1 Sitio(s) de ejecución
Eugeniusz T., born in 1927: "Right next to the pit, some alders grew. Under one of them, local villagers, requisitioned by the Germans, dug a pit and dragged the bodies by their legs into it. There was one Jewish man who was still alive. He begged for his life, promising he wouldn’t tell anyone. They threw him into the ditch first, then piled the rest of the bodies on top of him. They simply leveled the bodies and covered them with dirt. It was horrifying to witness, and it’s terrifying to talk about even now. If you had seen it, you would have died of fear." (Testimony N°YIU506P, interviewed in Olszew, on September 22, 2015)
"38 people (Poles, Jews and foreigners) killed throughout the municipality." [Court Inquiries about executions and mass graves in districts, provinces, camps and ghettos; Ankieta Sadow Grodzkich, 1945 Reel 13 File 44 part 2.]
Olszew is a village situated between Warsaw and Białystok. Historically, it was part of Lublin Voivodeship, but due to its distance from Lublin, it was later incorporated into Warsaw Voivodeship (now part of Masovian Voivodeship). There is no available information about Jews living in Olszew before the war. However, a significant Jewish community thrived in the nearby town of Sterdyń, located about 10 km (6.2 mi) southeast of Olszew.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, isolated shootings and other killings were carried out across the Olszew municipality. Some time after the liquidation of the Sterdyń ghetto on September 22, 1942, a mass execution of Jews in hiding took place on the outskirts of Olszew, near the road to Kosów Lacki. According to a witness interviewed by Yahad, 70 Jews from Sterdyń, who had been caught hiding in the nearby forest, were transported in horse-drawn carts to the execution site by German Gendarmes from Kosów. Upon arrival, the Jews were forced to line up at the edge of a ditch, where they were shot by the Gendarmes using a machine gun. Local villagers were then requisitioned to dig a large pit and bury the victims' corpses. According to the witness, at the end of the war, just before retreating, the Germans exhumed the bodies of these Jews. Yahad has successfully located the execution site, which still remains without a memorial.
For more information about the killing of Jews from Sterdyń, please follow the corresponding profile.
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