Remember Jewish Kamionka
HISTORY OF JEWISH KAMIONKA (NEAR PULAWY / LUBLIN, POLAND)
Kamionka, located near Puławy in the Lublin region of Poland, had a notable Jewish community that was largely destroyed during the Holocaust. Jews lived in Kamionka since at least 1598.
A dye house, brickyard, windmill, and two oil mills existed in the village. The local Jewish population was engaged in trade, crafts, agriculture and weaving. Jews lived mainly near the market square. A Jewish cemetery was established in the 1860s and a synagogue had probably been established prior to that.
By the 1920s, Kamionka had a synagogue, a beit ha-midrash, a ritual slaughterhouse, a mikveh, and a funeral fraternity (Chevra Kadisha). By 1927, the Jewish community also had a library in town. A Hebrew school also existed in town.
NEARBY JEWISH COMMUNITIES
Jews also lived in nearby villages such as Firlej (167-250 Jews), Garbow (125 Jews), Kurow (2,000 Jews), Michow (2,000 Jews), Markuszow (2,000 Jews), Staroscin (10 Jews) and Zagrody (14 Jews).
In January of 1943, the Germans perpetrated a massacre of 27 Jews and 1 Pole in the village of Samoklęski, which is 5.1 km southwest of the village of Kamionka.
KAMIONKA DURING THE HOLOCAUST
556 Jews lived in Kamionka before the Holocaust.
The ghetto in Kamionka included nearly 700 Jews from nearby Jewish communities. The Judenrat Chairman was Mendel Rajs.
On October 9, 1942, Jews in the communities of Firlej, Kamionka, Łęczna, Łuszawa, Niemce, Samoklęski, Tarło, Tyśmienica and Uścimów were forced to relocate to the Lubartow Ghetto, or else be killed. Subsequently, Jews in the Lubartow Ghetto were dispatched to either the Belzec or Sobibor killing centres in October of 1942. Two local Poles, Stanisław Misiuk and Ludwik Borówka, traveled to Lubartów the following day, and both saw the bodies of Jews from Ostrów Lubelski strewn along the road. Jews who did not complete the walk to Lubartow may have been shot at the Jewish cemetery in Kamionka.
The Jewish community of Kamionka ceased to exist.
WHAT REMAINS
556 Jews lived in Kamionka in 1939. Of those, 2 survived the duration of the war.
The Jewish cemetery at Nowa St. was established in the 1860s and is found on the road leading to Skrobow-Kolonia. It was destroyed during the Holocaust. A few tombstones do exist.
The synagogue was located at 1 Lubartowska St. It was wooden and built around 1800. Around 1855, a new brick synagogue was constructed. It was destroyed during the Holocaust.
Zachor - We Remember.
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[Frank Blaichman Holocaust Testimony - Kamionka] (right side)
[Transfer of Kamionka Jews to Lubartow - Yad Vashem]
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CONTACTS
U.S.: LublinJewish@gmail.com
Freiheit youth group, Kamionka, pre-war.
The Blechman/Blaichman
family from Kamionka.