Type of place

Information about the crime

In the village of Wólka Poznańska, on a private plot, near farm buildings, there is a grave of a woman and a man, probably residents of Stoczek Łukowski, murdered in 1942. The woman was to be the daughter of the last rabbi of Stoczek Łukowski, whereas the man was to be either her husband or brother. They were hiding in the basement of one of the farms. An eyewitness of the couple being sent to their death recalls the incident as follows: “They brought and buried them here, they were married. She was the daughter of the local rabbi. It was two weeks after the Jews [from Stoczek Łukowski] were deported to Garwolin […]. 

– Who brought them here?

– Germans, two Germans. The village administrator ordered people to bury them.” (Wólka Poznańska, 2020). The remains of two people were buried in a common grave, along which a sand road then ran.

Commemoration

The place of the grave was marked with a wooden matzevah in 2020 as part of the project  “Reference points  – marking 24 Jewish war graves with wooden matzevot ”. The project is an attempt to find a way of marking the grave sites before they can be commemorated. Marking forgotten Jewish war graves with wooden matzevot is a subtle  intervention in the landscape reminding about what remains invisible, yet 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 initiate a permanent commemoration.

You can read more about the project here: https://tinyurl.com/2p9ar52f

The project was implemented thanks to the  funding from The Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland (Stowarzyszenie Żydowski Instytut Historyczny) and The Matzevah Foundation.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE GRAVE BASED ON NON INVASIVE RESEARCH

On October 13, 2020, and November 13, 2020, a site inspection was carried out in the presence of a witness who precisely indicated the location of the burial grounds of two victims (GPS: 51°58’25.2” N 21°57’02.2 ” E).

GPR surveys were carried out in the indicated place. On the GPR profile called WPO10002, an anomaly between 6 and 8 meters was recorded with approximate dimensions: length approx. 2 mb, width approx. 0.8 m, depth approx. 1.5 meters below ground level. In the case of this location, the dimensions of the tomb are relatively small, hence difficult to interpret.

LiDAR measurement data was not helpful in this case.

Aerial photography 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 Wólka Poznańska. If you know something more, write to us at the following address: fundacjazapomniane@gmail.com.

Bibliography

Recording of the Zapomniane Foundation (audio file), name: Andrzej S.[witness], subject and keywords: Jewish graves in Wólka Poznańska; exp. Aleksander Schwarz, Wólka Poznańska, 2020.

We would like to thank the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Warsaw for funding the research project, thanks to which we obtained materials about this town.