Niedary | Lesser Poland Voivodeship

Destruction of Jews in Niedary

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:

Meadow behind a Jewish house

Memorials:

No

Period of occupation:

1939-1944

Number of victims:

15

Witness interview

Joanna H., born in 1935: "My family moved to Niedary in 1934. At that time there were three Jewish families living in the village. One man was called Jakub; he had a small shop. Another family was Josek and his wife. During the German occupation, the Jews were used as forced laborers at the local manor, where they were kept under guard. They were starving and came to the villagers asking for food. We left food for them at night.

In the autumn of 1943, when I was returning from school, I heard rumors that an execution had taken place and I went to see the site. The killing was carried out on a small meadow that belonged to Jakub. He himself was among those killed. People from the village were assigned to dig a pit. The Germans came to the village especially for the execution and shot the Jews one by one in the back of the head. From a place called ‘Kierat,’ I saw a German in a bluish-green uniform covering the pit with earth. Some local people were ordered to cover the grave, but when they saw it, they refused. As far as I know, they did not suffer any consequences.

People later said that Josek tried to look at the execution because his wife was among the victims. He was noticed by the Germans, shot, and his body was brought on a small cart and buried together with the others.

About ten people, including children, were killed that day. Their bodies were never exhumed. Today, the pit is located in the yard of a private house.

Jakub’s daughter, Helena, survived the Holocaust." (Witness N°1062P, interviewed in Niedary, on June 19, 2019)

Polish Archives

Niedary, Drwinia municipality.

15 November 1942: Gendarmes from Bochnia shot and killed 8 people of Jewish origin. [Source: AGK, Ankieta GK "Represje ludnosci zydowskiej…", pow. Bochnia, woj. Krakowskie.]

3 December 1943: Gendarmes from Bochnia executed 7 people of Jewish origin. Among those killed was Josek Baldegrun, aged 50. The bodies were buried in a mass grave at the site of the execution. [Source: Historical Museum of the City of Kraków, registration cards]

03 December 1943. Niedary, commune of Uście Solne [currently the commune of Drwinia].

The gendarmerie shot 7 Poles of Jewish origin. The bodies were buried in a field.

[City of Bochnia; Public Prosecutor, Kraków–Bochnia, P1010311–P1010316; Bulletin of the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland concerning the extermination of the population in the Kraków Voivodeship, primarily in Bochnia County. […] Volume IX, Warsaw, 1957. Extermination of the population on Polish lands in the years 1939–1945.]

Historical note

Niedary is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Drwinia, within Bochnia County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland.

Direct, detailed information about the Jewish community specifically in the village of Niedary is limited in the available sources. Niedary is a relatively small village, and Jewish communities in Lesser Poland typically concentrated in larger cities and towns, such as the nearby Bochnia and Niepołomice. According to witnesses interviewed by Yahad-In Unum team in Niedary, three Jewish families lived in the village before the war. They were small farmers, and one of the family owned a small store. The store owner, Jakub, had two daughters. A Jewish woman, Heśla, ran an inn in the village. Local Jews would gather in her house to pray. Another Jewish family from Niedary was the Szlama family. The synagogue was in Uście Solne, a village located about 2 km from Niedary, where around 20 Jewish families lived.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Bochnia County, including the village of Niedary, was occupied by German forces in September 1939. Available archival sources mention two separate shootings of Jews in Niedary during the German occupation. The first took place on 15 November 1942, when eight Jews were shot. The second occurred on 3 December 1943, when seven Jews were shot by German Gendarmes from Bochnia.

The testimonies of local residents interviewed by Yahad-In Unum, including those of Joanna H., born in 1935, and Roman S., born in 1937, made it possible to retrace the details of at least one of these shootings and to reconstruct aspects of Jewish life and persecution in Niedary during the war.

Under the German occupation, the Jews of Niedary were compelled to wear distinctive armbands and were subjected to forced labor at the Bieńkowice manor. Hunger was severe, and they came to local inhabitants asking for food. At night, some villagers left food for them, but fear of German reprisals prevented any closer contact. According to some witness accounts, a number of Jews were transferred to the Bochnia Ghetto.

At the end of 1943, likely on 3 December 1943, a group of Jews, including at least some local residents, were shot in Niedary. The shooting took place in a small meadow belonging to a Jewish man named Jakub, who was among the victims. The Jews were taken to a pit that had previously been dug by requisitioned local residents, lined up at its edge, and shot one by one in the back of the head. The Aktion was conducted by German Gendarmes in bluish-green uniforms who had come to Niedary specifically for this purpose. According to Roman S., some children found in hiding were thrown into the pit alive. The body of Josek, who presumably tried to watch the shooting because his wife was among the victims but was spotted and shot by the Germans, was also taken to the same pit.

The local residents, who had been ordered to cover the victims, refused when they saw that some of them were still alive. One of the Germans then threw the first layer of soil into the pit, after which the villagers completed the burial.

According to Teresa W., born in 1929, a group of Jews was brought to Niedary for approximately one week and held in one of the local houses before being relocated elsewhere. A few tried to escape but were shot in the fields. The witness’s brother-in-law transported the bodies on a cart, and they were also buried in a pit behind Jakub’s barn. However, it is not known whether this shooting refers to the 3 December 1943 Aktion or to a separate killing.

The victims’ remains were never exhumed, and today the pit lies within the yard of a private house. One survivor from the local Jewish community is known: Helena, the daughter of Jakub.

Nearby villages

• Bochnia
• Rzezawa

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