Lunna-Wola During the Second World War and The Holocaust

Holocaust Victims

 
 

The vast majority of the Jewish community of Lunna was murdered by the Germans upon arrival in Auschwitz on December 8, 1942. Most of the remainder perished during the following months. A tiny handful survived the war.
 

According to a German document, dated March 5, 1943, that came from the Administrative District Commissar for the Grodno Administrative District and was sent to the Chief of Civil Administration for the Bialystok Administrative Area (see below), the number of Jews from Lunna sent to the camps [to Kelbasin transit camp and then to Auschwitz] was: 1,549 (see note 1).
 

It is worth noting that, according to a census, in 1938 there were 1,671 Jews in Lunna-Wola. The decrease from 1,671 to 1,549 can be attributed, in part, to some people having moved to Palestine and to other destinations. For example, Leah Yanovsky (previously Eliashberg), arrived in Haifa on April 1, 1940; a few others served in the Polish or the Red Army and were mobilized and/or captured before the occupation of Lunna; some were deported to the Soviet Union; and others, as described above, were murdered by the Germans or died of natural or other causes between 1938 and November 1942.

  A German document
dated March 5, 1943
(source: Yad Vashem)		  

The Holocaust Victims Database of Yad Vashem
The Holocaust Victims Database at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, consists of several types of records from various sources. Searching for "Lunna" results in two types of records (updated to November 2006):

(i) Pages of Testimony submitted by relatives or friends. There are 265 different names of victims from Lunna for whom Testimony pages were submitted.
List of Holocaust Victims based on "Testimony pages"

(ii) Death Books edited by the Museum of Auschwitz-Burkenau. There are seventy-one names of persons from Lunna who were selected for labor in Auschwitz-Birkenau camp and who died in the camp during the winter of 1942-1943. These "Death Books" are fragmentary, and do not contain the list of all the victims who survived the initial selection. There are apparently no records of those who were killed upon arrival at Auschwitz.
List of Holocaust victims based on records from Auschwitz

Other Sources
This list consists of names of Holocaust victims who are not included in Yad Vashem's Holocaust Database. The information about these victims was obtained either by relatives or by Holocaust survivors from Lunna.
List of Holocaust victims based on other sources


Note 1: The document states: "This report was prepared pursuant to a decree issued on 5 February 1943. I am submitting the following summary of the course (of events pertaining to) of the Jewish Action." (Signed I.V.) Column No. 3 is the "target figure" of Jews; No. 4 is additions; No. 5 is the actual total number sent into the camps; No. 7 means "fled" (perhaps before being sent to Kelbasin); No. 8 means "shot"; No. 9 means "Other deductions"; No. 10 means "the number (actually) sent away on transports" (presumably to Auschwitz/Treblinka); No. 11 means "time of the transport" and No. 12 means "Number (of Jews) on 15 Feb. 1943" [Translation]. >back


 

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Compiled by Ruth Marcus & Aliza Yonovsky Created May 2007
Updated by rLb, March 2020
Copyright © 2007 Ruth Marcus

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