Caught Up In The Defence of Poland
Szczerców was strategic to the initial stages of the defence of Poland. The Polish defence plan provided a second line of defence along the edge of the River Widawka. Szczerców’s residents actively participated in building fortifications. Before the outbreak of the war, the 82nd regiment was attached to the Polish 30th Infantry Division commanded by Brigadier General Leopold Cehak. It was secretly mobilised between March 23 and March 27, 1939, and moved to Szczerców where it formed the defensive line at the Widawka River.1 After the outbreak of war ( September 1, 1939 ), all the civilian residents evacuated and, after heavy fighting, on 4 September German troops marched into Szczerców . As a result of shelling of the village it was almost completely destroyed (the synagogue was reduced to rubble and only the church tower and side walls were extant (see picture below).2
Compiled by Martin Davis © 2016
Sources
1. Wikepedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_Rifle_Division_(Poland)
2. Outline of the History of Szczerców - 1332-1945 by Zbigniew M. Glab publish at http://www.historycznie.uni.lodz.pl/szczercow.htm
3. Zelów - A Report by Andrzej Selerowicz http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Zelow/zelow-history.htm
Szczerców: The Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities, Poland, (Pinkas Hakehillot Polin) Volume I, pages 88-89 - published by Yad Vashem,
Jerusalem. Translation by Morris Wirth
Extermination of the Jewish population
Zelów
The commencement of hostilities and the rapid destruction of Szczerców, in the first day's of the war, forced its Jewish population to flee the village. They, along with the Jewish community of Widawa, were among the first to arrive in the village of Zelów as refugees in early September 1939. Among them was Tobi Komornik whose story is told by her daughter. The Nazis repression of the Jewish population in Zelów started on the first days of their occupation. Jewish people were stripped of all their rights and required to wear armbands or yellow stars. The occupiers created a ghetto in the centre of the town; expelling the Jewish population from their homes, shops, and working places and requiring them to be concentrated in this prison. According to the German census from December 1939, 3,714 Jews lived in the ghetto, mainly from Zelów, but also from the surrounding villages or towns like Dabrowa Rusiecka, Dzialoszyn, Szczerców, Warta, Widawa, and Wielun. By 1941 it is stated that there were almost 6,000 people and observed that "....the area was so small it is hard to imagine how so many people could live in such a small space".
The Szczerców area was in the ‘Wartegau’ region; which was the
region which bordered the River Warta - most of what is today
central Poland. This was the region intended for complete
incorporation into the German State (Reich). In consequence the
area would only be for the exclusive use of Germans or people
of German origin (Volksdeutsche).
The implementation of the planned ‘Aryanization’ saw the arrest
and deportation of Polish Jews and Christians. The first days of
the occupation also saw the closure of the local school and the
arrest and deportation of members of the local Polish
‘intelligentsia’2.
The Jewish population first made their way to an assortment of
refuges or were sent to the ghetto prisons of Zelów and
Belchatów. Many of the Polish Christians were sent to the
‘General Government’ (non-Aryan designated area) or to work as
slave labour in Germany (approximately 130 people).
To terrorise the Jewish captives, the Nazis staged an execution of ten male Jews, who were hanged publicly in the
winter of 1942 (probably on 19th or 20th March). The victims were chosen by the Judenrat. The gallows were brought
from Belchatów - where a similar atrocity had taken place.
The whole Jewish population had to watch the execution, even the children of the victims. The noose was put on by
other Jews, among them Abram Siwek (according to the report of the priest Ciosek), probably the only one who
managed to survive the war. After the execution, a dinner for invited Nazi officers from Zelów and Belchatów took
place for which the Judenrat (the Nazi imposed Jewish Council) was obliged to deliver food and drinks.2
The ghetto - along with similar prisons in other towns in the region was liquidated between June and September 1942
with the majority of the population being sent to their deaths at Chelmno [Extermination Camp] with a very few being
sent as slave labour to the Łódź Ghetto. It was reported that about 30 Jews managed to hide and survived the
liquidation. According to the German statistics of November 1942 no Jews were any longer present in Zelów.
Belchatów
The Nazis declared Belchatów a Jewish town. It became an “open” ghetto prison - that is that it existed within a series of streets in the centre of the town and was bounded by restrictive barriers. In the autumn of 1941 the ghetto was filled with Jews from nearby communities, specifically from the villages and hamlets of Kleszczow, Wodzierady, Przyrownica, Dobrzelow, Belchatowek, Chabielice, Grocholice and Szczerców. As well as the general mistreatment of the Jewish population there was random brutality and, as mentioned above, a mass public execution in March 1942. In August 1941 the deportations to labour camps began. In 1942, along with Zelów most of the remaining Jews were sent to their deaths in Chelmno extermination camp, with a smaller number sent to the Łódź Ghetto to be used for slave labour.
“The first day of the start of the war we had to
leave our native town of Szczerców as the
whole town was in flames.” *
*
Szczerców Church - a photograph taken by a Wermacht soldier in 1939 - courtesy of
Tomek Wisniewski http://bagnowka.com/
A
photograph
of
the
memorial
to
the
Jewish
victims
of
the
Shoah
from
the
Lodz
region
of
Poland
-
including
Szczerców,
Zelów
and
Belchatów
-
in
the
Yad
Vashem
memorial
park,
Jerusalem, Israel.
Click to enlarge image
Click to enlarge image
19th century matzevot (memorial
stones) are some of the few remaining
matzevot in the Jewish cemetery of
Szczerców, which is located near to
village of Brzezie. The cemetery was
effectively destroyed during WWII.
Photograph courtesy of Marcin
Wygocki.
More details can be found at the
International Jewish Cemetery Project.
Szczerców Matzevot
The relocation of Jews to the prison ghetto in
Belchatów1941 - photograph United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of
Instytut Pamieci Narodowej.
Belchatów 1941
*In a letter from Toby Komornik to her relatives dated October 1945 - after her liberation from
Ravensbrück concentration camp
