Remember Jewish Modliborzyce

Pronunciation: Mod-leeb-or-zhit-sa

HISTORY OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

Modliborzyce is a town in Lublin Voivodeship, in Janów County, serving as the seat of an urban-rural municipality. As of the end of 2020, it had a population of 1,459.

It is unclear when the Jewish population began to settle in Modliborzyce, but in 1674 there were thirty-four Jews living here, making over twenty per cent of the entire population. By the 1760s, it reached 350 Jews. At that time, a brick synagogue was built.

The Jewish community administered a synagogue, a mikveh, a ritual slaughterhouse, a poorhouse and a cemetery. A few houses of prayer operated in town. Despite harsh living conditions, political parties and community organizations were active too. The adherents of Orthodox Judaism were in the majority in the community board until the 1936 elections, when the general Zionists won a majority. In 1939, the Jewish population in Modliborzyce was 1,200.

MODLIBORZYCE DURING THE HOLOCAUST

In March 1941, a group of over 1,035 displaced people from Vienna (Austria) arrived in Modliborzyce. Some of the died of hunger and illnesses shortly afterwards. In June 1942m there were 2,200 people lived in the ghetto. The ghetto was liquidated on October 19, 1942. All Jews from the ghetto in Modliborzyce were transported to the ghetto in Kraśnik, from where they were taken to the death camp in Bełżec.

WHAT REMAINS

Five Jews from Modliborzyce survived the Holocaust. The remaining pre-war Jewish population of 1,200 Jews were all murdered. During the occupation, Germans plundered and destroyed everything that had belonged to the community.

Around 1760, the Jews established a synagogue, and it was located at 1 Zamkowa Street east of the market square. The building was destroyed during the Holocaust and rebuilt after the war.

Around the time that the synagogue was established, a Jewish cemetery was built at Lesna Street. It is on the top of a hill, on the left side of the road leading to the Janow forests. No tombstones have been preserved. A memorial plaque was erected recently, and Christian school children from the area have helped to reduce the brush and weeds surrounding the cemetery.

Please review the site content below. Zachor - We Remember.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[List of 2,110 registered Jews in Modliborzyce in 1942]
------------------------------------------------------------------------