1 Sitio(s) de ejecución
Stefan G., born in 1928: "We were in the classroom when we ran to the window to watch. The street where the Jews were being led was a little farther away. Some gendarmes or soldiers had surrounded them and were taking them to Łochów, where the train carriages were waiting. I don’t know where they were taken after that. What I do remember is seeing the Germans singling out every elderly person who looked weak, shoving them from behind, and killing them." (Testimony N°YIU511P, interviewed in Wójty, on September 24, 2015)
"[…] During this Aktion, about 100 people were shot in the ghetto, including my wife and daughter. I don’t remember exactly who shot them—I know it was the Tłuszcz gendarmerie, but I don’t know which specific gendarme killed my wife and daughter. It happened right in front of me, in the ghetto. More than 100 Jews were also shot along the way to the railway station, where they were forced to walk. At the station, the Jews were loaded into freight wagons and, as I later learned, transported to Treblinka, where they were killed.
I found out that during the liquidation of the Jews in the Tłuszcz ghetto, more blood was shed than elsewhere. In the operation at Tłuszcz, around February 1942, half of the Jews were shot on the spot." [Deposition of Majer Zbanowicz, Jewish survivor, married, no profession, born in 1904; Kfar-Saba, 31.1.1966, B162-6854 p.42]
"The ghetto in Jadów was enclosed by barbed wire. There wasn’t a permanent German gendarmerie presence, but Germans would occasionally come from Tłuszcz. A few Polish policemen conducted searches, and there were also a few Jewish militiamen.
Since 1939, refugees from Wyszków, which had been burned during the military actions of that year, had been staying in Jadów. Most of them lived in the synagogue, and many died due to a typhus epidemic.
Compared to other ghettos, life in Jadów wasn’t as harsh. Peasants from nearby areas would often come to help by bringing food, usually in exchange for work done by Jewish craftsmen." [AZIH 301/6100 Reel #61 page 18]
Jadów is a town in central Poland, located in Wołomin County, Masovian Voivodeship, approximately 33 km (20.5 miles) east of Wołomin and 63 km (39 miles) northeast of Warsaw. The Osownica River flows through the village.
Jewish settlement in Jadów dates back to before the partitions of Poland in the 18th century. By the 1860s, the Jewish population had grown to 870, making up 67.6% of the town's inhabitants. By 1897, this number had increased to 1,272, accounting for over 70% of the total population.
The Jewish community in Jadów was well-organized, establishing a synagogue, a bais-midrash (house of study), a rabbinate, and a supervisory committee known as the "Dozor." The cultural life of the Jewish community was vibrant, with the creation of libraries and educational institutions, including a Hebrew kindergarten. Economically, the Jews were central to the town's livelihood, particularly in trade, tailoring, cobbling, and the sale of goods produced by local factories.
On the eve of the war, Jadów’s Jewish population had grown to around 1,800 people, making up nearly 90% of the town’s population.
In September 1939, German forces entered Jadów, establishing a new administration and a local police unit, with the town falling under the jurisdiction of the Tłuszcz gendarmerie. Shortly afterward, anti-Jewish measures were introduced, and a Judenrat (Jewish Council) was formed. Jewish residents were subjected to forced contributions and labor, with many working on the construction of an airfield in the nearby town of Zawiszyn or in labor camps set up in the surrounding areas.
On October 17, 1940, a closed ghetto was established in Jadów, surrounded by barbed wire. It housed approximately 2,500 Jews, including refugees from nearby towns such as Wyszków, Pułtusk, Gaworów, Stok, Długosiodło, and Radzyń. The ghetto contained a Jewish Police unit and occupied just over one-third of the town’s area, but nearly 90% of the town’s total population resided there. By June 1941, the ghetto population had increased to 2,787 due to the influx of more refugees. Overcrowding, scarce food, harsh living conditions, and a typhus epidemic led to the deaths of many inmates. Despite the risks, some local Polish residents delivered food to the ghetto, as both Polish and Jewish accounts confirm.
In 1942, violence against the Jews in the Jadów ghetto escalated. People were beaten during forced labor, and some were murdered in the streets. Around this time, two groups of Roma were executed in Jadów, and Jews were forced to bury their bodies. On May 26, 1942, Rabbi Yakov Yosef Brikman and other escapees from Tłuszcz arrived in Jadów. The Germans demanded the rabbi's handover, threatening to kill ten Jews from Jadów for each fugitive if they refused. To prevent further bloodshed, the rabbi turned himself in and was tortured to death by the gendarmes.
On September 23, 1942, gendarmes from Tłuszcz, supported by Polish (Blue) police and other auxiliaries, rounded up the Jewish population of Jadów at the town’s cattle market. Those unable to march to the assembly point were killed in the ghetto, and others were shot while being escorted to the Łochów train station. From there, they were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp. Most estimates place the number of victims killed during the deportation Aktion at between 100 and 200, although one source suggests as many as 600. The victims’ bodies were initially buried in the Jadów Jewish cemetery, but the Germans exhumed them a few months later, transporting the remains to Węgrów, where they were burned as part of Operation 1005.
After the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto, some Poles reportedly looted abandoned Jewish homes, according to a local witness interviewed by Yahad. A group of 20 to 30 Jews, including the chairman of the Judenrat, was forced to remain behind to sort through the remaining possessions before they were deported to the Warsaw ghetto.
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