| Sitno – October 12, 2023 |
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The ceremony of unveiling the memorial stone was attended by: The Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, representative of the Chancellery of the President of Poland, representative of the Jewish Community of Warsaw, mayor of Sitno, a Catholic Bishop, local authorities, students from three nearby schools as well as local residents. The ceremony was led by the Foundation’s President – Zbigniew Niziński. After laying flowers at the grave by representatives of the President of Poland and the Sitno Commune Office, The Rabbi and the Bishop prayed together. The students made an artistic performance in honor of the victims. The tragic events of 1942 were recalled. Back then, around 30 Jews were brought to Sitno and forced to work as slaves on construction sites near a former palace, under the supervision of Germans and Ukrainian guards. They came from Czechoslovakia, Poland and Germany, the group also included women. Many Jews were shot to death during the work, including those sick with typhus. In December 1942, as the camp was being liquidated, the Germans executed 18 Jews. Among them was a 14-year-old boy. The residents of Sitno buried the murdered Jews on German command. None of the Jews transported to the Sitno labor camp came out alive. Before the war 3 Jewish families had lived in Sitno. In 1942, the Germans gathered all of them, but executed only Herszek, the cattle trader. He was buried in a ditch by the country road in Sitno. The remaining Jews were transported to a ghetto in Zamość or Izbica and later to one of extermination camps.
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In the town of Sitno, The Lasting Memory Foundation commemorated the place of execution and burial of 18 Jews - the prisoners of a German labor camp - as well as the grave of Herszek, a Jewish resident of Sitno, all murdered in 1942.
