Gralewo (Stare Gralewo) | Masovian Voivodeship

Destruction of Jews in Gralewo (Stare Gralewo)

3 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:

Vacant lot near the work camp (1); catholic cemetery (2); field (3)

Memorials:

Yes

Period of occupation:

1939-1944

Number of victims:

Several dozens

Witness interview

Jerzy J., born in 1929: "During the German occupation, a forced labor camp for Poles and Jews was established in Gralewo on the grounds of the local school. The entire area, including the school building, was surrounded by barbed wire. This camp, in the mocking language of the Germans, was called a "re-education" labor camp. Prisoners were brought in from various towns and villages. Most were men, but there were also women. The inmates were forced to work on road construction, and the guards regularly beat, tortured and killed them. I recall one such incident involving a Jew from Raciąż. The guards ordered him to eat a sausage. Because of his religious beliefs, he refused. As punishment, he was severely beaten. Afterward, they let him go, but he only managed to walk about 100 meters before collapsing in front of a farmer’s house. The farmer saw him, brought him into the barn, but the man, who was badly injured and covered in blood, died a few hours later. I also remember another time when the Germans brought a group of Jews from Kuchary Żydowskie to the camp in Gralewo. That same evening, the Germans took all the Jewish women and their children about 1.5 km away to a sand excavation site. They were shot there. I didn’t see the execution, but I clearly remember hearing the gunfire." (Witness N°1320P, interviewed in Gralewo, on June 18, 2022)

Polish Archives

"Gralewo: A village in the Ciechanów Voivodeship, south of Raciąż.

Labor camp: Established in November 1940 and liquidated in December 1943. It was located in a school building and surrounding farm buildings. The camp held Polish prisoners and Polish citizens of Jewish origin, with an average of around 200 inmates at a time. In total, approximately 5,000 people passed through the camp. Prisoners were forced to work on the construction of the Lutomierz–Raciąż road. Eight people died in the camp. There were also instances of prisoners being executed by the Nazis both inside and outside the camp. During the liquidation of the camp, some prisoners were released, while others were deported to other camps." [AGK, ASG, sygn. 62, k.188; kolekcja “Z”, sygn. 924. OK Wa, Ds 99/68]

Historical note

Stare Gralewo is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Raciąż, within Płońsk County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately 8 km (5 mi) south of Raciąż, 21 km (13 mi) north-west of Płońsk, and 82 km (51 mi) north-west of Warsaw.

According to available archival records and witness testimonies, there were no Jews living in Gralewo before the war. Yahad witness Alfreda G., born in 1929, recalls that Jews primarily lived in nearby towns, such as Raciąż, located 7 km from Gralewo, and Drobin, 10 km away. In 1921, Raciąż was home to 1,682 Jews, comprising 37.3% of the population. By 1931, the Jewish population had increased slightly to 1,734. The Jewish community in Raciąż had its own synagogue—one of the largest in the Mława district—as well as a cemetery and a bathhouse.

In Drobin, there were 1,096 Jews in 1921 out of a total population of 2,439, accounting for 44.9% of the town’s residents. There, too, the Jewish community maintained a synagogue and a cemetery.

Jerzy J., also born in 1929, adds that there was a Jewish community in Bielsk (also known as Bielsko), a small town 24 km from Gralewo. The Jewish population in Bielsk was primarily involved in trade and crafts. On the eve of the Second World War, about 200 Jews lived in the village. Most were tailors, though some worked as farmers.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

During the German occupation, the Nazis established a so-called "re-education" labor camp (German: Arbeitserziehungslager Gralewo) in the village of Gralewo in November 1940. The camp covered an area of 3,800 square meters and was located in a wooden school building that had been closed by the Germans. It was surrounded by three rows of barbed wire.

The camp typically held between 120 and 200 inmates at a time—mainly Poles and Jews, including women and children. Prisoners were housed in rooms on the ground floor, while the guards were stationed on the upper floor. Some inmates were transferred from the labor camp in Smardzewo, near Sochocin. In the early period of the camp’s existence, the majority of prisoners were Jews, including women and children. One night, the women and children "disappeared."

The first camp commandant was Gustaw Scheibel, a Volksdeutsch from Pluskocin. He was succeeded in February 1941 by a man known only by the surname Maj, who remained in charge until around September 20, 1941. The third and final commandant was Ferdynand Reinert, also a Volksdeutsch, originally from Mystkowo. The camp guards were primarily Volksdeutsche or German colonists.

Prisoners at the Gralewo labor camp were forced to work on the construction of the road from Lutomierz to Raciąż. Polish prisoners were tasked with crushing large stones into gravel, while Jewish prisoners were used as human draught power. The work was accompanied by constant insults and beatings. Anyone who died, whether from exhaustion, execution, or infectious disease, was buried both within and outside the camp grounds. Initially, bodies were interred in the local cemetery; later, they were buried inside the camp in a specially prepared pit, where the corpses were covered with quicklime.

In total, around 5,000 people passed through the camp, some of whom were executed. After the camp’s liquidation in December 1943, some prisoners were released, while others were transferred to German camps elsewhere.

During a research trip conducted by Yahad in Gralewo, two previously unknown graves of forced labor camp prisoners were located through interviews with eyewitnesses. The first grave is situated in the Catholic cemetery and contains the body of a Jewish man who was beaten to death by the Germans in the camp. The second burial site is a grave of an undetermined number of women and children, most likely brought to the camp from the village of Kuchary Żydowskie and executed by the Germans in a nearby field where local residents used to collect sand. Neither of these sites is marked or commemorated.

After the Germans were driven out on April 4, 1945, the remains of some victims were exhumed and reburied in a common grave at the parish cemetery. These remains were interred alongside the ashes of those executed in central Gralewo on August 4, 1943, including Feliks Kurpiński (or Karpiński), a prisoner from the camp who was hanged. A new monument was unveiled at the site in 1996.

Nearby villages

• Rościszewo
• Sedeń Duży

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