שילוח מ - Dubeczno, Wlodawa, Lublin, פולין ל - Sobibor, מחנה השמדה, פולין ב- 07/07/1942

Dubeczno is a town in eastern Poland, in the municipality (gmina) of Hańsk, some 18 km southwest of Włodawa. Following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the village was occupied by Soviet troops. However, it was ceded to Nazi Germany shortly thereafter. Some local Jews left with the Red Army and crossed over into Soviet territory.^[1] The number of Jews who remained in Dubeczno under the Nazi occupation is difficult to quantify.^[2] According to Pinkas Hakehillot, the majority of the local Jews left, and only a handful remained. These authors go on to claim that it was only after the arrival of a transport of some 100 Jews from the regions of Poznań and Pomerania in March 1941 that the Jewish population of Dubeczno grew again.^[3] However, according to historian Tatiana Berenstein, the town was home to 648 Jews in December 1941.^[4] It is difficult to verify these assessments. The JSS report from June 21, 1941 mentions the arrival of deportees from Kalisz, Warsaw, Krakow, and Lublin. These new arrivals numbered forty families, and they began to live in Dubeczno alongside the local Jewish population.^[5]

Shortly after the onset of the Nazi occupation, anti-Jewish persecution began. Local Jews had to wear yellow Stars of David on their armbands, required to pay exorbitant contributions, and forced to work at the town's glass factory. Sporadic killings of individual Jews by the Germans took place in this early period.^[6] The mass deportations of Jews from Dubeczno began with a transport of children in 1942. According to the testimony of Elżbieta Lola Lustgarte, she arrived in Dubeczno in 1942. One day, her sister and brother were deported to Sobibor, together with other children. She herself was away at work at the time, and remained alive.^[7]

Eliyahu Sicher was seized by the Germans and loaded onto a horse-drawn wagon. He was saved by his mother, who snatched him off the wagon and hid him in the attic of one of the buildings. In each of the three wagons, he saw 8-10 children. He could not see whether any more children had been rounded up by the Germans. Hence, a total of 24-30 children may have been deported.^[8]...