Type of place

Information about the crime

Within the borders of the borough of Krzywcza there is an unmarked grave of approx. 14 Jewish men murdered during the first days of the war, i.e. in September 1939, by the Wehrmacht spearhead. The grave is located on the so-called Kijów mountain and the following people rest in it:

• Hersz, Rosner, 29 years old,
• Chaim Rosner,
• (Israel) Srul Freifeld, 25 years old,
• Aron Freifeld,16 years old,
• Dawid Wassner or Wasner, 30 years old,
• Mendel Polner,
• Jankiel of Jakub Polner, 31 years old,
• Mojżesz Fast, 65 years old,
• Chaim Gremet or Grumet, 28 years old,
• A man of an unknown name from Jawornik Polski and four other unknown Jews (20-40 years old.)

The resources of the Yad Vashem Institute include accounts of survivors from Krzywcza, who list the names of people killed in Krzywcza in 1939, which do not appear in Polish sources:

Cwi Rosner
Dawid Szek born 1902

We do not know whether these two people were murdered and buried on Kjów mountain.
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IDENTIFICATION OF THE GRAVE BASED ON NON INVASIVE RESEARCH

On the 11th of May 2016, a GPR survey of the place indicated by the witness was carried out (GPS: N49°47.562′ E 022°33.890′). The results of the surveys are low quality, despite the blurred image, an ground disturbance with presumed dimensions can be seen: the length of approx. 3.0 m, width approx. 2.0m and depth approx. 1.0 m.

The LIDAR survey does not indicate a clear ground disturbance that can be interpreted as a mass grave.

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 Krzywcza. If you know something more, write to us at the following address: fundacjazapomniane@gmail.com.

Bibliography

IPN Bu 2248/883 form the questionnaire of the former Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland – rzeszowskie province.

IPN Bu 2448/884 form the questionnaire of the former Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland – rzeszowskie province.

IPN Rz 191/421, 6 cards (44,45,47,47v, 48, 48v) The Regional Commission for the Examination of Crimes against the Polish Nation – Institute of National Remembrance in Rzeszów, Questionnaires of the Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland – Przemyśl province.

IPN Rz 191/202, card no. 57 from the files of the Regional Commission for the Examination of Crimes against the Polish Nation of the Institute of National Remembrance in Rzeszów, Register of places and facts of German crimes in the Przemyśl province.

Potocki A., Żydzi na podkarpaciu, 2004, p. 86.

Letter from the Commission for the Examination of Crimes against the Polish Nation of the Institute of National Remembrance to the Rabbinical Commission for Cemeteries of 9 October 2012 regarding the summary of the investigation conducted by the former Regional Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Reszów, file no. I S 333/72/Rz, whose threads were, among others, the murder of 14 people of Jewish origin by officers of the German state in September 1939 on the Kijów mountain near Krzywcza, podkarpackie province and the murder of 6 people of Jewish origin by officers of the German state, including 5 men and 1 woman, in the summer of 1943 at the Jewish cemetery in Krzywcza, Podkarpackie province.

3 cards from the investigation file, file no. I S 23/72, containing photographic documentation and a sketch of the location of the grave of 14 Jews on the Kijów mountain in the Krzywcza district, Przemyśl province.

Gk 163/36, p. 15,16 from the files of the group “Questionnaire of places and facts of German crimes carried out by town courts

The register of sites and crimes committed by the Germans in Poland between 1939 and 1945. Przemyskie province, p. 54, Warsaw 1983.