Grave of Jewish Forced Labourers

In the spring of 1942, the Germans set up a forced labour camp at a peat mine near Radzymin. Jews from the ghettos in Radzymin, Wołomin and Jadów were sent there. The prisoners worked from dawn until late in the evening, often standing waist-deep in water. Hunger, exhaustion and violence were part of everyday life.

On 3 October 1942, during the liquidation of the Radzymin ghetto, about 70 people escaped from the camp and hid in the forest. Some of them were caught and murdered. The Germans then liquidated the camp: the prisoners were forced to dig graves and were then shot. At least 160 men lie in the grave. The women and children from the “Żandary” camp did not survive either; most of their fates and names remain unknown.

Today the grave is surrounded by forest. This modest memorial recalls the victims of the camp and the crime committed in the autumn of 1942. It is worth pausing here in silence to pay tribute to those who were murdered.