Type of place

Information about the crime

On 15 June 2023, we carried out a site inspection of a forest hideout in the borough of Tereszpol. Probably at the turn of 1942 and 1943, two Jewish families (about twelve people), likely from Biłgoraj or Tarnogród took refuge there to avoid deportation to extermination camps. Some of the local residents helped them survive in the forest. In the winter of 1942, the hideout was discovered. Members of two Jewish families – men, women, and children – were murdered. Two Poles who were present in the hideout that day were also killed. During the inspection of the hideout, we were accompanied by the grandson of one of the murdered Poles. According to him, the murder was committed by ‘local bandits,’ whose identities he did not want to reveal. According to our interlocutor, the bodies of the murdered Jews were initially left in the snow, where they remained until the following spring. When the bodies began to decompose as the temperature increased, the murderers came back to the crime scene and dumped the bodies in the bog.

“- There were two Jewish families, and they came from around Biłgoraj and Tarnogród. That was all we knew. There was also a Polish man helping out, and at that time, he was there too, with my grandfather. He came from Lipowiec.

Zapomniane: Your grandfather helped those Jewish families?

– Yes, he knew them; he helped them out. He went there, since the Germans were in the village, and said, ‘I’ll go to the Jews and stay there…’

Zapomniane: He wanted to hide?

– Yes. He said, ‘I’ll go to them,’ and his grandmother had prepared food for him, and everything.

Zapomniane: Were they from here? The people who killed them?

– Yes. They knew my grandfather, just as I know my neighbour. […] They weren’t supposed to go and kill them. He said that they were supposed to rob them, and then they spread propaganda that they [killed] them because [the Jews] were coming to the village and stealing chickens. Maybe something happened, but that was definitely no reason to kill people. They were very surprised. When they came at night, they saw my grandfather and one other person. They came, surrounded the bunkers, and said, ‘Come out, or we’ll throw grenades’ – it was at night. Everyone came out, they were shocked, and then Ł. said to eliminate them all. Everyone was surprised – they weren’t supposed to kill, just to rob, since they weren’t poor Jews, they had leathers and whatever else. […] My grandfather had seven children, and there was nowhere to get [food], but in winter, they had to bring them [the Jews] some potatoes, because they had to eat something. And he went to get some from someone, knowing that here in the village, people would manage.

Zapomniane: How many people were in that hideout?

– There were two Polish people, and two families, one with five members and the other with six, including the parents.

Zapomniane: Did they die in the winter?

– Yes, in winter. Either before Christmas or right after.

Zapomniane: I see. So in December?

– Yes. Either in December or just between the holidays.

Zapomniane: And what year could that have been? 1942?

– It was 1942 or the beginning of 1943.

Zapomniane: How long did they stay in that hideout?

– Apparently, they stayed there the whole summer, but later word got out because of that death. The bodies had already started to decompose, they were lying in the snow, and they went there at night to spread them around.

Zapomniane: So they lay there in the snow until March?

– Yes, yes. They lay there until March. And when my father went to get his father, it had been cleaned up, and the two Poles – my grandfather and the one from Lipowiec – were already buried near the bunkers. But why they didn’t take them away, nobody knows. No one ever found out. Why did they spread all the Jews’ bodies somewhere in the swamps and hide them, while these two were left here? And my father was the first to dig up the man from Lipowiec. He couldn’t recognize his own father by his face… Poles were helping; he gave his heart to another Pole, he brought the food, because he knew children were starving there. And the other one came…

Zapomniane: And killed them.

– Not only did he take the money, but he also killed them. And they took those leathers, and my grandfather’s weapon. Ł.’s brother was still carrying it.” (June 15, 2023)

IDENTIFICATION OF THE GRAVE BASED ON NON INVASIVE RESEARCH

On June 15, 2023, a site inspection was carried out at the location (GPS: N 50°31.148′ E022°54.994′) indicated as the hideout of the victims and the area where the mass grave is located (see Tereszpol-Kukiełki photographs 1, 2, 3, 4 of the location). The indicated area is too large to precisely determine the location of the victims’ burial site.

The aerial photography query for this area wasn’t ordered.

Contact and cooperation

We are still looking for information on the identity of the victims and the location of Jewish graves in Tereszpol. If you know something more, write to us at the following address: kontakt@zapomniane.org.

Bibliography

Recording of the Zapomniane Foundation (audio file), resident of Tereszpol Kukiełki, interviewed by Agnieszka Nieradko and Aleksander Schwartz, Tereszpol Kukiełki, June 15, 2023.

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