Jastków | Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship

/ Barbara L., born in 1928, saw the execution of one Jewish girl who stayed with her sister in Ćmielów after the deportation of the Jews. The other sister probably managed to escape. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Barbara L. also saw the execution of the Jews who owned a lemonade store in Ćmielów. They were executed in the field that you can see behind. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Yahad’s team during an interview near the execution site. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum The location of the mass graves where a Jewish family of four was killed.  © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum Execution site of the Jewish family from Ćmielów. They were hiding in a silo pit. According to Barbara L., it was located next to a ravine, but today the landscape has changed. © Piotr Malec – Yahad-In Unum

Execution of Jews from Ćmielów in Jastków

1 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Silo pit
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
4

Witness interview

Barbara L., born in 1928, recalls: “One Jewish woman came here to Jastków because she had a shop in a farmer’s house. She used to come here every day from Ćmielów; she used to bring articles on her back to sell them. She sold cigarettes, boxes of matches, sweets, flasks and things like that. When the Jews were deported to the train station, she managed to escape with her sister, but someone denounced them. Her sister was killed in her bed but the other woman managed to escape for the second time.” (Witness n°1049, interviewed in Jastków on June, 5th 2019).

Historical note

Jastków is located 74km east of Kielce. According to the local residents, the village was home only to Poles. A big Jewish community lived in the nearby town of Ćmielów, located 3km away. The first records about the Jewish community in Ćmielów go back to the early 18th century. The community increased over the years. By 1827, 147 Jews lived in the town. According to the census in 1921, 664 Jews lived in the town making up 27% of the total population. The majority of Jews were traders or craftsmen. According to a local resident interviewed by Yahad, some Jews were coming from Ćmielów to sell their goods in Jastków. They had their own synagogue, built in the 1860s. There was a mikveh (ritual bath) as well. On the eve of WWII, about 500 Jews lived in Ćmielów.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Jastków and Ćmielów were occupied by the Germans in September 1939. Right after the occupation, the anti-Jewish measures were implemented. The Ćmielów Jews were subjected to pay contributions and their shops were taken over by the Germans. The Jews continued to live freely until the creation of the ghetto in June 1942. While the majority of Jews were deported to the Treblinka camp in October 1942, several isolated shootings were conducted in Ćmielów and in Jastków. Undocumented until recently, the execution is Jastków was conducted some weeks after the deportation, in October 1942. The victims were a Jewish family of four, native from Ćmielów, owners of the lemonade shop, who came to Jastków to hide. They were denounced and killed by Germans in a silo pit. There is no memorial at the execution site. Those who were not found immediately, but after a certain time, were confined into a camp created in January 1943 in Ćmielów. The camp inmates were eventually deported to the Treblinka camp some time later.

For more information about the Jews killed in Ćmielów please refer to the following profile

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