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1 Killing site(s)
Henryk C., born in 1924: "When the Second World War broke out, everyone knew about it because there was so much talk about it everywhere. First, the Soviets came here, and then, in 1941, the Germans appeared. I remember that one summer day, the Jews from Radziłów were driven into a barn, and the barn was set on fire. I was alone at home at the time, as my mother had gone to Białystok to pick up my sister. Some time earlier, I had been in the market square for a while, where I saw a middle-aged Jewish man with a stone hanging from a strap around his neck. A man from Radziłów ordered him to turn with the sun so that his face would always be facing it. Quite a few people watched the scene, but I do not remember whether any Germans were present at the gathering. After a short while, I had to return home to take care of the farm." (Witness N°YIU613P, interviewed in Radziłów, on June 27, 2016)
" […] On July 7, 1941, at 3:00 PM, the Gestapo arrived in Radziłów from Stawiski. On their order, trusted individuals who were always ready to persecute the Jews immediately presented themselves. They rounded up 1,700 Jews into the market square, including men, women, children, and elderly people. The entire square was surrounded by these "henchmen of the Führer and the Third Reich" so that no Jew could escape, while their colleagues and employers, the Gestapo men, abused the Jews. […] For example, they beat the head of the shoemaking cooperative until he bled and lost consciousness. They hung a heavy stone on the neck of former militia officer Czozany,. Unable to stand carrying the weight, the man fell, and they beat him unconscious. Incidents of such abuse were very common that day. Towards the end, they ordered everyone gathered to sing "Moskwa moja" [My Moscow], and as they walked among the singers, they beat everyone, sparing neither children nor the elderly. The Gestapo men, having satisfied themselves with the sight of blood, turned to their "favorites" saying: we give you 3 days to settle accounts completely with the Jews. Then the Gestapo men left weapons for the bandits and drove away. After the departure of the Gestapo men, the killing continued. The bandits, armed with machine guns and revolvers, forced the gathered Jews into Sitkowski’s barn, located near the village of Radzibierz. They nailed the barn doors shut, covered the entire barn with gasoline, and set it on fire. As the barn burned, the bandits brought more Jews caught during this time to it. They forced these Jews, giving them a ladder, to climb onto the burning roof of the barn and jump from the roof into the interior of the burning barn. Whoever did not follow this order was slashed with bayonets and then thrown into the fire. Some of the Jews managed to get out of the burning barn, but they were immediately shot by the thugs, as the barn was surrounded by them. The singing and wild shouts of the blood-drunk bandits drowned out the piercing groans and cries of pain of innocent people being burned alive […] This pogrom lasted 3 days, from July 7 to July 10, 1941. On the third day, the Germans arrived and told the group that they had gone too far […] " [Testimony of Menachem Finkielsztejn, born in 1923, given on November 6, 1948; AŻIH, 301/4163, p. 2]
Radziłów is a village located in northeastern Poland within Grajewo County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, where it serves as the seat of Gmina Radziłów. Geographically, it lies approximately 77 km (48 mi) by road northwest of Białystok, the region’s capital.
A small Jewish community was already established in Radziłów by the 17th century, supporting itself primarily through trade and craftsmanship and growing steadily over time. A notable wooden synagogue from the 17th century right up to the Holocaust.
Cultural and social life flourished prior to the First World War. Under the German occupation, the first Zionist group formed in 1916, and a Hebrew school opened in 1917, eventually joining the Tarbut network. This school became a central cultural hub alongside active Zionist parties, with locals buying one hundred seats for the Zionist Congress. The community also featured youth movements like Ha-Shomer ha-Za’ir, He-Chalutz, and Beitar, as well as local branches of the Bund and Aguda.
Despite the vibrant cultural scene, the interwar period brought severe economic hardship. Craftsmen, merchants, and peddlers struggled to support their families. To alleviate the pressure, a Cooperative Bank was established in 1926, which provided loans to nearly half of the Jewish families in town. In 1929, a Gemilut Chesed foundation featuring an agricultural department was created, drawing around one hundred Jews from nearby villages. When a major fire destroyed roughly sixty homes in 1930, neighboring communities joined Radziłów in organizing relief for the victims.
Amid these developments, social tensions worsened. Beginning in the 1920s, antisemitic incidents grew increasingly frequent. Things escalated in 1935 when a young Jewish resident, provoked by a Polish peasant, engaged in a physical altercation. As news of the incident spread, it triggered a wave of violence directed against the town’s Jewish population. Radziłów’s 1937 population of 2,500 included 650 Jews.
Following the outbreak of the war in 1939, Radziłów came under Soviet occupation as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Under Soviet rule, all private businesses were nationalized, causing widespread economic and social disruption. In June 1940, several Christian and Jewish families were deported deep into the Soviet Union.
When German forces entered Radziłów on June 23, 1941, Jewish testimonies indicate that some Polish residents greeted the German army as liberators from Soviet rule and "Judeo-Communism," targeting Jews who had allegedly supported the communist authorities. A local administration established shortly afterward included an auxiliary police unit, at least ten members of which were individuals recently released from NKVD prisons. In the weeks that followed, the Jewish population and displaced refugees faced continuous abuse, physical attacks, killings, forced labor, and plundering perpetrated by German forces and local Poles.
On July 7, 1941, a pogrom took place in Radziłów, with the participation of local residents. The Jewish inhabitants were first gathered in the market square, where they were subjected to abuse and beatings. Between 500 and 800 Jews were then taken to a barn and burned alive. Those who attempted to escape were shot. The hunt for surviving Jews lasted several days. Historical sources differ regarding the total number of pogrom victims and range from 600 to 2,000 individuals, while only approximately 30 Jewish residents managed to survive, some assisted by local Poles.
On August 7 or 14, 1941, the remaining Jews of Radziłów, comprising several families, were confined in the synagogue, which served as the first Radziłów ghetto, before being moved to a building on Kościelna Street. The ghetto detainees were subjected to forced labor, including removing large stones from a stream for bridge construction, street cleaning, and dismantling the Bet Midrash. After the establishment of a German gendarmerie post probably in September 1941, some Jews were allowed to return to their homes and workshops, while others were permitted to live and work on farms owned by local Poles.
On June 1, 1942, most of the ghetto inmates, approximately ten individuals, were sent to the Milbo estate in Milewo for forced labor. On November 2, 1942, the Germans transferred the Jews from Milewo, alongside those still living and working around Radziłów, to the Bogusze transit camp near Grajewo. From there, after three weeks of internment, the detainees were deported to the Treblinka killing center. Only a few Jews from Radziłów survived these deportations by hiding in nearby villages. Other survivors had fled earlier to the Białystok ghetto or Latvia, where they managed to remain until the end of the war.
During the Polish People’s Republic (PRL) period, a monument was unveiled at the mass grave of the victims of antisemitic violence on Piękna Street. The monument featured an inscription attributing the crime solely to the Germans, along with an incorrect date: "In August 1941, the fascists murdered 800 people of Jewish nationality, of whom 500 were burned in a barn. Honor to their memory."
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