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1 Execution site(s)
Marian W., born in 1933, recalls: “The Jews were hiding in the Terebin forest for several months, from the fall of 1942 until the winter of 1943. They were very poor people, probably from Hrubieszow. They were very well hidden in a kind of underground bunker dug between dense trees and bushes near the meadows. My father was a soltys at the time and he had contact with them. One day he took me with him to the forest to show me the bunker. Later, he would send me there to bring food to the Jews. My mother used to prepare some bread and milk for them. There was always one Jew waiting there for me. He was guarding the bunker and he was armed. Once, he fell asleep. When I approached him, he woke up and he got very scared, so he pointed his gun at me. I was so frightened that I didn’t want to go there anymore. I thought he wanted to kill me.” (Eyewitness N°429, interviewed in Polanki, on March 25, 2015)
Source of information: Kalborek [?] Stanislaw, resident of Terebin, eyewitness requisitioned with his brother to bury the corpses of their Jewish neighbors.
Historical data: […] There were 4 bunkers in the Terbin forest and 20 others in the neighboring forests of Modryniec and Sahryn. In December 1942, the SS members encircled the forest and killed the Jews in hiding. No one survived. During the occupation, about 300 people were killed there (…) [Deposition of the ZHP – The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, 30 scouts from Tadeusz Kosciuszko team; GK/195/VIII/7, p. 17]
Terebin is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Werbkowice, within Hrubieszow County, Lublin voivodeship. Before WWII, Terebin was mainly inhabited by Ukrainians, there were only few Polish and Jewish families. The synagogue and the Jewish cemetery were located in Hrubieszow, a town located 11km from Terebin. During the interwar period, like in many other towns of the region, the Jewish population economically dominated Hrubieszów and owned most of the buildings and stores. The Jews were also involved in the social and cultural life of the town. Before the beginning of WWII, there were about 20,000 Jews living in Hrubieszow County.
The ghetto was established in Hrubieszów on the 15th of June, 1940. In May 1942, a large group of Jews from surrounding villages was deported to the Hrubieszów ghetto. In total, about 10,000 people passed through the Hrubieszów ghetto, including Jews from Częstochowa, Mielec, and Kraków. In June 1942, the majority of the Jews from Hrubieszów ghetto were sent to the Sobibor extermination camp and 500 others were shot at the local Jewish cemetery. At that time, many Jews from Hrubieszów and the surrounding area tried to flee to neighboring forests to find a place to hide. In July and August of 1942, many Jews reached the forest of Terebin where they built several bunkers in which they were hiding until December 1942. There were 4 bunkers in the Terebin forest and 20 others in the neighboring forests of Modryniec and Sahryn. In December 1942, SS members encircled the forest and killed the Jews in hiding. They killed them with machine guns and by throwing grenades in the bunkers. No one survived. During the occupation, about 300 Jews were killed there.
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