Type of place

Information about the crime

In the autumn of 2022, we came to Żubracze to meet Mr. Stanislaw A. born in 1935. Mr. Stanislaw showed us the places where the Jewish family from Żubracze was murdered. The approximate place where their bodies were buried is near road No. 897. 

“A Jewish family lived here. They were locals; they had houses, a store, and a sawmill, and they were rich. The mute took them and moved them out of their homes. There is a bridge there. My mother and I heard shots coming from behind that bridge. They led them out of the house, and about half an hour later [they shot them]. But I wasn’t there. I was so sad. They were our close friends. My mother was buying supplies from them. They had a store and a big sawmill, these Jews. [..] There is a meadow across the river, and they were buried right there by those three fir trees. My brother, born in 1929, went to school with them. They called them Hersiu and Pesia. They were very young. They were still going to school”. (Żubracze, November 15, 2022)

Our interviewee pointed out the area where the bodies of the Pochter and Szwarc families are buried. A survey by The Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland notes:

“In July 1942, in the afternoon hours, the Gestapo from Sanok arrived in the village of Żubracze in Cisna borough, Lesko district in 2 cars. They went to the farm of Izaak Pochter, a resident of Żubracze, and arrested all its inhabitants: Izaak Pochter and his wife, his son-in-law Hersz Szwarc, his wife Kalia and their children Hersz Szwarc age 12, Henio Szwarc age nine and Pesia Szwarc age 6. The arrestees were forced into a car and taken to the edge of the village next to a stream, where they were all shot. The reason for the arrest and execution is unknown. Property in the form of livestock (horses and cattle) and movable property was taken by the Gestapo”. (IPN Bu 2448/866)

The Register of Killing Sites and Crimes for the former krośnieńskie province contains information that this crime allegedly occurred on July 15, 1942 (page 30). 

Mr. Stanislaw also remembered other murders of the Jewish population near the narrow-gauge railroad going through Żubracze.

“During the German occupation, I think it was ’42, only Ukrainians lived here. My father was home, he was the manager of the Bieszczady railroad here. This family walked here from Cisna. There were four of them. There was one young couple, their parents or parents-in-law. They entered our house, they spoke Polish. There was a village leader with us. He was the worst Bandera. They said they wanted to go through the Hungarian border. They asked their father to lead them out. Father said: This is not what I do. I live near the railroad, but I don’t know anything here. Look for someone else. And these Jews left. They went further there, I’ll show you where. And this Ukrainian village leader immediately [reported them]. At the entrance to Cisna, before the bend, there is a brick house, a hovel. They had their outpost there. SS post. It was an ordinary day. My mother and I went to dig potatoes. We saw how they led those Jews. They were Jews. I heard the shots. They ordered our neighbour to bury them here. He, too, was a Ukrainian. He buried them, but he stole their clothes”. (Żubracze, November 15, 2022)

Mr. Stanislaw indicated the approximate place where the bodies of this family of four were buried. Undoubtedly, there were murders of Jews in Żubracze, two such incidents are mentioned in the same survey of the Commission for the Prosecution of German Crimes in Poland:

“In July 1942, in the village of Cisna, Lesko district, the Sanok Gestapo arrested a 60-year-old woman of Jewish nationality named Estera Mitman. After her arrest, she was taken in the direction of the narrow-gauge station in Majdan and shot there in a nearby forest. The reason for the arrest and shooting is unknown. The place where the corpse was buried is also unknown”. […] “In July 1942, in the village of Liszna, Cisna borough, Lesko district, the Gestapo arrested two people of Jewish nationality, Klara Ister, aged about 80, and her son Izaak Ister, aged about 40, who was intellectually disabled. They were taken to the Żubracze next to the narrow-gauge train station in Majdan and shot there. The place where the bodies were buried is not known, as the execution took place secretly”. (IPN Bu 2448/866)

Contact and cooperation

We are still looking for information on the identity of the victims and the location of Jewish graves in Żubracze. If you know something more, write to us at the following address: fundacjazapomniane@gmail.com.

Bibliography

The Register of Killing Sites and Crimes committed by the Germans in Poland between 1939 and 1945, krośnieńskie voivodeship, Warsaw 1983.

IPN BU 2448/866 Surveys 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… Surveys concerning the rzeszowskie voivodeship – XIII. Lesko district: surveys.

Recorded by the Zapomniane Foundation (audio recording), Stanislaw A. b.1935 t. resident of the village of Majdan, interviewed by Agnieszka Nieradko and Anna Skiba, Majdan, November 15, 2022.

We have collected the materials about this village thanks to the funding provided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance as part of the project “The rural Holocaust. Collecting and safeguarding the never recorded testimonies 100 forgotten Jewish graves 2021-2022”.