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1 Killing site(s)
Stefania T., born in 1929: "The Germans set up two ghettos in Brańsk. The first was an open area where Jews were initially forced to move. Later, a second, enclosed ghetto was created. In November 1942, everyone from the first ghetto was transferred into this enclosed space. During the chaos of these relocations, I discovered the body of a Jewish friend lying in our courtyard. When the ghetto was liquidated, the Germans requisitioned twenty to thirty horse-drawn carts from the surrounding villages. From my window, I watched a column being formed. The Germans stopped at houses to gather the women and children first, though it seemed the men remained behind at that stage. These carts transported the Jewish population toward the Białystok ghetto under heavy German guard. The brutality was constant. I once saw a German soldier kill a person by dragging him behind his horse. I also remember two Jewish brothers, the Mienitzki brothers, who were murdered.
Following the liquidation, the Germans carried out a mass shooting. They gathered approximately 60 Jews at the detention center and loaded them onto several carts. Surrounded by Germans, they were driven toward the Jewish cemetery. It was summer. The Germans forced local men, including my own brother, to dig a mass grave. After the shooting, they were ordered to fill the pit. Because it was done so hastily, we could still see the earth moving above those who had been buried." (Witness N°YIU596P, interviewed in Brańsk, on June 20, 2016)
Questionnaire on Mass Executions and Common Graves
1. Date and Place of Execution: November 16, 1942, at the Jewish cemetery.
2. Type of Execution: Shooting.
3. Victim Data:
Groups: Jews and Poles.
Number of victims: 70 people.
Origin: Residents of Brańsk.
Details: Names and professions are listed in an attached document.
4. Motive: Unknown.
5. Perpetrators: The Gendarmerie (German rural police).
6. Known Names of Perpetrators: Gendarmes Artur Masern, Guster Schmitt (Wachtmeister/Gendarmerie Sergeant), and Bruno Krzeminski.
7. Treatment of Remains: The bodies were buried (not burned).
8. Exact Burial Location: The Jewish cemetery in Brańsk.
9. Grave Description: All victims were buried in a single mass grave measuring 4m x 8m.
10. Exhumation: No exhumation or official protocol has been conducted at the site.
11. Future Exhumation: No current grounds for requesting exhumation.
[source: Location: Town of Brańsk, Bielsk Podlaski County, Białystok Voivodeship. Source: Deposition of Roman Jaworski, age 38, resident of Brańsk, dated October 15, 1945. Testimony is based on personal observation and reports from local inhabitants. Archive RG-15.019M Reel #1 (p. 342-343 PDF)]
Brańsk is located approximately 50 km (31 mi) south-southwest of Białystok. The Jewish presence in Brańsk dates back to 1560, initially centered around the leasing of mills and inns. A major turning point occurred in 1816–1820, when the community gained independence from the Tykocin Kahal. During this time, they established their own cemetery, a mikvah, and their first synagogue (Alter Bet Midrasz).
During the interwar years, Jews remained a dominant demographic in Brańsk, with the 1921 census recording 2,165 Jewish residents who represented 58% of the town’s inhabitants. The community served as the backbone of local trade and craftsmanship, specializing in major trades such as baking, shoemaking, blacksmithing, and tailoring. By 1938, Brańsk was home to 315 Jewish craftsmen and featured a jacket factory that provided employment for 50 women. The community’s integration was also deeply political; during the 1930s, Jewish residents occupied 50% of city council positions and held the post of deputy mayor. While the community benefited from international aid (such as the JOINT), overcrowding and unemployment in the early 20th century triggered mass emigration to the United States, Palestine, and South Africa.
Anti-Jewish violence erupted in Brańsk and nearby Wyszonki in 1937, as nationalist groups targeted Jewish property and physically assaulted dozens of residents. This hostile climate accelerated Jewish emigration to the United States and Palestine. According to data from 1939, the town had a total population of 4,594. Over half of the residents were Jewish, representing approximately 500 families.
German forces invaded Brańsk on September 10, 1939, soon setting the Old Synagogue on fire and deporting 500 Jews to labor camps. Under the Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact, the Soviet Union occupied the town and incorporated it into the Belarusian SSR, where the administration nationalized trade, restricted religious practices, and deported roughly 120 residents, including Poles, Jews, and Russians, to Siberia. Following the launch of Operation Barbarossa, German troops reoccupied Brańsk on June 25, 1941.
Shortly afterward, the new administration was established and anti-Jewish measures were implemented. These included the requirement to wear identifying patches, the imposition of heavy fines, and the performance of forced labor, such as construction projects or forestry work. The Judenrat (Jewish council) and Jewish police were created. In the fall of 1941, two ghettos—a main one and a small one—were established in the town. They initially held 2,400 people, including local residents and those from surrounding villages. Over time, the number of detainees increased as refugees arrived from neighboring towns.
During the autumn of 1942, those living in the smaller ghetto were moved into the town’s main ghetto. On November 7, 1942, the ghetto was liquidated over the course of the Aktion carried out by the Germans, with the help of their Lithuanian and Ukrainian auxiliaries. The Jewish detainees were driven with requisitioned carts to Bielsk Podlaski, from where they were deported to the Treblinka killing center on November 9, 1942.
Jews who had initially managed to escape were progressively captured and shot at the local Jewish cemetery. According to a post-war deposition given by Roman Jaworski in October 1945, a mass shooting took place at the Brańsk Jewish cemetery on November 16, 1942. A total of 70 residents, comprising both Jews and Poles, were shot by members of the German Gendarmerie, specifically identified as Artur Masern, Guster Schmitt, and Bruno Krzeminski. The victims were interred in a single pit measuring approximately 32 square meters (4m x 8m), which today is commemorated.
Beyond the shooting at the cemetery, the testimony of Stanisław P., born in 1924, provides details regarding a separate incident in the Brańsk forest involving approximately 20 to 21 Jewish victims. These individuals were found hiding in old trenches near a local well they had been using for water. Stanisław P. recounted hearing machine gun fire from his home before being ordered by the village head (sołtys) and local police to transport the victims’ belongings. After the shooting, the bodies were buried in a pit dug near the killing site. Following the war, a survivor of the event organized the exhumation of the remains and their subsequent reburial at the Jewish cemetery in Brańsk.
Post-war violence against the few Jewish survivors, such as the 1945 murders of Zisl and Rachela Topczewska, led to the total dissolution of the community; by 1947, the census recorded no Jewish residents in Brańsk.
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