Between 1942 and 1943, Nazi occupiers carried out systematic executions and deportations of Roma in southern Poland — among them tragedies in Borzęcin Dolny, Szczurowa, and Żabno — in which thousands perished.
Executions and Deportations in Borzęcin Dolny, Szczurowa, and Żabno
Between 1942 and 1943, Nazi occupiers carried out systematic executions and deportations of Roma in southern Poland. In Borzęcin Dolny, 29 Roma were rounded up and shot in the forest; their remains were later reburied in a collective grave. In Szczurowa, almost the entire Roma community 93 people were murdered at the local cemetery, destroying centuries-old settlements. In Żabno, 61 Roma, including deportees from other regions, were executed and buried in a mass grave now marked by a monument. These local massacres were part of the wider genocide: many Roma were also deported to forced-labor or extermination camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau. Overall, around 20,000 Roma perished in these operations, showing that the Porajmos was carried out both through large-scale deportations and swift, brutal village executions.