Murder of four Jews in 1945

May 11 marks the 79th anniversary of the murder of four Jews from Czarny Dunajec and Odrowąż: Wilhelm Reich, Leon Karaś, Baruch Feit and Chaim Blauder. It was the first documented murder of Jews in post-war Podhale. Dr. Karolina Panz was the first to find out its details and described them in the article "Why did they, who suffered and endured so much, have to die?" Jewish victims of armed violence in Podhale in the years 1945–1947", which was published in 2020 in the magazine "Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały" - the scientific yearbook of the Center for Research on the Holocaust, IFiS PAN. There is also a mention of the murder in the book "Dalej jest noc" (volume II, chapter "Powiat Nowy Targ", also by Dr. Karolina Panz).

According to Dr. Karolina Panz, Wilhelm Reich was born in 1904 in Odrowąż, but later lived in Maniowy, where he was a farmer, had a wife Cila and a son Moritz (born in 1940). Baruch Feit was born in 1911 in Czarny Dunajec, the son of Józef, a merchant, and Genendla (née Berger). During the war he was resettled to Nowy Targ. Chaim Blauder (there was a Blonder family in Czarny Dunajec, it is possible that it is the same surname, Szymon Blonder's children were born in Czarny Dunajec at a similar time as Chaim: Zlate in 1908, Szendel in 1911, and Salke in 1920) was born in 1913 year in Czarny Dunajec, where he lived with his wife Rosa and daughter Amalia (born in 1941). Baruch and Chaim worked at a sawmill. The last murder victim was Leon Karaś (it is possible that this is Leon Kraus, also from Czarny Dunajec).

The crime took place on May 11, 1945 in the evening in Maniowy. Based on the police note and details of the investigation, the course of events can be reconstructed. Four partisans from the "Błyskawica" unit of Józef Kuraś "Ogień" entered the house of Andrzej Ostachowski, a farmer from Maniów, with firearms. There were four Jews inside: Reich, Feit, Blauder and Kraus, who had survived the war and had just returned from concentration camps. After entering the room, the attackers shouted: "Hands up!" and demanded that the Jews hand over the things they had with them. They took their money and suitcases and told them to go outside. Two Jews did not want to leave the room, they were shot on the spot, the remaining two were killed by the attackers in the yard in front of Ostachowski's house.

Confirmation of this execution can be found in a copy of the diary of Józef Kuraś "Ogień", where three perpetrators were mentioned: Jan Goleniowski alias “Lew”, Bogusław Szokalski, alias “Boguś” and Kazimierz Kuraś, alias "Raven". “5 pairs of shoes and underwear were captured,” we read in the diary. There is no information whether the perpetrators of the murder were ever punished for it.

It is not known what happened to the bodies of those murdered on May 11, 1945, or whether their families survived the Holocaust.