Szczurowa | Lesser Poland Voivodeship

Stanisława Ś., born in 1933: "Poles, Gypsies, and Jews lived in Szczurowa. During the war, both the Roma and Jewish populations were killed by the Germans." ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Stanisława Ś., born in 1933: “Surka Usier was a Jewish friend, a shopkeeper. My father managed to help her to flee to Krakow.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Zdzisław S., born in 1927: “I remember my Jewish friends from before the war, Hania and Peszka. Their parents would build huts during the Sukkot holiday.” ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Zdzisław S., born in 1927: "Jews from nearby villages were gathered in Szczurowa, and their numbers rose to 200. They were forced to wear armbands; it was the first sign they were being marked and set apart from us." ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Zdzisław S., born in 1927: "One summer day, all Jews were gathered in the market square. Local Poles were forced to cart them to the Brzesko ghetto. Hania and Peszka came to say goodbye to us before they were taken away." ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Zdzisław S., born in 1927: "A Sonderdienst unit of four Silesians, including Jon and Makarucha, was in Szczurowa. Heading to my field, I saw Makarucha shoot a young, pregnant Jewish woman on the road to the village." ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Zdzisław S., born in 1927: "In Wola Przemykowska, a Jewish family—parents and two boys aged 12 and 14—hid in an attic until a mentally disabled woman denounced them." ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum Zdzisław S., born in 1927: "They were brought here and shot behind a barn. One boy managed to flee but was eventually caught and shot as well. A neighbor was then forced to cart their bodies to the animal cemetery to be buried." ©Piotr Malec/Yahad–In Unum The approximate location of the burial site of a Jewish family from Szczurowa, consisting of two adults and two children who were shot in 1944. The site is situated on the former animal cemetery. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum The killing and burial site of an elderly Jewish man, situated on the river bank beneath the bridge near the road leading to Brzesko. ©Piotr Malec/Yahad – In Unum

Destruction of Jews in Szczurowa

2 Killing site(s)

Kind of place before:
Animal cemetery (1); Riverbank (2)
Memorials:
No
Period of occupation:
1939-1944
Number of victims:
Approximately 10

Witness interview

Stanisława Ś., born in 1933: "Before the war, my father was a trader and a farmer, and he also worked in the mill. I grew up with my four siblings in a village where half of the population was Jewish. The Jews were the traders of our community. I remember one woman in particular, Surka Usier, who had a shop. She was quite close with my family. Their house of prayer was located right in the market square. In Szczurowa, there lived around 50 Gypsies who were Catholic and sometimes participated in some holidays. The Gypsies lived in the neighborhood of Szczurowa called Włoszyn. They were mainly musicians. My mother was also friends with some of the Gypsies. Back then, before everything changed, these were the people and the places that made up our world." (Witness N°1061P, interviewed in Szczurowa, on June 19, 2019)

Polish Archives

"During the occupation, I lived in Szczurowa, in the powiat of Brzesko. I worked within the resistance movement. I was interested in the activities of the occupation authorities. We gathered documents concerning the occupier’s activity. I remember that starting from 1942, the year power was taken by Staroste Kipke, the police authorities, in agreement with the Landkommissar of Brzesko and Dabrowa, developed a plan of action against the Jews. First, the Jews were precisely censused, as well as the state of their assets. Next, ghettos were created in small towns. They were then liquidated and the Jews were transferred to ghettos in large cities, for example, in Tarnow.

During this period, the Germans imposed heavy fines and confiscated valuables as well as food. At the Slotwina train station, while the Jews from the Brzesko ghetto were being conveyed to the Tarnow or Bochnia ghetto, I saw Gestapo officials shoot two Jewish women. One of the Gestapo officials, whose name I do not know, grabbed a child of about three years old by the legs, and he smashed the child’s head against the station wall. I observed the scene from a distance of 100 meters. […]" [City of Tarnow (and village of Szczurowa [1] Prosecutor Krakow/Tarnow/ DSC01902-1903 Deposition of October 19, 1967, by Jan Rassak, concerning the executions committed against the Jewish and Gypsy populations in the city of Tarnow and in the village of Szczurowa, as part of the investigation into the crimes of the Gestapo in the powiat of Tarnow during the occupation.]

Historical note

Szczurowa is a town located approximately 55 km (34 mi) northeast of Krakow. Before World War II, the social fabric of Szczurowa was composed of the Polish majority and two significant ethnic minorities: just over one hundred Jews and nearly one hundred Polish Roma. Both communities had been rooted in the village for generations, forming a natural and integral part of its landscape. The Roma were a marginalized community, primarily due to their deep poverty. Despite this economic distance, they were spiritually connected to the majority as fellow Catholics; they baptized their children in the local church, and the parish priest conducted their funeral rites at the village cemetery.

In contrast, the Jewish community was at least as wealthy as the average villager, with many households surpassing the financial status of the local peasantry. While numerous economic and social ties linked them to their neighbors, a significant cultural distance remained, rooted in religious differences. This was most evident in the complete absence of intermarriage. Nevertheless, neighborly bonds were strong; Jews were active participants in public life, held influence in local self-government, and joined in celebrating national holidays. Unlike the Roma, the Jewish shopkeepers, merchants, and traders were most often viewed as equal partners in business and communal relations, even though much of the village depended on their services. Yahad-In Unim’s witness Stanisława Ś., born in 1933, recalls vividly a Jewish shopkeeper, Surka Usier.

Holocaust by bullets in figures

Szczurowa was occupied by German troops on September 7, 1939, marking the beginning of an annihilation campaign against both the Jewish and Roma local communities.

According to available sources, 239 Jews resided in the combined area of Szczurowa and nearby Borzęcin in 1940. Under the jurisdiction of the Brzesko Judenrat (Jewish Council), the Jewish residents of Szczurowa were gradually stripped of their place in the village’s social fabric. Yahad-In Unum witness Zdzisław S., born in 1927, recalled that at one point during the occupation, most probably in 1941, Jews from nearby villages were relocated to Szczurowa. This brought the total number of Jews in the town to between 100 and 200 individuals, according to his recollection. They were forced to wear identifying armbands.

In the summer of 1942, the entire Jewish population of Szczurowa was rounded up in the market square and driven on carts to the ghetto in nearby Brzesko by requisitioned local farmers. By mid-September 1942, those concentrated in the regional ghettos were deported to the Bełżec killing center to be murdered.

The Jews who remained in hiding were hunted down and killed over the following years. According to the archives of the Institute of National Remembrance, three Jewish men were shot and buried in a field near Szczurowa in 1943. In 1944, a family of four or five was discovered and shot before being buried at an animal cemetery.

During a research trip to the area, the Yahad-In Unum team identified the approximate location of this family’s burial site. According to Zdzisław S., the family, consisting of the parents and two boys aged 12 and 14, had been hiding in the attic of a house in Wola Przemykowska until they were denounced and shot behind a barn. A neighbor was then requisitioned to bury their bodies at the animal cemetery. Today, the site is almost completely overgrown by vegetation, with no memorial marking the spot.

Zdzisław S. also witnessed several individual shootings of Jews in Szczurowa, perpetrated by a German Sonderdienst unit consisting of four Silesians. According to his account, at least three more Jews were killed there, including a pregnant woman and an elderly woman who was shot in her home; the latter was most likely the grandmother of his Jewish friends, Peszka and Hania. He also recalled the killing of an elderly Jewish man, who was shot and buried near the bridge on the road toward Brzesko.

In addition to the Jewish victims, 93 Roma were shot at the local cemetery in Szczurowa on July 3, 1943.

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