Tag Archives: Gniewczyna Łańcucka

More info about the massacre of Jews in Kańczuga in 1945

Responding to the previous post about a new stone memorial being planned for those Jews murdered in Kańczuga in 1942 and after the war in 1945, Raphael Thurm sent some additional information. He pointed to the 2002 article in Polish – “Nikt ich nie tykał” which is referenced as a source in the post about the memorial project. That article explains the investigation into the massacre, and the unsuccessful attempt at figuring out who carried it out (basically the locals wouldn’t name names). He also pointed to the page about the massacre at the Virtual Shtetl web site – “The post-war murder place – Węgierska street, św. Barbary street“.

The source for the Virtual Shtetl page is the same article from 2002, which is why one anomaly in the story is the same on both pages. They say the massacre happened on March 31, 1945, which was the Easter Eve, or the night before Easter. The Virtual Shtetl page simply says it was Easter. What’s strange is that one of the victims of that massacre was in my own family, and her granddaughter recounted to me that the murders took place on the second night of Passover, at the second seder. The second night of Passover would have been March 30, not 31.

I don’t know what accounts for this discrepancy. Perhaps contemporary newspaper reports of the murders might shed some light on this, although maybe not. It seems the investigation done by a Polish journalist in 2002 went into many of these details, and determined it was March 31. Yad Vashem’s Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust simply says “Thirteen survivors were murdered in spring 1945 (during Passover) by Polish nationalists.” which is true in either case, it was still Passover on the 31st. Does anyone else have information on this event that might shed some light on when exactly it happened, or adds any other details?

Memorial for Jews murdered in Kańczuga in 1942 & 1945

On our Facebook Page, Łukasz Biedka shared a link to a page describing the efforts of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research to build a memorial to Jews killed in Gniewczyna Łańcucka and Kańczuga between 1942 and 1945. During the war they were buried in mass graves, and after the war the bodies were exhumed and moved to the cemetery in Jagieła – Niechciałka near Jarosław. [Update: This memorial has been built, see below.]

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The bodies were buried in mass graves with only numbers referencing the exhumation protocol numbers. The center was able to track down the exhumation protocols and identify some of the bodies buried in the graves, and now want to build stone memorials for those who are buried there. For Kańczuga, the names they found were:

Izrael Ejzig, age 35
Chana Krieger, age 20
and her unborn child
Sima Krieger, age16
Dawid Krieger
Pinia Krieger, age10
Jankiel Krieger, age 12
Fejwel Jakubes, age 33
Dora Bergman, age 32
Mindla Saltzman, age 55
Bernard (Berek) Zwanziger, age 26
Izydor (Azri) Reitzfeld
Debora Risman
murdered on March 31, 1945
and 72 unknown persons
murdered in 1942

Unfortunately only 12 names out of more than 80 buried in the mass grave, but it’s something.

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They’re looking to raise about $4600 for the two stone memorials (one for Kańczuga, and one for Gniewczyna Łańcucka). Read more on the page. There’s nothing that indicates how far they’ve come in their fundraising efforts, but it only started a few weeks ago, and I guess you can e-mail the center directly and try to find out how much they now need if you’re interested in donating.

Update: See More info about the massacre of Jews in Kańczuga in 1945 for some further details about the murder of Kańczuga Jews over Passover in 1945.

Update: This memorial was built in 2019. Here is a photo of the memorial: