Transport from Perespa, Tomaszow Lubelski, Lublin, Poland to Zamosc, Ghetto, Poland on 05/1942

The village of Perespa is located approximately 120 kilometers southeast of Lublin, in eastern Poland. During World War II, it was one of twenty villages which were part of the gmina (municipality) of Tyszowce, Zamość County, Lublin District of occupied Poland (General Government).^[1] A census conducted by the Polish government in 1921 listed seventeen Jews living in Perespa.^[2]

The Jews of the village relied on the public institutions in the nearby town of Tyszowce: they studied at its school, prayed in its synagogue, and buried their dead in its Jewish cemetery on the outskirts of the town. Chaim Goldshtein, a survivor of the Perespa transport, remembers good neighborly relations between the Jews living in the village, and its Christian and Ukrainian residents. However, these relations gradually deteriorated as the war approached.

On the eve of the war, according to Goldshtein’s testimony, six Jewish families lived in Perespa.^[3] The village was occupied by the Germans in the middle of September 1939. About a week later, in line with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (concluded on August 23th), Perespa was handed over to the Soviets, but a week later they withdrew. Many young Jews from the village joined the Red Army in its withdrawal to the territories of the Soviet Union. Among them was Chaim's older brother, Ya'akov Goldshtein. The other members of the Goldshtein family (except Chaim’s uncle and aunt) left the village, following him, and thus were saved. With the departure of the Soviets, the village reverted to German control for the duration of the war.^[4]...