Type of place

Information about the crime

According to historical documents and the local residents’ accounts, there are 90 or 100 people – men, women and children – who were killed as families or individually and who are buried in unmarked graves on the Jewish cemetery. The climax of the killing happened in the second half of 1942 and in the beginning of 1943. Jan Ch. (born in 1901), a resident of Grodzisk Dolny, testified in September 1975 that “from the harvest in 1942 till the end of that year, i.e. for about 5 months” he was called about 20 times to dig graves on the Jewish cemetery for the Jews who were shot. He stated that sometimes he witnessed shooting Jews at the cemetery. During those 5 months, together with another undertaker Józef D., he buried around 90 Jews in different parts of the cemetery: men, women and children (a memo from 4 February 2015, IPN OBUiAD in Warsaw). We managed to find information about some of them:

• On 7 July 1942 the Gestapo and the Blue Police murdered Nachman Gruner, his son Jankiel, his wife Rojza and his 18-year-old daughter Minia: “They put [women – Rojza and Minia] on the cart together with their beddings and luggage, took them to the council office and in the evening, during a heavy rain, shot them to death on the cemetery with some other Jews that were caught.” We can assume that bodies of the murdered people were buried on the cemetery. There is no information about the fate of the bodies of Nachman and his son. (IPN Rz 043/506)
• On 19 July 1942 a blue policeman murdered Nachman’s brother Abram Gruner’s family of seven – his wife and six children. The corpses of the children were put on a cart and taken to the cemetery (probably to be buried), their mother was walked to the cemetery and shot there. Abram himself ran away to Sieniawa and was killed there. (IPN Rz 043/506)
• On 26 August 1942 two Jewish men were murdered: Tannenbaum and the husband of a woman called Sprynza. They were taken to the cemetery by cart and shot there. (IPN Rz 043/506)
• On 29 August 1942 an elderly woman with two grandchildren were murdered on the cemetery. (IPN Rz 043/506)
• An eyewitness called Barbara stated in March 1976 that in the spring 1943 she saw the following people being led to the cemetery: a young woman called Chajcia, her grandmother Gitla, Gitla’s son-in-law and his young children, Cyla and Brunek. Later she heard gunshots. (A memo from 4 February 2015, IPN OBUiAD in Warsaw).
• On 11 April 1943 in Grodzisk Górny or Wólka Grodziska the Weingarten family was captured together with a young man and his little brother – seven people altogether. They were murdered on the Jewish cemetery. On the next day the remaining Weingartens were brought in and also murdered on the cemetery. (IPN Rz 043/506)
• Also in 1943 the bodies of murdered Nela Nuchen and her 7-year-old daughter from Grodzisk Górny were buried on the cemetery. (IPN Rz 353/236, p. 5-6)

IDENTIFICATION OF THE GRAVE BASED ON NON INVASIVE RESEARCH

On the 28th of August 2013 and the 28th of August 2014 in the Jewish cemetery were held local visions, during which the precise locations of mass graves were not established. There were selected nine potential burial locations (GPS: 1. N50°10.498′E022°26.695′, 2. N50°10.502′E022°26.696′, 3. N50°10.506′ E022°26.697′, 4. N50°10.501′ E022°26.709′, 5. N50°10.504′E 022°26.717′, 6. N50°10.503′E022°26.724′, 7. N50° 10.497′ E022°26.728′, 8. N50°10.507′ E022°26.716′, 9. N50°10.498′ E022°26.715′).

No GPR surveys have been conducted.

The LIDAR survey in the absence of an accurate indication is not helpful.

An aerial photography query was conducted for this area, resulting in the acquisition of a photograph from 25th of July 1944. The interpretation of the aerial photography confirmed the presence of numerous ground disturbances throughout the cemetery. Some of the visible violations of photography are probably mass graves in different sizes. The lack of precise indication makes it difficult to analyse aerial photography in-depth.

Contact and cooperation

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

Bibliography

IPN Rz 2448/868, Questionnaires of the former Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland.

IPN Rz 2448/867 Questionnaires of the former Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland.

IPN Rz 191/196, k. 3, 11, The Regional Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Rzeszów, Register of places and facts of German crimes from the Leżajsk district.

IPN Rz 191/647, k. 5, 5v, The Regional Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Rzeszów, A query in the team of the Provincial Office of Information and Propaganda in Rzeszów located in the State Archives in Rzeszów regarding German crimes in the area of Leżajsk.

IPN Rz 191/351, k. 4, 4v The Regional Commission for the Examination of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Rzeszów, Questionnaires of the Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland – Repression of the Jewish population before the creation of the ghetto, Leżajsk district.

IPN Rz 191/345, k. 21, The Regional Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Rzeszów, Questionnaires of the Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland – executions, Łańcut district.

IPN Rz 353/236, s. 5-6, Court of Appeal in Rzeszów, Files in the case of Stanisław Kulpa, son of Jan, b. 22/03/1912, accused of the fact that in 1943 in Grodzisk Górny (Łańcut district) he showed the German police a place of hiding of Jewish people who were later executed. Testimony of Wincenty dated 24/03/1950

IPN Rz 043/506, A case of operational resolution of the code name “Vandals”, regarding Marian Tomasz Kowalski, father’s name: Józef, born on 21/12/1907, Józef Iglicki, Edmund Jeske suspected of murdering Jews in Grodzisk Dolny.

Memorandum of 4 February 2015 from the review of the files of the discontinued investigation reference number S 16/06 /Zn regarding the murder of a dozen people of Jewish nationality in 1942 in Tryń and Grodzisk Dolny by officers of the German state, Institute of National Remembrance The Branch Office of Document Access and Archiving in Warsaw.

IPN GK 163/35, Questionnaire. Exevutions. Graves. Rzeszowskie porvince. Volume III, Questionnaires about mass executions and mass graves – Rzeszów province.