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1 Execution site(s)
Tadeusz J, born in 1931: “I was requisitioned to transport the Jews to the synagogue. In the past, many Jews lived in the nearby villages. Germans rounded them up and put them altogether in the synagogue. I transported the Jews twice, as two Jewish families lived with two different Polish farmers in the nearby village. I was requisitioned, so I had to go and bring the Jews. I witnessed a scene which happened between a German and a Jewish woman who had a purse which most probably contained money. It was hanging over her chest. The German cut the bag’s string, but he also cut the woman’s skin. He took the purse, even though it was covered with blood, and put it in his pocket.” (Witness n°745, interrogated on March, 31st 2015 in Sprowa)
"20 Jews were shot on October 25, 1943. Their bodies were buried in Piaski (kolonia), in the village of Sprowa. “ [Court Inquiries about executions and mass graves in districts, provinces, camps and ghettos-Ankieta Sadow Grodzkich; RG-15.019 Reel #3 part 2]
Sprowa is located 75 km south-west of Kielce. Little is known about the Jewish community of Sprowa. According to the witness n°785, only three families lived in Sprowa. A bigger Jewish community lived in the nearby town of Szczekociny. The first record about the Jews goes back to the 17th century. The majority of the Jews were mainly traders and craftsmen, or farmers. Jews that dealt with craft, predominated in tailoring and shoemaking. There was a synagogue and a Jewish cemetery. In 1921, 2,532 Jews lived in Szczekociny, making up 45% of the whole population. Szczekociny was invaded by Nazis on September, 4th 1939.
Upon the German arrival, the anti-Jewish measures were implemented. All the Jews able to work were enlisted to forced labor. In the fall 1940, a ghetto was created in Szczekociny. All the Jews from the nearing villages were rounded-up and taken to the ghetto. They were transported by the local Poles requisitioned for this purpose. The ghetto was liquidated on September 20, 1942. This same day, the Jewish inmates, according to some sources about 1,500 Jews, were taken to the station from where they were deported to Skarżysko-Kamienna and then to the Treblinka death camp. An isolated execution took place in Sprowa on October 25, 1943. According to a witness, 28 Jews who had been hiding in a bunker were found out and murdered on the spot. A labor camp functioned during 1944 and 1945. Many Jews were shot there. It was liquidated then.
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