Type of place

Information about the crime

In April 1942, in Chomęciska Duże, the Heltman and Szulc families were murdered: two men, two women and three children.

“The aforementioned Jews lived in the village of Chomęciska Duże in Zamość district. In April (the day has not been established) 1942, in the evening, around 10 PM, five military policemen arrived by wagon from the village of Białobrzegi to the house where the Jews lived. They came there for a reason, because they immediately entered Heltfman’s house and ordered all the people to gather in one room. The son and daughter did not want to get out of their beds, so the military policeman shot them in their beds without any hesitation. The remaining people from the two families were gathered in one room. Then they were ordered to get out of the house. The military policemen were shooting at the escaping people and murdered them all. The Germans ordered to bury the bodies in one pit on the field next to their home. ” (IPN Bu 2448/607)

In the summer of 2021, we carried out two site inspections in Chomęciska Duże. It turned out that a man from the Szulc family had survived the Holocaust. He wasn’t home on the day of the execution. He was previously deported to Germany for forced labor. He settled in the United States after the war. In the 1970s, he founded a monument in the alleged place of the execution. There is a plaque on the monument with the following inscription: On April 20, 1942, my family: father, mother, sister and brother, was murdered by the Nazis in this place. However, it is not certain whether the monument stands at the grave site.

This is what the villagers who we met near the monument said about this place:

“They buried the Jews there. It is not known whether it was in this exact place, but somewhere close, because we used to dig here. One survivor came here. They sent him to work instead of a Pole. The village administrator referred him. The rest of his family was killed. They had a shop somewhere… They lived here, they lived a normal life. My father was friends with them. [The grave is] somewhere close. My dad said it’s somewhere here, but then they made the road here, and later it was forgotten…But it’s somewhere in this place. Somewhere in this area.” (Chomęciska Duże, July 14, 2021)

We managed to reach the current owner of the field where the monument is located:

“There was a house near the road. They dug a hole behind the house and buried the bodies behind the house. Four people. And one of them, somehow…He was not home then. The people told him that they had just killed his family: parents, brother and sister. The former village administrator sent him somewhere to Germany. From Germany he went further… He contacted us in 1978. His name was Michał Szulc. ” (Chomęciska Duże, July 14, 2021)

IDENTIFICATION OF THE GRAVE BASED ON NON INVASIVE RESEARCH

Non-invasive research in Chomęciska Duże is planned for 2022.

Contact and cooperation

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

Bibliography

IPN Bu 2448/607

Recording of the Zapomniane Foundation (audio file), two anonymous residents of the village of Chomęciska Duże, keywords: Jewish grave in Chomęciska Duże; exp. Agnieszka Nieradko, Chomęciska Duże, July 14, 2021.

Recording of the Zapomniane Foundation (audio file), Krystyna G., resident of the village of Chomęciska Duże and owner of the field where the monument and probably the grave, are locatedkeywords: Jewish grave in Chomęciska Duże; exp. Agnieszka Nieradko, Chomęciska Duże, July 14, 2021.

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.