A new commemorative plaque has been installed at the Jewish cemetery in Szczuczyn. It commemorates the victims of the tragic events of 1941.

Szczuczyn is a town in northeastern Poland. Since the 18th century, Jews also lived there. In 1921, there were 2506 Jews in Szczuczyn, accounting for 56% of the town’s population.

In June and July 1941, after the outbreak of the German-Soviet War, a pogrom broke out in Szczuczyn, in which some of the town's Polish residents also participated. Hundreds of Jews were killed within three weeks.

During the communist era, a modest monument was erected at the Jewish cemetery with the following inscription: „In this place, in August 1941, fascists brutally murdered 600 people of Jewish nationality. Honor to their memory.”

Since March 2024, the cemetery has belonged to the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland. The new owner started cleaning the neglected cemetery, marked its borders with granite posts with Magen Davids and placed two information boards on the cemetery and the local Jewish community.

“The next task was to remove the monument with the false inscription and properly commemorate the victims of the pogrom,” says Krzysztof Bielawski of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland.

For this purpose, the Foundation got funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Support was also provided by descendants of Szczuczyn Jews, including Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, Paul Walsky, Michael Marvins, and Friends of Jewish Heritage in Poland.

In December , a stone matzeva was placed at the cemetery. It bears the inscription: „This is a memorial site for the Jews, victims of the 1941 crime, who rest in this cemetery. May their souls be bound up in the bond of eternal life.”

The inscription is the result of consultations between the Foundation and descendants of local Jews, the Province Authorities, the Institute of National Remembrance, and the Rabbinical Commission for Cemeteries.

“This inscription does not say the whole truth, but it does not contain previous lies,” explains Bielawski. You can read about what happened in Szczuczyn during the war on nearby information boards.”

The new commemoration was co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Cultural Promotion Fund as part of the „War Graves and Cemeteries in the Country Program”. The matzevah was designed by the Formy Wspólne Foundation and made by Magdalena Olszowska.

Translation: Michael Katzer