Tykocin pogrom
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The Tykocin pogrom was a pogrom and subsequent massacre of Jewish population of Tykocin in German occupied Poland in August 1941.
In World War II, the town of Tykocin initially belonged to the eastern territories of Poland occupied for twenty-one months by the Soviet Union following the 1939 division of interwar Poland after a German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. The town was taken over by Germany in June 1941, and the Nazis inspired a pogrom in the first days of their occupation. Although encouraged by the Germans, the pogrom was initially conducted by the Poles from Tykocin and the surrounding villages, who were looting Jewish property for two days.[1][2]
Later, on August 25, 1941, the Germans called the Tykocin Jews to assemble early morning in the market square, where they were guarded by local Polish volunteers.[citation needed] About 1,400-1,500 people were soon transported to a nearby forest, where the Germans executed them. Some succeeded in hiding, but many of those were turned in by Polish peasants[3] and executed by a militia organized by Germans from local Poles the next day.[4]
The Jewish survivors who returned to Tykocin after the war were subject to attacks by gangs of Polish nationalists.[citation needed]
The 17th century Jewish synagogue survived in Tykocin and is a major tourist attraction today.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Antony Polonsky, Joanna B. Michlic, The Neighbors Respond: The Controversy Over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland, Princeton University Press, 2004, ISBN 0691113068, p. 281
- ^ Andrzej Żbikowski, Nie było rozkazu in "Rzeczpospolita" - January 4, 2001; (Polish)
- ^ Shmuel Spector, Geoffrey Wigoder, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, NYU Press, 2001, ISBN 0814793568, pp. 1352-1353
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica
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