Transport from Jarczow, Tomaszow Lubelski, Lublin, Poland to Belzec, Extermination Camp, Poland on 22/05/1942

Jarczów is a small town and the seat of a gmina (municipality) in southeastern Poland. It is situated 14 kilometers east of the larger town, Tomaszów Lubelski. A 1921 census showed that Jarczów was home to 208 Jews, within a total population of 956.^[1] After the outbreak of WWII, and the occupation of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union, the town fell within the German-occupation zone. It was part of Zamość County, in the Lublin District, within the General Government.

Some of the local Jews crossed over into the Soviet-controlled territory. A census of the Jewish population in Zamość County, conducted at the end of October 1940, showed that only 86 Jewish residents remained in Jarczów.^[2] As in other villages and towns in the area, the Jews of Jarczów were also regularly conscripted for forced labor by the Germans.^[3]

Few details are known about the deportation of the Jarczów community. We do know however, that it occurred as part of the deportations in the Tomaszów Lubelski area. Survivor Chana Ruduler (née Krieger), then a resident of the village of Szlatyn, in the Jarczów Municipality, testified that the Jews from Jarczów were deported in horse-drawn wagons to Tomaszów Lubelski  on Shavuot (Jewish Feast of Weeks holiday), on May 22, 1942. Together with the local Jews from Tomaszów Lubelski, and Jews from other nearby villages, such as Łaszczów, the Jarczów Jewish community was deported on the same day to the Belzec death camp, located 9 kilometers south of Tomaszów Lubelski .^[4]...