Alternate names: Słomniki, Slomnik. 50°15' N, 20°06' E, 47 miles SSW of Kielce, 14 miles NE of Kraków. 1900 Jewish population: 904. This town in southern Polandin the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999) previously was in Kraków Voivodeship (1975-1998). Jews lived briefly in Słomniki as early as the 16th century. In 1758, two houses belonging to Jews held eight people. Jewish community growth occurred only in 1862 when laws restricting Jewish settlement were abolished. Jewish population: 1856-34. In 1897, the 904 (24.5%) Jews formed their own religious community, built the synagogue with the Jewish community in Wodzisławiu. Jews soon played a significant role in trade and crafts resented by peasants, who in 1877 killed one of the Jews. In 1921, the 1,460 Jews suffered increasing anti-Semitic during the bad economic conditions and WWI aftermath. In 1926, the prayer house was burned and rebuilt after four years. German troops occupied on September 6, 1939 and set up the Judenrat for about 1,000 Jews from Slomniki and the surroundings settlements to ensure forced labor for the Third Reich. This number grew to about 2,250 in 1941. The first "aktion" conducted on June 4-8,1942 transported Jews to Belzec and a few dozen able young people to the work camp at Płaszów. The second took place in August 1942, when several thousands Jews from the villages and Słomnik and Miechowa were concentrated for four days in wet meadows until 10,000 people from various surrounding towns were there. Beatings and several cases of premature birth occurred amid the screams of SD and PP officers. On Wednesday morning, the SS selection began of 2,000 young people sent Plaszow Julagu I and 200 to Rzeszów. More than 500 elderly were murdered on the spot, dozens herded to stations by marching men shooting all the way. A hundred wagons, took Jews with no water to Belzec (Holocaust AŻIH Reports, No. 301/763). In November 1942, the Nazis shot a group of about 2000 Jews in the Chodowsk forest. After the war, four of the few Jews returning to Słomnik were murdered. After that and other crimes, the Jews soon left. [July 2009]
US Commission No AS 184
The town is located at 20º05'E 50º15'N in Krakow province, 26 km N of Cracow. Cemetery: Niecala St. and its extension. Present town population is 1,000-5,000 with no Jews.
- Town: Urzad Miasta, Osiedle Swierczewskiego, tel. 228045.
- Local: Urzad Wojewodzki [Woiwodship Office], Krakow, 22 Basztowa St., tel. 160200; fax 227208. Urzad Wojewodzki, Wydzial Spraw Spolecznych, [Woivodship Office, Dept of Social Affairs], Krakow, 22 Bastowa St., tel. 226828, 223371, 160268-Inspektor d/s Stowarzyszen I Wyznan [Inspectorate for Associations and Religious Denominations] pok. [room] 273
- Kongregacja Wyznania Mojzeszowego [Jewish Congregation], 2 Skawinska St., Gralow, tel. 562349.
- Regional: Panstwowa Sluzba Ochrony Zabytkow, Wojewodzki Konserwator Zabytkow [State Preservation Authority, Conservation Officer for the Woivodship], Krakow, 3 Wszystkich Swietych Sq., tel. 225977; fax 161417; osoba zajmujaca sie cmentarzami [person dealing with cemeteries] tel. 161415.
- Interested: Regionalny Osrodek Studiow I Ochrony Krajobrazu Kulturowego [Regional Center for the Study and Preservation of Cultural Landscape], Krakow, ul. ???. Also, Komitet Opieki nad Zabytkami Kultury
Zydowskiej-sekcja Towarzystwa Milosnikow Historii I Zabytkow Krakowa [Committee for the Care of Monuments of Jewish Culture-section of Society of ??? of History and Monuments of Cracow, 12 Swietego Jana St. Sad Wojewodzki-Wydzial Ksiag Wieczytych [Woivodship Court of Justice-Dept. of Land Record Book], Krakow, 7 Przy Rondzie St., tel. 114100; (Archiwum [archive], pok. [room] 119. Also, Wojewodzkie Archiwum Panstwowe [State Archive for Woivodship] Krakow, 2 Sienna St., tel. 224094. Also, Wojewodzkie Archiwum Panstwowe [State Archive for Woivodship] Kielce. Prof. Yehuda Knobler, Dept. of Organic Chemistry, University of Jerusalem, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel, tel. 02-585283.
The earliest known Jewish community is 1790. 1921 Jewish population was about 1460. The Jewish population quickly emerged after 1862. The Orthodox community was exterminated in 1942 at the cemetery. The landmakred Jewish cemetery was established in the 19th century. 1942 probably was the last known Jewish burial. The isolated suburban flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all with no fence, wall, or gate. The pre-and post-WWII cemetery size is about 0.6 ha. There is a granite monument (obelisk) inscribed in Hebrew and Polish with fence covering 48 sq. meters of the cemetery. No stones are visible. The cemetery contains known unmarked mass graves. Rarely, private visitors stop. The municipality owns the property now used only for Jewish cemetery. Adjacent property is agricultural. Rarely, private visitors and local residents stop. It was vandalized during WWII but not in the last ten years. Local/municipal and regional/national authorities fixed a wall around the monument (obelisk) in 1989 and erected a metal fence in 1994. In 1995, Niecala St. was being extended to reach the monument. Within the limits of the cemetery are no structures. A regular monument caretaker is paid by the goverment. Pollution is listed as a moderate threat.
Malgorzata Radolowicz, 37 Florianska St., apt. 3, Krakow, who visited the site on 21 Jul 1995, completed survey 21 July 1995. She interviewed Jerzy Kaczor, City Council and miscellaneous local residents. On 18 Aug 1995, she interviewed Tadeusz Jakubowicz.
[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns [April 2016]