In the woods by the Poprad lies the mass grave of Jews from Stary Sącz, shot on the day the ghetto was liquidated. This is a place of memory, not an attraction.
In the spring of 1942 the Germans set up an open ghetto in Stary Sącz on ul. Krakowska, next to the livestock market. Some thousand people were crowded into it. On 17 August 1942 the Jews were ordered to report to the market. Lorries carrying the elderly and the sick turned towards the Poprad, to a copse at Piaski. There 95 people were shot. Witness accounts give different numbers, from more than 70 to 150 victims; the figure of 95 is the one accepted in studies.
The others were driven to Nowy Sącz and, on 25–28 August, deported to the Bełżec extermination camp. The ghetto in Stary Sącz was the first in the Sącz region to be liquidated.
A memorial stands over the mass grave in the woods by the river. The grave is included in the register of war graves. Every year on 17 August local people come here for a Roll Call of Remembrance.
This is a place one comes to in order to remember. Keep silent. You may leave a stone, according to Jewish custom, or simply stand for a moment.
