Frampol | Lublin Voivodeship

"1. Date and place of execution: from November 2, 1942, to May 1944.

2. Type of execution (shooting, hanging or other): shooting.

3. Personal data on the executed victims (Poles, Jews, other nationalities): Jews and Poles.

Number of executed victims: 744 Jews and 8 Poles.

Origin of the victims: Frampol and its surroundings.

Names, age, occupations and addresses: different ages, including 8 Poles from 18 to 25 years of age.

[…] 8. Where were the bodies buried? Exact place: Jewish cemetery.

9. Description of the pit/pits/dimensions, number of victims per pit: three pits measuring 2m by 5m each." [Court inquiries about executions and mass grave, IPN:GK 163/12]

Frampol is a town located 70 km south of Lublin. The first records about the Jewish community date back to the middle of the 18^th century. In 1821, 100 Jews lived in Frampol. By 1864, the community grew and numbered 668 Jews. There was a Jewish cemetery and a wooden synagogue that was transformed into a brick one. According to the 1921 census, there were 1,465 Jews in Frampol, who represented a little more than a half of the town’s population. Besides Jews, Poles and Ukrainians lived in the town. Many Jews were craftsmen and shopkeepers. Some owned factories, for example a wine factory. During the interwar period, a bunch of Jewish political and cultural organizations were active in Frampol. Besides three cheders [schools] which had been opened since 1903, in 1939, a Talmud Torah school operated in Frampol.

On September 13, 1939, the German Luftwaffe bombed Frampol destroying a majority of the town’s buildings. A big part of its population lost their homes and had to look for places to stay in nearby villages. Soon after the beginning of the German occupation, German police posts were created. According to the Polish witness interviewed by Yahad In Unum, the German gendarmerie [police] headquarters were installed in the town’s school building. Historical sources give very few details about the life of Frampol Jews under the occupation. It is known that the Jews were forbidden to leave the town and that the Judenrat was established. Most probably in August 1942 Judenrat was ordered to prepare a list of deportees. Most of the people who were warned, fled to the near town of Goraj, villages and forests. Soon they came back. Jews from Goraj, after having their houses burned by the Germans, were brought to Frampol. According to a Polish eyewitness, those who tried to flee or hide were killed. The final action started in November 1942. According to the witness, on November 3 the special German unit, together with Ukrainians, came by trucks and surrounded the town. The Germans were chasing people in the streets and shooting them. The witness saw these killings. Some 100 people who survived the shootings were gathered in the Market square and taken on trucks to Zwierzyniec. Later they were deported to the Bełżec death camp. All the others, who tried to hide, were being consequently searched by Germans and Poles, who were forced to search or did it of their own will. Groups found were gathered in a school building which served as an arrest or, according to the witness, in the Market square, and taken by the requisitioned locals to the cemetery where they were killed. According to the witness, who was one of these forced to take people to the killing site as well as to gather dead corpses, said some Jews, after days spent in hiding, could not walk and were killed on the way. At the cemetery the victims, including women, children, and elderly, were forced to undress, and killed in three pits. Victims’ clothes were searched by the Germans who also took pictures of the execution. The killings took a few days. Approximately 1,000 Jews were shot.