52°38' N 17°26' E, 152.4 miles WNW of Warszawa. Kłecko is a town in Gniezno County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,712 inhabitants (2004). During the German Invasion of Poland in 1939, Wehrmacht soldiers and SS mass murdered 300 civilians, mostly Jews, from the town on September 9 and 10. All males gathered in the town square and then randomly selected for execution as alleged attackers against German Army. 41% of those murdered were teenagers (11 years to 16 years old), but people up to 78 years were killed also. The victims were later buried in mass graves. Map. [June 2009]
US Commission No. POCE000451
Alternate name: German, Kletzko. Klecko is located in Poznanskie (Poznan) at 52°38' 17°26', 50 km from Poznan. Cemetery location: 1 km from center of town. Present town population is 1,000-5,000 with no Jews.
- Local: Urzad Miasta i Gminy Klecko, ul. Marchlew Sluego 10, tel. 111.
- Regional: Wojewodzki Konserwator Zabytkow, 61-716 Poznan, ul. Koscuiszki 93, tel. 696464.
Earliest known Jewish community was 1855. 1921 Jewish population was 26. The Conservative Jewish cemetery was established in 1855. The suburban flat land, separate but near other cemeteries, has no sign or marker. Reached by the dirt road, access is open to all with no wall or gate. There are no gravestones or structures. The municipality owns site used for agriculture. Properties adjacent are agricultural. The cemetery, vandalized during WWII, has no maintenance or care. Security and vegetation are very serious threats. Crops are grown.
Pniewski S., Pornais, ul. Pnybyaewzkiego 51/9 completed survey Aug 1991 and site visited (1990). Heppner, A., and Herzberg, J., Aus Vergangenheit und Gegen.
UPDATE: An elderly resident of the town told me that there had been a large temple or synagogue before the war. I was also shown a place where the Jewish cemetery had been. It was a wide-open field with no markers. I was given a book written in Polish about how the people in Klecko resisted the Nazi front in 1939. In the center of the town is a large monument honoring the resisters. Among these resisters, were 5 Jewish men who were shot in a grove outside the city. (They are now buried in a mass grave marked by a monument.) The lady got the names of these Jewish men from the city hall. The names were Landman, Blemer or Blaumer, Toler, Rosenfelt, and Jalowich. Source: Ardis Meyer; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [Oct. 1999]