Type of place

Information about the crime

Piotr R.’s statement pertaining to the murder of 100 Jews from Stopnica and Szydłów on the co-called Ratajskie Błonia near Słupia:
“On the so-called Ratajskie Błonia near Słupia approx. 1000 Jews were gathered: men, women and children who lived in Staszów and Stopnica. Those Jews were transported in carts which local farmers were ordered to provide. On these Ratajskie Błonia approx. 100 people (including women and children) were tortured and shot. The rest were taken to Szczucin and driven away in an unknown direction. After removing the Jews, SS-men went back to Stopnica to search for any remaining Jews. They found one man who hid in a flat of another Jew who had been taken away. He was taken to the square and shot there. His body was taken by a Jewish policemen and buried on the local Jewish cemetery. Also a baby was found. It was a child of the Getner family who had been taken away and who was personally known to the witness. The parents left the baby – the fact that was missed by the SS-men – hoping someone would take care of it. One of the SS-men found the baby, shot it and threw the body out of the window.” (IPN BU 2448/321, p.11)

On 8 October 1942 during the liquidation of the ghetto in Stopnica approx. 400 Jews were murdered. Their bodies were buried on the Jewish cemetery. “After some time a mobile crematorium was brought in and the mass graves were uncovered. After this operation freshly dug soil and burned bodies were observed.” (IPN BU 2448/321, p. 4)

A year later, in the autumn of 1943, while transporting a group of Jews from Stopnica to Pacanów Germans shot to death an unknown number of people, mostly elderly. Local people gathered bodies from the road and buried them on the Jewish cemetery in Stopnica. (A thematic index of the ex- GKBZHwP, p. 1.)

Commemoration

The place of the grave was marked with a wooden matzevah as part of the project “Reference points”. The project is an attempt to find a way to mark these places before they can be commemorated. The action was aimed as an intervention in the landscape of these places, which would remind about what remains invisible, even if present in the memory of local communities.Being only a temporary commemoration, wooden matzevot invite local communities to discuss and take action, to discover the places, and perhaps to start their own memory practice related to them or to permanently commemorate them.

You can read more about the project here (English below): https://zapomniane.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/MACEWY_punkty-odniesienia_folder.pdf

The project of marking graves with wooden matzevot has been carried out by the Zapomniane Foundation since 2017. in constant cooperation with The Matzevah Foundation.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE GRAVE BASED ON NON INVASIVE RESEARCH

On the 18th of July 2017, a local vision in the Jewish cemetery was carried out. The purpose of the cemetery’s inspection was to locate the areas where, according to the LIDAR survey results, the ground was disturbed. We achieved locating some areas that could potentially be mass graves (GPS:1. N50°26.123’E020°57.457′, 2. N50°26.115’E020°57.465′, 3. N 50°26.121’E020°57.468′, 4. N50°26.163’E020°57.490′, 5. N50°26.174’E 020°57.485′).

No GPR surveys were conducted.

The LIDAR survey indicated the affected places along the eastern border and in the central part of the cemetery plot.

Aerial photography from the 19th of January1945 was obtained.

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

Bibliography

IPN BU 2448/321 Questionnaires of the Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland and the Regional Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Warsaw, collected in 1968-1972. Questionnaires regarding the Kielce province – V. Busko-Zdrój district: questionnaires, encyclopedic notes.

IPN GK 163/7, Execution questionnaires. Graves. Kielce Voivodship, Volume IV, Questionnaires about mass executions and mass graves – kieleckie province, districts: Stopnica, Włoszczowa.

Cards from the thematic file of the former Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland.