Zawadka Brzostecka | Podkarpackie Voivodeship

/ Julian O., born in 1930: «When we heard the gunshots we run to the forest to take a look. Once there, we saw a pile of the bodies. They were men, women, and children.” © Freddy Murphy /Yahad-In Unum The witness took Yahad’s team to the execution site where about 22 Roma people were killed. © Freddy Murphy /Yahad-In Unum Yahad-In Unum team at the execution site during an interview. © Freddy Murphy /Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Roma and Jews in Zawadka Brzostecka

1 Execution site(s)

Kind of place before:
Forest
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
About 22

Witness interview

Julian O., born in 1930: «It was in the forest not far from our house, about 1 km away. The Roma were taken there by cart. Once on the site, they were taken in small groups to the pit where they were shot dead. We could hear gunshots and screaming. We rushed there once the gunshots stopped to take look at what had happened. When we arrive we saw twenty two bodies arranged on a pile. There were men, women, and children among them.” (Witness n°349, interviewed in Zawadka Brzostecka, on June 19, 2014).

Historical note

Zawadka Brzostecka is a small village located about 60 km southwest of Rzeszow. According to Yahad’s witness, there were two or three Jewish families. The bigger Jewish community lived in nearing town of Brzostek. The Jews from Zawadka Brzostecka were farmers. One family owned a tavern.  All the children went to the same school. There were no Roma who lived in the village before the war.  The village was occupied by Germans in September 1939.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

According to sztetl.org.pl, about 27 victims, including Jews and Roma people, were murdered in the forest near Zawadka Brzostecka in March 1942. According to Yahad’s witness, they were 22 non local Roma who were brought there by covered truck. The locals were requisitioned to dig a pit and bury the victims’ bodies. Supposedly, 11 Jews were shot in the village in fall 1943, but Yahad-In Unum couldn’t find any information about this shooting neither could we locate the site.

Nearby villages

  • Brzostek
  • Przezcyca
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