שילוח מ - Jastkow, Lublin, Lublin, פולין ל - Majdanek, מחנה, פולין ב- 11/1942

Jastków is a village and the seat of a gmina (municipality or commune) some 13 kilometers northwest of the center of Lublin. According to the 1921 census, forty-two Jews lived in the village.^[1]

The German army entered the area on September 24, 1939.^[2] In October that year, under German occupation, the municipality became part of the Lublin County (Lublin-Land) of the Lublin District, and Emil Ziegenmeyer was appointed the Lublin County Governor.^[3] There was a German Gendarmerie post in Jastków, as well as a Blue Police station.^[4]

In September or October 1940, the local sołtysi (heads of villages) ordered some of the Jews in the gmina's villages – men, women, and children – to move to Jastków for forced labor at the local manor.^[5] These Jews were forced to work in agriculture, road improvement, and construction. The Lublin Judenrat, too, sent workers to the manor – according to the minutes of the Judenrat meeting from June 6, 1940, there were fifty-one workers in Jastków at the time.^[6] Before the war, the manor had belonged to a Polish family named Budny, and it was confiscated by the SS after the invasion, and turned into a labor camp. SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer Gerstring (also referred to as Gerstling) was the commandant of the camp, while SS-Unterscharfuehrer Geistler supervised the labor. Survivors also recalled an officer named Ritz (first name and rank unknown), and two guards named Klawon and Feber; according to these testimonies, the camp was guarded by Ukrainians.^[7] A Polish man named Kotarski was the foreman.^[8] Between October 9-12, 1942, Jews from Jastków and the surrounding villages were deported to Bełżyce – and, subsequently, to the death camps.^[9] Those working at the local manor were exempted from the transport and allowed to remain in Jastków, in the fenced-off labor camp....