Transport from Lukowa, Bilgoraj, Lublin, Poland to Rapy Area, forest, Murder Site, Poland on 05/05/1942

Łukowa, the seat of the municipal administrative unit (gmina) and the largest village in the Lublin District, is located in the southeastern part of Biłgoraj County. The village had a Jewish population of 182 in 1921, and 214 Jews lived there in 1942. German forces entered Łukowa on September 15, 1939, retreating some ten days later in the face of the Red Army. When the Russian troops arrived, some of the local Jews decided to take the opportunity to flee to the Soviet Union. Among them was 24-year-old Meir Holer. A few months later, he chose to return to his family – a decision that would prove to have dire consequences. When the Germans reentered the area, the Jews of Łukowa were subjected to persecution taking the form of humiliation, robbery, and forced labor. In April 1942, the German authorities demanded that the Polish administration of the county’s towns and villages provide them with a list of communist Jews under their jurisdiction. This was in preparation for what they called a "Kommunistenaktion," namely the murder of all Jews in the territory of the General Government who had engaged in communist activity. In fact, according to historians Dieter Pohl and Alina Skibińska, this was part of the Germans’ effort to eliminate the Jewish intellectual leadership. According to the testimony of Avraham Holer (Meir Holer's brother), from Łukowa, the slightest pretext was enough to get one on the list: ...