Type of place

Information about the crime

“In 1943, the German military policemen from Koluszki were passing through the village of Redzeń Nowy. They noticed a group of children (6 boys and a girl) aged 7-13, who were walking around the village asking for food. The Germans brought the children to the nearby forest in the field of A. Lutomski, then they set the dog on them. The dog was biting and jerking the children. When they were running away from the dog, the military policemen were killing them. After the execution, local peasants buried the victims of the murder. ” (IPN BU 2448/628-632)

On May 4, 2021, we carried out a site inspection of the grave in Redzeń Nowy. We found a monument erected on the edge of the forest by the Israeli Shem Olam Foundation about 10 years earlier. There is the following inscription on the monument: “Here lie seven Polish children of Jewish nationality murdered in this place by German military policemen from Koluszki after escaping from the transport to the extermination camp in 1943.”

In the summer of 2021, an article by Zbigniew Komorowski appeared in the local press. The author presents six versions of the circumstances of the death of Jewish children. The testimonies were given to him by the villagers. He raises many questions that perhaps will remain unanswered. According to one version, the children were escapees from the ghetto in Brzeziny, and according to another, they escaped from the train that was probably going to the death camp. The number of murdered children and their age at the time of death is also uncertain. One of the versions quoted by Komorowski mentions the mother of the children, who either died with them or found their bodies, and her scream of despair lured the Germans who killed her as well. There are reports that one or two children managed to escape, but there is no information about what happened to them afterwards. One thing is certain: several Jewish children were murdered on “Górniak” and their bodies are still buried in a forest grave.

Apart from an inscription in Polish, there is a metal plate on the monument with the following inscription in Hebrew: “In this place, in 1943, the Germans murdered Jewish boys and girls who tried to escape by jumping from a wagon on their way into the unknown. They were caught and shot in this forest” (translation from the article by Zbigniew Komorowski).

Commemoration

At the alleged site of the tomb, there is a monument erected by the Israeli organization Shem Olam Faith and the Holocaust Institute for Education, Documentation and Research. There is an inscription on the monument both in Polish and Hebrew.

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 Jewish graves in Redzeń Nowy. If you know something more, write to us at the following address: fundacjazapomniane@gmail.com.

Bibliography

Zbigniew Komorowski, “Jej matka ukrywała Żydów” in: Tydzień w Koluszkach No. 31 6/08/2021.

IPN 2448 / 628-632 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 on Łódzkie Voivodeship.

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” and also thanks to the support of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Warsaw.