Type of place

Information about the crime

In the forest between the villages of Klejniki and Treszczotki 12 Jews from the ghetto in Narew were murdered. They were hurried to Bielsko Podlaskie and from there they were meant to be transported to a death camp. The ghetto in Narew was liquidated in the spring 1943. In the case file against one of the schutzmen there is an information that indeed, in Klejniki there was a road by which Jews were escorted from the ghetto in Narew to Bielsko Podlaskie. Then they ended up in the gas chambers of Treblinka: “Convoying the captured Jews from Narew to Bielsko was seen as capturing itself and taking part in their murder. It’s a common knowledge that any route by which Jews were convoyed to a crematorium was dotted with corpses.” (IPN Bi 408/185, part 1, p. 305)

Commemoration

The place of the grave was marked with a wooden matzevah in 2020 as part of the project  “Reference points  – marking 24 Jewish war graves with wooden matzevot ” . The project is an attempt to find a way to mark these places before they can be commemorated. The action was aimed as an intervention in the landscape of these places, which would remind about what remains invisible, even if present in the memory of local communities.Being only a temporary commemoration, wooden matzevot invite local communities to discuss and take action, to discover the places, and perhaps to start their own memory practice related to them or to permanently commemorate them.

You can read more about the project here (English below): https://zapomniane.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/MACEWY_punkty-odniesienia_folder.pdf

The project was implemented thanks to funding from the Stowarzyszenie Żydowski Instytut Historyczny and The Matzevah Foundation.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE GRAVE BASED ON NON INVASIVE RESEARCH

On the 27th of August 2014 were made in the approximate location indicated by the witness two GPR profiles (GPS: N52°49.505′E23°20.875′). Result of the GPR survey confirmed that the place that is now a forest path has been repeatedly excavated in the past.

The LIDAR survey indicate extensive ground disturbance of the sandy slope, much less visible are smaller disturbance in the area of the indicated place.

The aerial photography query for this area wasn’t ordered.

Contact and cooperation

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

Bibliography

IPN Bi 012/850, File author: Provincial Office of the Interior in Bialystok, file title: Grygoruk Piotr (CD).

IPN Bi 408/185, part 1 and 2, Files in the criminal case against: Naumiuk Włodzimierz, father’s name: Konstanty, born on 8/09/1921 (CD).

IPN BU 2448/26 and 27, Questionnaires of the Chief Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Poland.

File no. S. 99/69, The Regional Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Białystok,

Report of the hearing of the witness – Mr Włodzimierz, 28 June 1972, p. 6.

File no. S. 99/69, The Regional Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Białystok, Report of the hearing of the witness – Mrs. Eugenia, 12 November 1972, p. 11, 12.

File no. S. 99/69, The Regional Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Białystok, Report of the hearing of the witness – Mr. Mikołaj, 29 May 1973, p. 30, 31.

File no. S. 99/69, The Regional Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Białystok, Report of the hearing of the witness – Mr. Michał, 10 September 1973, p. 34-36.

File no. S. 99/69, The Regional Commission for the Examination of German Crimes in Białystok, Report of the hearing of the witness – Mr. Eliasz, 17 September 1973, p. 37-39.