I want to share a story of a Jewish
family which was murdered in the forest nor far from Poręba Spytkowska, a
village in Brzesko neighborhood. I learnt this story due to the work of Brzesko
high school students submitted for our project “We know your names”,
Aleksandra Kotra, Kamila Mamica and Magdalena Piech.
The girls spoke to an older man who had been born in Poręba Spytkowska. Mr
Marian Put told them about the Jewish family, parents and 4 children, which had
been hiding in the village for several years. They were finally discovered in
1944. When Germans surrounded the house, two older children managed to escape
to the forest and nobody knows, what happened to them (although most likely,
they were caught). Parents with two younger children were led to the forest and
thrown into a hole which had been previously dug. Germans shot at them, but
they were not killed, only wounded. Wounded and buried alive. Several days ago
I spoke to Mr Marian Put. He doesn’t know the names of those Jews – most
likely, they came to Poręba Spytkowska from some bigger town looking for a
hiding place.
Today we’ve visited that place together with Mr Marian Put, it’s located at the border of 2 villages: Brzeźnica and Poręba Spytkowska. Mr Put showed me the ruins of the house where the Jews had been hiding and the place in the forest where they had been shot. That place is rather characteristic, and Mr Put remembers it well (his father showed it to him back in 1945). I’ve recorded his testimony and have already spoken to Aleksandr Schwarz from the foundation “Zapomniane” (“Forgotten”) – he promised to come from Warsaw and check that spot in the forest with georadar. If location of the mass grave is confirmed, we will commemorate it with a proper monument.
Parents and two small children aged 7-8. Wounded and buried alive. For over 70 years they’ve been lying somewhere in the forest. We don’t know the names of those people and most likely will never learn them. But we need to remember. May their memory be an eternal blessing.
Anna Brzyska, May 7, 2019
