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1 Killing site(s)
Zygmunt Z., born in 1928: "I was born in Cianowice, where my parents ran a local shop. I had one brother, and we grew up in a village where no Jewish families lived at the time. However, many Jews lived in the nearby town of Skała, where they primarily worked as merchants and shopkeepers. During the German occupation, I frequently traveled the 4 km to Skała to do groceries. One time, I witnessed a horrible scene: I saw Germans shooting two Jewish men inside a cowshed, where they’d been caught in hiding. Afterwards, their bodies were buried in dung. I recognized both victims: they were local shopowners I had known before the war. They were grown men in the prime of their lives, not elderly." (Witness N°1266P, interviewed in Cianowice, on September 24, 2021)
"The first deportation of Jews from Skała took place on August 28, 1942. That day, there were 1,500 people in Skała (the majority of whom were Jews from elsewhere). All Jews who did not report to the market square during the assembly were shot. The bodies of these Jews were buried in a mass grave at the Jewish cemetery (150 bodies in one pit).
The second deportation took place three months later, on November 10, 1942. Its goal was to make the village "judenrein" (cleansed of Jews). At midnight, the village was surrounded by several hundred firefighters, Junaki (members of the Polish Youth Labor Service), the Blue Police (policja granatowa), and SS men. People were dragged out of their homes and taken to the market square, where they spent the rest of the night and the entire following day. Jews hiding with Poles had to leave their hiding places because the Poles were threatened with death for any assistance provided to Jews. The Jews from the square were taken by carts to Wolbrom, but it appears they were all shot along the way." [Holocaust Survivor Testimonies Reel #32, page 166 (PDF) AŻIH (Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute) 301/3259 Skała (Kraków District)]
Skała, Skała County: "16 V 1943: At the Jewish cemetery, the Nazis executed approximately 500 people of Jewish origin. The bodies were buried at the execution site. The Jewish cemetery was subsequently plowed over." [Source: AGK, Ankieta GK "Egzekucje" pow. Olkusz, woj. Krakowskie]
Skała is a town in southern Poland, located in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, where Jewish presence dates back to the late 18th century. Initially a small minority, the Jewish community faced early opposition from local tavern keepers who feared economic competition. Over time, however, they were welcomed by much of the population for the economic benefits and rental income they provided. Full legal and economic freedom was ultimately granted to the community by a tsarist decree in 1862.
By the interwar period, the Jewish community had become deeply integrated, primarily engaging in trade, although a few families also owned local farmland.
Religious and communal life was supported by a well-developed infrastructure, including two active houses of prayer rather than a single monumental synagogue. The town also featured a ritual bath (mikvah) and a ritual slaughterhouse, both essential for maintaining religious laws and providing kosher meat. The local Jewish cemetery, established around 1900 on the road to Kraków and enclosed by a stone wall in the 1920s, stood as a lasting landmark of the community’s presence. It included a funeral house (tahara) and approximately 100 headstones by 1939.
On the eve of the Second World War, the Jewish community of Skała numbered approximately 600 to 800 people, representing about 17% of the town’s total population of 3,500 to 3,800 inhabitants.
Skała was occupied by Wehrmacht troops on September 6, 1939. Following the start of the German occupation, the local Jewish population increased significantly due to the arrival of Jewish refugees from Kraków and the surrounding areas. By the spring of 1941, a “Jewish residential district,” or ghetto, had been established in the town. It housed at least 1,500 people, though some sources estimate the population was as high as 3,000. To isolate the community, the authorities warned the local Christian population that any contact with Jews was punishable by death.
In early 1942, as part of Operation Reinhardt, the German administration conducted a census and began conscripting Jewish workers for forced labor camps, primarily Płaszów. The local Jewish Council, or Judenrat, was held responsible for providing these contingents.
The first deportation Aktion involving some of the Jews gathered in Skała began on August 28, 1942, when the town was surrounded by the German Gendarmerie, the Criminal Police (Kripo), and the auxiliary Polish “Blue” Police. Jewish residents were ordered to report to the market square. During the Aktion, Jews were dragged from their homes, and some were murdered on the spot, including Rabbi Lejb Seidmann and his entire family. Those caught attempting to hide were killed in the market square, and their bodies were then transported to the Jewish cemetery for burial. At the same time, a separate group of Jews was taken directly to the cemetery to be shot. While the Aktion was underway, tables were set up in the square where Polish policemen and members of the Baudienst (known as “Junaki”) were served alcohol and snacks. Local firefighters assisted in capturing fleeing Jews and leading them toward the cemetery. These victims, totaling 150 people, were buried in a pit dug within the cemetery grounds.
The remaining Jews gathered in the square were transported on horse-drawn carts to Słomniki. A regional transit camp had been established there for the Jews of Słomniki and the surrounding areas. From there, most detainees were subsequently deported to the Bełżec killing center, while a small number were selected for forced labor in Prokocim and Płaszów.
During the first deportation Aktion, a number of Jews were spared and remained in Skała to sort through abandoned Jewish property. During the second deportation Aktion, carried out on November 10, 1942, Skała was again surrounded by several hundred personnel. Jewish residents were gathered in the market square, where they were held throughout the following day. Due to the threat of the death penalty for Poles providing assistance, many Jews in hiding were forced to surrender. The victims were taken by carts toward Wolbrom; archival testimonies indicate they were likely all shot along the way.
The final stage of the Holocaust in Skała occurred on May 16, 1943, when, according to archival records, Nazi forces shot approximately 500 people of Jewish origin at the Jewish cemetery. The victims’ bodies were buried at the killing site. Today, a monument commemorating the victims stands at the site of the massacre.
For more information about the deportation of Jews from Słomniki, please follow the corresponding profile.
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