Transport from Rachanie, Tomaszow Lubelski, Lublin, Poland to Belzec, Extermination Camp, Poland on 23/05/1942

The village of Rachanie is located approximately 124 kilometers southeast of the city of Lublin. During World War II, it was one of twenty-five villages which belonged to the municipality of Rachanie, which was located in Zamość County, within the Lublin District of occupied Poland (the General Government).^[1] A census conducted by the Polish government in 1921 recorded seventy-eight Jews living in the village of Rachanie. In the entire municipality of Rachanie, 243 Jews were listed.^[2] The village was occupied by the Germans on September 13th, 1939.  After a brief interim period of Soviet control, the village returned to German authority on September 27th.^[3] The first thing the Germans did was to collect all of the Jewish holy books and prayer shawls and burn them. They cut and tore the beards of the men and beat them on the streets. Then they set fire to houses owned by Jews and confiscated their valuables.^[4]

In the spring of 1940, the Germans settled about 100 Jewish elderly persons, women and children, from the surrounding villages in barracks in the village of Rachanie. They were forced to work. At some point, these Jews were shot and buried near the local school on 47 Partyzantów Street. The Germans placed a Gendarmerie station and a Gestapo headquarters in the building of the local school.^[5]

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