שילוח מ - Leczna, מחנה, פולין ל - Łęczna Area, Świnka River Valley, אתר רצח, פולין ב- 11/1942

The town of Łęczna, some 24 kilometers east of Lublin, was occupied by the Wehrmacht on September 18, 1939.^[1] The Germans reentered the town in October that year, after a brief interlude of Soviet control. When the Red Army retreated from the area, some local Jewish families joined the exodus, leaving Łęczna for the Soviet interior.^[2] Under German authority, Łęczna was assigned to the Lublin County (Kreis Lublin-Land) of the Lublin District, which was headed from October 4, 1939 by Kreishauptmann [county chief] Emil Ziegenmeyer.^[3]

Most of the town's Jews resided in a neighborhood on its northwestern outskirts. The Germans ordered all the Jews in Łęczna to concentrate there.^[4] On November 23, 1939, the Jews were ordered to wear armbands, to be easily identifiable.^[5] On January 1, 1940, the Germans ordered the establishment of an open ghetto in the area of the prewar Jewish neighborhood.^[6]

Around the same time, a Judenrat was established in Łęczna. Icek Chaim Fruchtman became its head, while Grunbaum [or Grynbaum; first name unknown] was his deputy; other members of this body were Icek Zylbersztajn, Lichtenberg, and Fridman [first names of the last two unknown].^[7] There was a Jewish Social Self-Help Committee (JSS) in Łęczna, which was also responsible for the Jewish communities in Ludwin and Spiczyn.^[8]...