Remember Jewish Horodlo

Pronunciation: Hor-od-loh

HISTORY OF JEWISH HORODLO

The first reference to the presence of Jews in Horodlo dates back to 1507. In the 1600s, Khmelnytsky’s troops organized pogroms against Jewry in Horodlo. As a result, almost the entire Jewish community of the town was slaughtered.

In 1765, there were 220 Jews who possessed 29 houses and 8 shops in Horodlo. Records indicate that Jews were heavily involved in trading, even with those who lived in far-away lands. For example, Jews in Horodlo are recorded to trade oxen, horses, potash, herring, and wheat to individuals in Kazimierz, Gdansk, Lwow, Moscow, Wlodawa, Zamosc, Rejowiec, Opalin and Uscilug.

In 1850 an old wooden synagogue burnt down but was replaced by a brick synagogue. A new Jewish cemetery was established in the mid-1800s, on the road to Stryzow near the Catholic cemetery.

Horodlo had both an old and new synagogue as well as an old and new cemetery. The community had its own mikveh, Hebrew school and library; the library was operated by the Tarbut Cultural & Educational Society.

Most of the local rabbis were the followers of Izbica and Radzyn-born tzadikim. Hasidic followers of Turzysk, Belz and Gora Kalwaria also were present in Horodlo. In the late 1900s, Jekutiel Ber Josef Eliezer Gelernter was the town rabbi. His son-in-law was R' Moshe Lejb HaLevi Berman. The Jewish community in Horodlo also included Jews from the nearby villages of Strzyzow, Kowale, Kopylow, Liski and Matcze. In 1930, the Jewish community representatives included: Moshe Berman, rabbi; J. Czesner, mohel; M. Fajgenbaum, mohel; and Icek Blum and Chaim Hersz Wajntraub, cemetery services.

HORODLO DURING THE HOLOCAUST

The German army seized Horodlo on September 26, 1939. A few Jews had escapedt to the Soviet zone prior to this date. The Judenrat was established shortly thereafter and included Petachia Blat.

Horodlo had approximately 1,000 Jews in 1939. A group of Jews from the Horodlo ghetto, numbering 680, were sent to the Uchanie ghetto in April 1942. The remaining Jews from Horodlo were either dispatched to Miaczyn in early June, 1942, or previously had been sent to the Uchanie ghetto. All Jews from the Uchanie ghetto were subsequently sent to Miaczyn (train station) in June, 1942.

At Miaczyn (a train station), a transport of 1,650 Jews from Uchanie and Horodlo were sent to the Sobibor gas chambers in the summer of 1942.

Small groups of Jews who were deemed capable of slave labor were sent from Miaczyn train station to Staw labor camp near Chelm and Staszic labor camp near Uchanie. All Jews dispatched to these two slave labor camps were eventually murdered as well. The conditions at these camps were brutal.

Approximately 25 Jews from Horodlo survived the Holocaust. Frajdla Perlmutter survived the Holocaust with the assistance of the Bodniewski family.

This marked the end of the Jewish community in Horodlo. Zachor - We Remember.

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[Horodlo - History of the Jewish Community]
[Horodlo Jewish cemenetery]
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