Remember Jewish Uchanie

Pronunciation: You-khan-ee

HISTORY OF JEWISH UCHANIE

The first mention of the Jewish community in Uchanie was in 1611.

The Jewish community lived in and around the market square.

In 1769, 175 Jews lived in the town. There were 1,382 Jews living in Uchanie in 1886, constituting 64% of the total inhabitants. In 1921, Uchanie had 1686 inhabitants, 999 (59%) of whom were Jews. Ten years later there were 2,142 individuals living in the town, including 1,028 Jews (47%). Uchanie had 2,044 inhabitants in 1938 and 1,161 (70%) of them were Jewish.

THE HOLOCAUST IN UCHANIE

The German troops occupied Uchanie at the end of September, 1939. The Nazis used Jews from Uchanie as forced laborers. Jewish properties were confiscated, and the Germans established a ghetto in Uchanie in 1940 — over 2,000 Jews were held in the ghetto. Ninety Jews from Krakow were sent to Uchanie in November, 1940. In April, 1942, a group of 680 Jews from Horodlo (near to Uchanie and Hrubieszow) were also deported to the Uchanie ghetto.

On June 10, 1942, approximately 2,025 Jews from Uchanie were transported by the Germans to the train station in Miaczyn near Zamosc. At Miaczyn, the weaker (and elderly) Jews were sent to Sobibor gas chambers while younger Jews were sent to either the Staszic Labor Camp or the Staw Labor Camp. The Staszic labor camp was located near the village of Staszic Kolonia and prisoners worked on water melioration (techniques to improve land productivity, manage water resources, landscape regulation). The Nazis murdered the Jews who worked in Staszic in the fall of 1942. There was a transport from Staw Labor Camp to Sobibor gas chambers on December 20, 1942. Additional information about Staw labor camp is available here. 

Holocaust survivor Jacob Finkelstein recalls a mass execution in Uchanie: "In 1942, the holiday of Shavuot fell in May, on a Sunday. On that day, the Gestapo brought 43 Jews to the cemetery. Some were from Uchanie, others from Horodło. The Nazis executed them by gunfire—ten at a time, lined up in a row. My four younger sisters witnessed it all. That day, I lost my uncle Motl and my grandfather’s brother, Shloime. A man named Zdzisław Mastalerczuk lived near the cemetery. In 1944, after the liberation, I met Zdzisław, and he showed me the spot in the cemetery where the Gestapo had killed my father. He had been buried right next to the entrance.”

In October 1942, a small group of Jews from Uchanie were sent to Hrubieszow, and then to Sobibor gas chambers.

This marked the end of the Jewish community in Uchanie.

WHAT REMAINS

It is unclear where in the village the synagogue was located. All material traces of it were destroyed in the Holocaust.

The Jewish cemetery was located on a small hill near the Roman Catholic church (near Podgórze Street). As of 2011, one of the remaining 10 matzevot dates back to 1829. The cemetery is enclosed by a metal mesh fence, constructed by Holocaust survivor Chaim Leder. Within its grounds stand five tombstones. No symbols or commemorative plaques exist to remember the destroyed Jewish community.

Zachor - We Remember.
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[Helene Shafran: Memories from Uchanie]
[Rubin Shafran Testimony: Deportation from Uchanie to Belzec]
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