Type of place

Information about the crime

In the spring of 2022, we met Agnieszka Szykuła-Zygawska in Łabuńki. Together with her we went to the grounds of the manor belonging to the Labedzki family before the war. The heir to the Łabuńki estate, Maciej Łabędzki, gave shelter to a Jewish family – parents and their ten-year-old son. […] They worked in the garden as regular workers. […] They slept in a fruit orchard hidden behind the park on the side of the road. Witnesses to World War II from Łabuńki know that these three people of Jewish descent were the Schulman family – the last pre-war owners of the brewery in nearby Jatutów.

In her article Kryjówka u dziedzica (Hideout at the heir) Agnieszka Szykuła-Żygawska writes: “One summer evening during the war, a bunch of people passed through the village. Some of them came to the manor demanding food. The heir reported the incident to the Germans. They arrived on the spot, scouted the area and began to dine at Dunin-Łabędzki’s house Ager that they decided to go around the neighborhood. Unaware of their presence, the Jewish family remained in their makeshift tent in the orchard. […] The military policemen smiled indulgently, amused by their frantic trepidation. One of them slowly drew a pistol from its scabbard, looked it over carefully, put it to the old man’s head and fired. They also murdered his wife and son.

Janusz Strzempek from Łabuńki associates this tragic event with the story of his late mother. “My mother was the daughter of a blacksmith who worked at the Łabędzki manor. My grandfather, like other employees of the manor, heard the shots that killed a Jewish family”. My mother and grandfather said they were ordered to bury the family. They dug them a common grave under one of the linden trees in the park. Presumabbly their corpses are still remaining there today”.

An execution card from 1968 confirms the events described in the article. 

“The Jewish Szulman family hid in the village of Łabuńki in Zamość district at the home of a wealthy landlord named Łabędzki Maciej from spring until the harvest in 1942. The landlord provided them with shelter, food and employment in the garden. During harvest time, the Germans accidentally found these Jews in the orchard and shot the entire family on the spot. Contrary to their usual custom, Germans did not punish Łabędzki for helping Jews”. (IPN Lu 501/706) 

During the site visit, Ms. Szykuła-Zygawska indicated the approximate location of the grave “in front of the chapel”, near the lime trees.

Contact and cooperation

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

Bibliography

IPN Lu 501/76

Agnieszka Szykuła- Żygawska Kryjówka u dziedzica in: U źródła, Kwartalnik Gminy Łabunie October-December 2020. 

Recorded by the Zapomniane Foundation (audio recording), name: Agnieszka Szykuła-Żygawska, subject and keywords: Łabuńki, Szulman family, interviewed by Agnieszka Nieradko and Marek Kołcon, Łabuńki, May 4, 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”. The materials for this website were developed, digitized and made available as part of the project “Development of a digital archive of Jewish war graves outside the extermination camps and educational use of archive resources” thanks to funding from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Cultural Promotion Fund.