Mełgiew | Lublin Voivodeship

Execution of Jews in Mełgiew

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:: Pond
Memorials:: No
Period of occupation:: 1939-1944
Number of victims:: Uknown

Witness interview

Eugeniusz K., born in 1927, recalls: « The Jews were confined in a firehouse guarded by dozen Germans. They forced the Jews to do physical exercises like jumping over a bench. Those who could not jump were beaten and shot behind the firehouse. There was a pit dug there. A dozen Jews were killed. I heard the gunshots coming from there. The remaining Jews in the firehouse were taken later to Piaski.” (Testimony n°760, interviewed in Trzeszkowice, on October 10, 2017)

Historical note

Mełgiew is a village located 18 km east of Lublin. Very little is known about life of the Jewish community in Mełgiew. There was no rabbi in the village. Some Jews lived off small scale trade; there were four Jewish shops where one could buy shoes, textile and food, according to Yahad’s witness. All the children from the village went to the same school. The village was occupied in September 1939.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

During the war, the Jews from Trzeszkowice and Trzeciaków arrived to settle down in the village. When the Germans arrived in Mełgiew, they established a Gendarmerie post. The prewar Polish police was taken over by the German administration. For a short time, the Jews continued to trade. Later, they were confined in the Mełgiew firehouse. According to Yahad’s witness, they were about 20 Jews. The building was guarded by Polish policemen. The Jewish detainees were systematically humiliated and beaten by the Gendarmes. They stayed there for two days. Some villagers brought them food and could even talk to them. A dozen of Jews, according to the witness, were shot behind the firehouse. He could hear the shootings. Later, villagers were requisitioned to transport the Jews to the execution site in the Krępiec forest. There were approximately 5-6 Jews per cart taken to the forest where they were immediately killed with a pistol. The shooters had grey uniform on them. According to another Yahad’s witness, there was another shooting that took place near a pond in Mełgiew where there is a public park today. From the accounts Yahad in Unum found out that the bodies were thrown into the pond. The exact number of Jewish victims murdered in Mełgiew remains unknown.

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