32 studies / 54 · Zamość region

Szarajówka: blocked exits and burning farmsteads

18 May 1943 · Burning people alive and killings during pacifications

The cruelty of the crime in Szarajówka follows from the described method: people were gathered, prevented from leaving and the buildings were set on fire. In determining responsibility, however, the mixed composition of the expedition must be retained. Kamil Kopera’s study identifies both German police formations and Ukrainian participants subordinated to the occupying apparatus of violence. [1]

Editorial account based on the sources listed below. Sources checked: 5 September 2026.

Victims and toll: No fewer than 58; the account of the investigation’s results gives 67.
Perpetrators: German police formations, including a subunit of the 25th SS Police Regiment, and Ukrainian auxiliary police.
Documented methods: locking people in buildings · burning alive · shooting at escapees

Basis for the facts and their qualifications: [1]

Course of the murder

After the village was surrounded, residents were driven from their homes. Men were brutally interrogated. Groups of people were then locked in buildings, with doors and windows blocked. The arson was accompanied by plunder. A woman escaping the fire was shot at. [1]

Formations and responsibility

The reconstruction distinguishes a subunit of a German police regiment, gendarmerie, Schupo and Ukrainian auxiliary police. This does not entitle us to call every perpetrator German. Determining command responsibility and identifying the person who committed a particular murder remain separate tasks. [1]

Inconsistent source arithmetic

The article gives 67 people killed overall, but the categories listed in the same sentence total 66. We do not correct this difference by conjecture. The confirmed burning of people remains the basis for the account; a precise division of methods requires checking the records of the investigation cited. [1]

Limits of the findings

The basis is one referenced study. The files it cites were not independently read. An internal inconsistency in the count prevents repeating as certain a division into 58 burned and 9 shot. [1]

Sources and notes

Footnote markers identify the basis for specific findings. Bibliographic records remain in their original language; the notes indicate how each source is used.

The bibliographic record and source-use note are retained in Polish to preserve the original scholarly citation.

Kamil Kopera. Szarajówka – anatomia zbrodni. Stowarzyszenie OSUCHY 1944.

opracowanie instytucjonalne · Sekcje „18 maja 1943 r.”, „Sprawcy i odpowiedzialność”, przypisy · Dostęp: 2026-09-05.

Use of this source: Rekonstrukcja oparta na przypisach do akt; formacje mieszane, zamykanie i palenie ludzi, rozbieżności bilansu.

How we assess sources

The evidence base consists primarily of Polish scholarly publications, investigative findings, archives, museums and documented witness accounts. Reliability is assessed through the document’s provenance, scholarly method and the ability to check the finding. Statements by perpetrators and family accounts of perpetrators require especially critical comparison with other material. Two pages from the same institution may repeat one finding; they are not automatically treated as independent confirmation.

Full methodology