garncarska, and Targowa Streets.

Mieczysław J., born in 1934, recalled: "I had a Jewish neighbor named Marysia, whose maiden name was Maria Schwartzmann. The Schwartzmann family owned a store in the Market Square where they sold all kinds of necessities. Marysia managed to survive the war, hidden away somewhere. I also remember the Warta rabbi and his son very well. The rabbi was an elegant man, around 50 or 60 years old, and his son might have been 25 or 30."

At the outbreak of the Second World War, approximately 1,580 Jews lived in Warta, which was then part of Sieradz County (Schieratz). The Jewish community made up about 35% of the town’s population.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

The occupying forces annexed the town of Warta to the German Third Reich, incorporating it into the region known as Wartheland. From September 23, 1939, Jews were forced to wear a six-pointed yellow star on their outer garments—both on the chest and back—to distinguish themselves from the Polish population. They were gradually stripped of all means of subsistence.

The Warta Ghetto

In February 1940, the Germans established a ghetto, forcing Warta’s Jewish residents—along with fifty Jewish families from Kalisz, Błaszki, and Stawiszyn—into a confined area measuring approximately 200 by 250 meters in the northwestern part of the town. By December 1940, the ghetto population had reached around 1,750, including Jews who had fled or been deported from nearby villages, as well as a small group of about 20 Jews from Germany. Over time, up to 2,400 Jews may have passed through the ghetto.

The exits from the ghetto were sealed off with wooden barriers and monitored by the Jewish Police. Leaving the area without authorization was strictly forbidden and punishable by death. Those caught attempting to escape were executed on the spot. In February 1942, a Jewish tailor named Król Josek was discovered hiding in a Polish-owned barn on Stodolnia Street. He was captured by the Germans, taken to the Jewish cemetery, and shot in the head.

All Jews between the ages of 14 and 60 were subjected to forced labor, working 12-hour shifts in grueling conditions. Approximately 250 tailors, shoemakers, and furriers were put to work for the Germans, with a portion of their wages allocated toward the reconstruction of Warta. Many young laborers were also sent to forced labor camps in the Poznań region.

The Murder of Psychiatric Hospital Patients

In April 1940, as part of Aktion T4, the Nazis murdered 499 patients from Warta’s psychiatric hospital, including  285 Poles,177 Jews (all but one—a woman named Chawe Markuze, allegedly spared due to her beauty), 31 Germans and 6 Russians. A second mass killing took place in June 1941, when an additional 82 patients were murdered. In both instances, the victims were gassed in gas vans, and their bodies were buried in a mass grave in the forest between Rossoszyca and Józefów-Wiktorów. A local witness reported that there were three burial pits at the site.

Public Executions

On April 14, 1942, ten of Warta’s most prominent Jewish residents were hanged at the site of the former synagogue. The victims included:

• Izrael Landau (42), chairman of the Judenrat

• Izrael Szmul Jerozolimski (40)

• Izrael Ezre Rozenwald (31)

• Izrael Hersz Laskowski (26), son of the town’s rabbi

• Izrael Motel Rotsztajn (43)

• Mojsze Szymon Klinowski (31)

• Eliasz Laskowski (65), the last rabbi of Warta

• Izrael Fajwisz Majerowicz (41)

• Abram Josek Landsberg (51)

• Izrael Jakub Ajzensztajn (40)

Jewish policemen were forced to construct the gallows and carry out the executions. Meanwhile, other ghetto inhabitants, as well as Polish residents, were forced to witness the hangings. The bodies were later buried in the Jewish cemetery.

In another unknown incident, nine Jewish women from the Warta ghetto were taken to Włyń and executed.

The Liquidation of the Warta Ghetto

Between August 22 and 25, 1942, the German authorities began the systematic liquidation of the Warta ghetto. During the initial phase, at least sixteen people—primarily the elderly, sick, and young children—were shot on the spot because they were unable to walk to the town square. Ten individuals were then selected to remove and bury the bodies in a mass grave at the Jewish cemetery.

Approximately 1,800 Jews—mostly women, children, and the elderly—were locked inside St. Nicholas’ Church for three days without food or water. On the third day, SS officers and police arrived and began deporting them by truck. During the liquidation, around 1,000 Jews were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp.

Meanwhile, the Germans carried out a selection process. Around 447 of the younger, stronger Jews were sent to the Łódź ghetto for forced labor. However, conflicting records from the same archive suggest that the number may have been smaller, with only 97 men and 60 women deported to Łódź on August 24, 1942, and an additional 76 men on August 25, 1942.

The execution of the liquidation was overseen by a few known German figures, including Herbert Kühne, a factory manager, and Heinrich Schmieding.

Aftermath and Post-War Attacks

After the war, estimates suggest that only between 50 and 200 Jews from Warta survived the Holocaust. By 1945, only a handful of them chose to return to their hometown. However, on December 13, 1945, in broad daylight, members of the Polish underground army attacked the returning Jewish survivors. Two of them—Mosze Szajniak and Meir Lajb Rozenwald—were shot dead, accused of collaborating with the Soviets. Following this attack, the remaining Jews fled the town immediately. Since then, no Jews have lived in Warta.

Jewishgen

Nearby villages

• Józefów-Wiktorów
• Zduńska Wola