Alternate names: Konstantynów [Pol], Konstantynów nad Bugiem, Konstantynów Podlaska, Konstantynuv [Rus], Konstantin, Konstantinov. Russian: Константынув. קונסטאנטינוב-Yiddish. 52°13' N, 23°05' E, 33 miles E of Siedlce, 21 miles NE of Międzyrzec Podlaski, 13 miles N of Biała Podlaska. Jewish population: 651 (in 1857), 783 (in 1921). Yizkor: Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), IV, pp. 359-361: "Konstantynów". This village in Biała Podlaska County, Lublin Voivodeship in E Poland is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Konstantynów 20 km (12 mi) N of Biała Podlaska and 113 km (70 mi) N of the regional capital Lublin. The village has a population of 1,437. The first documentation of the Jewish community dates from the 17th century as a village named Kuzyrdzi. In 1744, the village's name was changed to Konstantynow [Nad Bugiem] and was granted Town privileges and permission to conduct a weekly market day and annual fairs. In the 1840's, the town received the Lublin - Warsaw railroad line encouraging economic development. In the 1850's .some small textile factories were established. Konstantynow Jewish community existed on the second half of the 18th century. From 1751 and onward the Committee of the Four Lands convened in Konstantynow. Before WWII, 783 Jews lived in the town. Nearthe end of 1940, a ghetto was erected. Konstantynow Jews were forced into hard labor in the nearby Sieberg Estate about 1 km S of the Konstantynow market place and in the village of Serpelice, [5217 2303] 20 km NNW of Konstantynow on the river Bug. The Jewish forced laborers were exposed to severe beatings from the Polish local policemen and the Nazi SS guards. In 1942, a severe winter and typhus claimed many of them. In May 1942, after beatings, 100 Jewish males were selected for hard labor camp in Rogozinica in drainage digging and forestation. In September 1942, the Jews were transferred to the Biala Podlaska Ghetto (20 KM S of Konstantynow). On Sukkoth in October 1942, the Polish police and the Gestapo forces circled the Biala Podlaska ghetto, herding all Jews to Biala Rynek. Most obeyed the orders and came to the Biala Rynek (Market Square). The Germans warned the local Polish population that anybody hiding Jews wouldbe shot. In the Rynek, the Nazis conducted a selection accompanied by horrible atrocities. Elderly Jews were shot on the spot, the young and the healthy moved to local slave labor camps. All other Jews were marched on foot to the Miedzyrzec Podlaski ghetto (25 km W of Biala Podlaska). The Miedzyrzec ghetto was the area transit location for deportation of the Jews to extermination camps. The march from the Biala ghetto to the Miedzyrzec took about a week. On arrival at Miedzyrzec, the beaten Jews were starving and exhausted. Herded into the synagogue on October 17, 1942 with the Konstantynow males from nearby hard labor camps; they were pushed into cattle cars and sent to Treblinka. The inside of the wagons were then sprayed with white lime. Doors were sealed on their Jewish passengers. A cattle car that could barely contain 60 people held 250 people. When the train arrived in Treblinka Extermination Camp, (110 km NW of Miedzyrzec by train), part of the Jews were already dead. The remainder were exterminated instantly upon arrival in Treblinka. A few escaped en route and joined the partisans. One Polish farmer helped the surviving Konstantynow Jews who jumped. Close to liberation day by the Soviet Red Army, this farmer was murdered by anti-Semite partisans of the "Armija Krajowa" Fascist fraction. Three weeks before liberation by the Soviet Red Army, three young Jews who hid in the forests were murdered by Armija Krajowa members. On July 3, 1944, the Red Army arrivals meant that the few surviving Jews could leave their hideouts in the forests. Before the war, 783 Jews lived there. Surrounded by luxuriant hedge, the cemetery was not preserved, not a tombstone or a trace of graves. The area on ul Kościuszki is well maintained, cleaned annually, kept ordely, and surrounded by a hedge on the northern edge of town near the Catholic cemetery. photo. photo. photo. [May 2009]
US Commission No. POCE000397
Konstantynow is located in Biala-Podlaska at 52°13 23°05, 107km S of Prialegostoku. Present population is less than 1,000 with no Jews. Cemetery: at ulica 7 Kosciuszki, near the road to Sarnaki and close to the Catholic cemetery.
- Town: Urzad Gminy, ul. Kazd., Stefana Wyszynskiego 2.
- Local: Urzad Gminy, ul Kazd., Stefana Wyszynskiego 2.
- Regional: PSOZ-WKZ, ul. Brzeska 41, 21-500 Biala Podlaska.
The Orthodox Jewish population as of the last census before World War II was 783.. The unlandmarked suburban flat land, separate but near another cemetery (Catholic) has a plaque in Polish that mention Jews. Reached by a dirt road, access is open to all. No wall or a fence surrounds, but trees and bushes have been planted with a non-locking gate in order to mark the cemetery boundaries. The present size of cemetery is 0.75 hectares. 1-20 gravestones are visible, primarily rough stones or boulders without inscriptions. Municipality owns site. Properties adjacent are agricultural. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II and since. Vegetation was cleared and the gate installed. The municipal authorities occasionally clear or clean.
Michal Witwicki, ul. Dembowskiego 12/53, 02-784 Warszawa, tel. 6418345 completed survey on 15/08/1991.