Mass murders in Tykocin
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The mass murders in Tykocin occurred on 25 August 1941, during World War II, where the local Jewish population of
Tykocin Tykocin is a small town in north-eastern Poland, with 2,010 inhabitants (2012), located on the Narew river, in Białystok County in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is one of the oldest towns in the region, with its historic center designated a His ...
( Poland) was killed by German
Einsatzkommando During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellectu ...
.


Background

The town of Tykocin was conquered by Nazi Germany during the Soviet and German invasion of Poland pursuant to their secret agreement known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. At the end of September 1939, the area was transferred by the Nazis to the Soviet Union in accordance with the German–Soviet Boundary Treaty. In June 1941, the town was taken by the Germans in Operation Barbarossa. The Germans initially bypassed the town; local Poles affiliated with the
National Democracy National Democracy may refer to: * National Democracy (Czech Republic) * National Democracy (Italy) * National Democracy (Philippines) * National Democracy (Poland) * National Democracy (Spain) See also * Civic nationalism, a general concept * Na ...
(Endecja) movement who prior to the war had organized boycotts of Jews prior to the war engaged in systematic looting of the Jewish homes in the town."Tykocin,"
translated from
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
by Stan Goodman, no name of author; original published by
Pinkas haKehilot Pinkas haKehillot or Pinkas Ha-kehilot, (Hebrew: פנקס הקהילות; notebook of the ewishcommunities; plural: ''Pinkasei haKehillot'') Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities from Their Foundation till after the Holocaust, is the name of each vo ...
branch of Yad Vashem
According to the testimony of survivor Menachem Turek, the Germans installed Jan Fibich, a local ethnic German, as mayor. Fibich, aided by Edmund Wiśniewski, prepared a list of alleged Jewish communists, which included almost all of Jewish youth.Menachem Turek
"Życie i zagłada Żydów w Tykocinie podczas niemieckiej okupacji"
Archiwum Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego. Translated by Sylwia Szymańska


Massacre

On the morning of 24 August, the Germans announced that Jews should report the next day, to the town square. At the time there were approximately 1,400 Jews in Tykocin. On 25 August the Jews were rounded up in the square by the Germans with help from Polish police. In order to placate the crowd the Germans told the Jews that they were going to be transported to Białystok Ghetto. The men were marched to a nearby village and from there in trucks to the pits in Łopuchowo forest, and murdered. The women and infirm were driven by truck to the pits and murdered. The old, infirm, and other people who did not show up on 25 August, some 700 in total, were driven to the pits on 26 August and shot. Gmina Tykocin. Temat: Tykocin, Lopuchowo
at mieszas.republika.pl; also a

/ref> In a West German investigation, a Jewish witness identified SS-Obersturmführer
Hermann Schaper Hermann Schaper (August 1911 – 2002), was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. He was a Holocaust perpetrator responsible for atrocities committed by the ''Einsatzgruppen'' in German-occupied Poland and the Soviet Union and was convicted ...
, who commanded SS
Einsatzkommando During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellectu ...
, as the man directing the shootings. Some 150 Jews managed to escape the massacre, however most were handed over to the Germans. Some reached Białystok Ghetto, and shared the fate of the Jews there.


Commemoration

At the site of the massacre in the forest there are four monuments. The first, a communist era Polish monument, contains no reference to Jews. The second and third were erected by American Jews. The fourth, erected due to the efforts of Abraham Kapice, is in the shape of the Star of David and inscribed in Hebrew so that Israeli school children will be able to read it.Jackie Feldman
''Above the Death Pits, Beneath the Flag''
Published by Berghahn Books, New York, Oxford, 2008, pages 118-9.


See also

* Jedwabne pogrom *
Wąsosz pogrom The Wąsosz pogrom was the World War II mass murder of Jewish residents of Wąsosz in German-occupied Poland, on 5 July 1941. The massacre was carried out by local Polish residents without participation of Germans. Circumstances surrounding ...


References

{{Massacres of Jews 1941 in Poland Holocaust massacres and pogroms in Poland August 1941 events Mass murder in 1941 1941 in Judaism