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A woman mourns by the coffins of Jews who died in the Kielce pogrom. Poland, July 6, 1946.
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Kielce

The southeastern Polish town of Kielce was the site of a postwar  massacre of Jews on July 4, 1946.

The mass violence of the Kielce pogrom drew on an entrenched local history of antisemitism–especially false allegations accusing Jews of using the blood of Christian children for ritual purposes (a charge known as a “blood libel”)–with the intent of discouraging the return of Jewish Holocaust survivors to Poland. 

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All Content Tagged 'Kielce'

A hospital ward in Kielce after a postwar pogrom. Kielce, Poland, July 6, 1946.
Photo
Aftermath of pogrom in Kielce
A pogrom took place in Kielce, Poland, in July 1946. Forty-two Jews were massacred and about 50 more were wounded. The event touched off a mass migration of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Poland and other countries of eastern and central Europe. This clip shows Jewish refugees, survivors of the pogrom, waiting to leave Poland and crossing into Czechoslovakia.
Film
Aftermath of pogrom in Kielce
A woman mourns by the coffins of Jews who died in the Kielce pogrom. Poland, July 6, 1946.
Photo
Aftermath of the Kielce pogrom
Mourners and local residents shovel dirt into the mass grave of the victims of the Kielce pogrom during the public burial.
Photo
Burial of victims of the Kielce pogrom
Mourners crowd around a narrow trench as coffins of pogrom victims are placed in a common grave, following a mass burial service. Kielce, Poland, after July 4, 1946.
Photo
Burial of victims of the Kielce pogrom
Coffins containing bodies of Jews killed in the Kielce pogrom. Poland, July 6, 1946. The mass violence of the Kielce pogrom drew on an entrenched local history of antisemitism–especially false allegations accusing Jews of using the blood of Christian children for ritual purposes (a charge known as a “blood libel”)–with the intent of discouraging the return of Jewish Holocaust survivors to Poland.
Photo
Coffins containing bodies of Jews killed in the Kielce pogrom
Funeral procession for victims of the Kielce pogrom. Kielce, Poland, July 1946.
Photo
Funeral procession for victims of the Kielce pogrom
Mourners and local residents shovel dirt into the mass grave of the victims of the Kielce pogrom during the public burial.
Timeline Event
Kielce Pogrom
Paula Wajcman
ID Card
Paula Wajcman
Media Essay
Pogroms
During the deportation of survivors of a pogrom in Iasi to Calarasi or Podul Iloaei, Romanians halt a train to throw off the bodies of those who had died on the way. Romania, July 1941.
Article
Pogroms
Map
Poland 1933, Kielce indicated
Mourners and local residents shovel dirt into the mass grave of the victims of the Kielce pogrom during the public burial.
Article
The Kielce Pogrom: A Blood Libel Massacre of Holocaust Survivors
Media Essay
The Kielce Pogrom: A Blood Libel Massacre of Holocaust Survivors - Photograph
Thomas's family moved to Zilina in 1938. As the Slovak Hlinka Guard increased its harassment of Jews, the family decided to leave. Thomas and his family ultimately entered Poland, but the German invasion in September 1939 prevented them from leaving for Great Britain. The family ended up in Kielce, where a ghetto was established in April 1941. When the Kielce ghetto was liquidated in August 1942, Thomas and his family avoided the deportations to Treblinka that occurred in the same month. They were sent instead to a forced-labor camp in Kielce. He and his parents were deported to Auschwitz in August 1944. As Soviet troops advanced in January 1945, Thomas and other prisoners were forced on a death march from Auschwitz. He was sent to the Sachsenhausen camp in Germany. After the Soviet liberation of Sachsenhausen in April 1945, Thomas was placed in an orphanage. Relatives located him, and he was reunited with his mother in Goettingen. He moved to the United States in 1951.
Oral History
Thomas Buergenthal describes a forced-labor camp in Kielce
Thomas's family moved to Zilina in 1938. As the Slovak Hlinka Guard increased its harassment of Jews, the family decided to leave. Thomas and his family ultimately entered Poland, but the German invasion in September 1939 prevented them from leaving for Great Britain. The family ended up in Kielce, where a ghetto was established in April 1941. When the Kielce ghetto was liquidated in August 1942, Thomas and his family avoided the deportations to Treblinka that occurred in the same month. They were sent instead to a forced-labor camp in Kielce. He and his parents were deported to Auschwitz in August 1944. As Soviet troops advanced in January 1945, Thomas and other prisoners were forced on a death march from Auschwitz. He was sent to the Sachsenhausen camp in Germany. After the Soviet liberation of Sachsenhausen in April 1945, Thomas was placed in an orphanage. Relatives located him, and he was reunited with his mother in Goettingen. He moved to the United States in 1951.
Oral History
Thomas Buergenthal describes being reprieved from a massacre of children while he was in a forced-labor camp in Kielce

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