1 Execution site(s)
Jan A., born in 1923: "I saw Jews digging three parallel pits near the Wołomin stadium, at a place called ’Glinki’ (the clay quarry). Each pit was about 50 meters long, and the Jews were being guarded while they worked. Later, Jews from the surrounding areas, especially from Radzymin as I learned afterward, were brought to Wołomin in several open trucks to be executed, along with the inmates from the Wołomin ghetto. When I heard gunshots coming from the area where the pits had been dug, I went to see what was happening. When I arrived, I saw many Germans standing near the pits, holding weapons and firing into them. The entire area was surrounded by guards." (Testimony N°YIU522P, interviewed in Wołomin, on September 28, 2015)
"The small town of Wolomin was occupied by the German army at the same time as Radzymin. The ghetto created in Wolomin contained between 3,000 and 5,000 Jews from Wolomin and the surrounding area. Wolomin came under the Radzymin gendarmerie; no German units were stationed in Wolomin. The only German living in Wolomin who was in contact with the Radzymin gendarmerie was called F.
According to witness Lewit, the Wolomin ghetto was liquidated at the same time as the Radzymin ghetto. The liquidation was carried out by the Radzymin gendarmerie. During the liquidation, many were shot on the spot. The Wolomin Jews were also deported to the Treblinka extermination camp.
Testimonies suggest that the liquidation actions in Radzymin and Wolomin were directed by the head of the Warsaw gendarmerie, L.." [Investigation report, Tel Aviv, le 9.2.1966; B162-6854 p.14]
Wołomin is a town located 19 kilometers northeast of Warsaw, now part of the broader Warsaw metropolitan area. The origins of the Wołomin settlement date back to the 15th century, with the first recorded mention of the name "Volunsk." Jewish settlement in Wołomin began in the late 19th century, and by 1921, the Jewish population had grown to 3,079 individuals, representing 49.3% of the town’s total population. The Jewish community in Wołomin was economically and politically diverse, comprising both Zionists and followers of Hasidism, particularly those influenced by the Hasidic leaders from Góra Kalwaria. Rabbi Eliezer Szlomo, a prominent Hasidic figure, was a key leader in the town.
During the interwar period, the community maintained a synagogue and two prayer houses, with Rabbi Zeew Bergeisen overseeing religious life. Various Jewish organizations were active, including the I.L. Peretz Library and the Maccabi sports club. In the 1934 municipal elections, Jewish representatives won five out of twenty-four seats on the town council.
Jewish entrepreneurs played a significant role in Wołomin’s economic development by establishing factories and businesses that created employment opportunities. Notable enterprises included the glass factory "Wołomin," founded by Szlomo Kohn, Artur Landau’s textile factory, a cane manufacturing workshop, and a factory producing agricultural tools. While some Jews were prosperous industrialists, many others were small traders, artisans, or laborers, often struggling with financial hardships.
By 1939, on the eve of the war, Wołomin was home to circa. 3,000 Jewish residents, comprising 22% of the town’s total population.
Wołomin was occupied by German troops on September 13, 1939, following bombing raids that damaged many Jewish homes. The occupation was enforced by gendarmerie units, primarily tasked with operations in the countryside, and police (Schutzpolizei) from the 17th and 23rd regiments, with headquarters in Radzymin and Wołomin. Gendarmerie posts were stationed in Radzymin and Tłuszcz, while the Wołomin elementary school was repurposed as barracks for the Germans.
Anti-Jewish policies were implemented in the town from the earliest days of the occupation. Jewish belongings were looted, shops were robbed, and Jewish men were forcibly conscripted for labor, often taken directly from the streets. Esteemed community members were publicly humiliated, forced to sweep the streets with brooms. On October 4, 1939, the community’s Bet Midrash was deliberately set on fire, destroying the building and the Torah scrolls it contained.
In November 1939, a Judenrat (Jewish Council) was established, tasked with fulfilling German orders. This included organizing forced labor groups and collecting financial "contributions" and valuables. By the end of 1939, Jews aged 12 and over were required to wear the Star of David.
In October 1940, an open ghetto was created in Wołomin. Local Jews were forced to relocate to residences previously inhabited by Polish farmers in the Sosnówka quarter, while prominent community members had to settle on the outskirts of Wołomin. By mid-1941, possibly in June, the ghetto was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. The ghetto authorities established an orphanage and a sanitation department to oversee hygiene and manage the local hospital.
By February 1941, the ghetto population had grown to 3,000, including Jews transferred from Pułtusk, Wyszków, Serock, Nasielsk, and Radzymin.
Living conditions in the ghetto were miserable, with overcrowding, hunger, and widespread diseases—particularly typhus—leading to numerous deaths. Additionally, many Jews, including children, were shot while smuggling food or attempting to escape the ghetto. After such incidents, the Judenrat was required to collect and bury the bodies.
The Wołomin ghetto was liquidated in early October 1942 during an Aktion carried out by the SS, with assistance from Polish policemen. The first victims were the children from the Wołomin orphanage, who were taken to the forest and executed. On October 2, 1942, the remaining ghetto inmates were rounded up in the village square, where men were separated from women and children. The detainees were then marched in a column to the Radzymin train station and deported to Treblinka alongside Jews from Radzymin.
A number of ghetto inmates, particularly those unable to walk, as well as some Jews brought from Radzymin, were shot during the liquidation on October 4, 1942 (according to other sources, October 6, 1942). They were buried in at least three pits dug in advance by Jews at the clay quarry within the ghetto area. Isolated killings of Jews in hiding continued in the following days at the same location. According to Polish sources, up to 620 Jews were murdered in Wołomin during the liquidation of the ghetto. Today, the execution site forms part of the "Huragan Wołomin" sports club stadium, and there is no monument to commemorate the victims.
After the ghetto’s liquidation, Jewish belongings were looted by both Germans and local Poles. From 1943 until its liquidation on February 2, 1944, a Jewish labor camp operated in Wołomin, where Jewish laborers were forced to work in the glass factory.
Nearly 50 Poles from the Wołomin county, including the Zakrzewski family from Wołomin who helped the Muszkatblat family, were later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for their efforts to protect Jews during the Holocaust.
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