Raków Jewish Cemetery Related Communities
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Murder Story of Raków Jews at the Raków Jewish Cemetery
Murder Site
Rakow
Poland
In October 1941, the Jews of Raków were ordered to appear at the market square. The police searched their houses to catch anyone who failed to appear, while the sick Jews were shot to death in their homes. Those gathered on the market square were forced to dance and sing while being beaten and robbed of their money. Thirty one young men who were separated from the rest of the Jews were taken to the Jewish cemetery and forced to dig a pit. When this was done, 112 Jewish men were taken to the cemetery and shot to death. Their bodies were thrown into the pit. Apparently at least one of them escaped.
Related Resources
Written Testimonies
German Reports / Romanian Reports
Shmaryahu Pogolansky, who lived in Raków, testified:
…When the fire of the burning books had died down, they suddenly ordered all the people to empty their pockets and hand over their money. (And, by the way, I want to mention something else: when they examined the crutch of Avraham the Lame, they found 400 gold rubles there). At the end of this business, they proceeded to carry out the most horrible thing that they devised on that day: they selected 31 people from among those who had been rounded up and sent them to the cemetery, where they were ordered to dig a deep pit. When the pit was ready, they separated the men and the women who were still assembled on the market square and took 112 of the men to the cemetery. There they were forced to stand at the edge of a pit, where they were then shot, one by one, in the back so that they fell into the pit....
YVA O.33 / 427
Rakow
Jewish cemetery
Murder Site
Poland
53.973;27.067