Poland Map

Extermination camps in Poland

In 1939 Tarnobrzeg was a small town situated near the Vistula (Visla) River.  North-east  to the town the San River flowed from the 

Carpathian mountains, into the Vistula .

 The Ribbentrop Molotov agreement signed on August 23^rd 1939  between Russia and Germany divided Poland between the two 

countries. The San River should have been the border between Russia and Germany .

On September 1st the German troops invaded Poland and concurred it in 2 weeks.

On Rosh Hasha’ana they reached Tarnobrzeg and started to arrest the  Jews and send them to labor camps. On Yom-Kippur of that 

year the Jews prayed in small groups in their homes instead of in the synagogue.  But with the “help” of local Polish people they were 

caught.

On Sukkot of 1939 the Germans entered Tarnobrzeg. Within 2 hours all the Jews of the town (about 3000)  were ordered to gather in the 

market place in order to be exiled to Russia .  Orders that the German troops got from Berlin stated that Jews could not stay within  

30 kilometers from the Russian border, and as Tarnobrzeg was only 29 kilometers from the San River all the Jews had to be exiled.

The Germans set a table in the market place and the Jews had to sign a form declaring: “We leave town on our own free will and we 

transfer our possession to the Third Reich” and to leave their house’s keys their money and jewelry.

They were told that a train would come to take them to the Russian border. But as the hours passed and no train arrived the Jews were 

ordered to go by foot. There were a lot old people and women with babies and small children.

Within a day and a half all the Jews were on the Russian’s side of the San. It was winter raining hard and the paths were muddy. 

Along the way Polish hooligans attacked and beat them. They had to cross the river by leaking, as there was no bridge. Those who were 

not able to go were shot on the spot. 

After 2 or 3 months the border was moved to the Bug River , so those whot were still between the San and the Bug rivers returned to 

Tarnobrzeg. Among them were Nafali Korn and his family.

On the July 19^th 1942 (the 5^th of Av) the Jews were finally expelled from Tarnobrzeg. They went on foot to the nearest town, Baranov. 

There after selecting the stronger people the old and frail were exterminated. The strong, healthy men were sent to a work camp and all 

the others were taken by train to the extermination camp Belzec . According to Polish people that worked nearby they were sent directly 

to the crematorium.

The date was the 9^th of Av –July 23rd 1942.

 Those who were deeper in Russia remained there. The Russian authorities offered all the Jewish refugees (half a million from all over  

Poland ) to become Soviet citizens but they had to declare that they were communists and willing to renounce Judaism.  95% refused and

  within one night the Russian transferred half a millions Polish Jews by freight trains to Siberia . They were held in camps and worked on

  tree-cutting.

After the defeat of the Germans in Stalingrad they were allowed to leave Siberia .

On 1946 after the war the Russian exiled the half million Polish Jews back to Poland .. 

Today Tarnobrzeg is a city of 50,000 people, with no Jews there. The Synagogue still exist and is used as the city library.  

I heard that Naftali Korn’s house is still standing.

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I would like to thank Mr. Laufer one of the survivors of Tarnobrzeg’s community who help to  in published the

  “Yizkor book of Tarnobrzeg” for the information and the book.