Grodzisko Dolne | Subcarpathian Voivodeship

/ © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice Former Jewish streets. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice A gathering place. Back then, it was a central square. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice German headquarters were installed in this house. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice Jeske’s house. Jeske was a German who murdered many Jews. He didn’t hesitate to collect their belongings. He arrived in the village during the occupation. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice An old house which already existed before the war. Joanna M. witnessed an execution standing next to this house. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice Some remaining graves from the Jewish cemetery. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice Place of the former Jewish synagogue where children used to have studies. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice Joanna M., born in 1937, saw several executions which took place in different places. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice Aniela S., born in 1926, helped Jews to hide in an empty house. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice Execution site located at a former Jewish cemetery. Today it is an empty field. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice Former Jewish cemetery: an execution and burial site. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum © Budy Łańcuckie, Wierzawice Yahad’s team during an interview. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews in Grodzisko Dolne

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Jewish cemetery
Memorials:
Yes
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
Between 100 to 250

Witness interview

Aniela S., born in 1926: “My Jewish friends managed to hide and weren’t deported. They hid and lived herein an empty house and people brought them food secretly. If [the] Germans knew, they would have killed them as well. Once, these Jews came to my house asking for food, as they didn’t eat anything for three days. We gave them what we had. We learned that two days later these Jews were shot.” (Witness n°937, interviewed in Grodzisko Dolne on November, 14th 2018).

Historical note

Grodzisko Dolne is located 45km north-east of Rzeszow. The first Jews settled down in the village in the second half of the 18th century. They had a synagogue, a house of prayer, mikveh, and their own cemetery. The community was quite small at the beginning, and it didn’t grow much over the years. In 1785, out of 2,800 inhabitants in Grodzisko Dolne and Gorne, 275 were Jewish. In 1921, there were only 101 Jews, comprising 3 % of the total population. In the 1920s, there were two cheders [Hebrew schools] for boys. According to Joanna M., born in 1937, Jews mainly lived in the part called “Miasteczko”, an area around the marketplace, and they owned stores, bakeries, and butcheries. Polish and Jewish children went to the same school. In 1935, 443 Jews lived in Grodzisko Dolne. 

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Grodzisko Dolne was occupied by Germans on September 27, 1939.  At that moment, the majority of Jews were expelled to the Soviet occupied territories behind the San River. Even if there is no exact information regarding the ghetto, because some sources mentioned there was one created in 1941, while others didn’t mention it at all, the local witnesses interviewed by Yahad claimed that those Jews who remained in the town were marked with armbands and were concentrated in one area of the town. From 1942 to 1943, between 100 to 250 Jews, according to different sources, were executed by a German at the local Jewish cemetery.  Those who managed to escape and hide  were found, and were murdered during the isolated actions conducted in the nearby villages. For instance, in Budy Łańcuckie there  were, according to an archive, 25 Jews from Grodzisko Dolne were shot.

For more information about the executions in Budy Łańcuckie please refer to the corresponding profile

Jewishgen

Go to the Kehilalink Jewishgen website Townpage

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