In 1939, on the eve of World War II, Chełm (Cholm), the capital of the Chełm County of the Lublin District, some seventy kilometers southeast of Lublin, was home to 15,000-18,000 Jews.[1]
After heavy bombardments by the German Luftwaffe from September 9, 1939 onwards, Soviet troops entered the city on September 25, 1939, and they remained there until October 7. Some 2,000-3,000 Jews left the city with the Red Army. The Germans occupied Chełm two days later, on October 9, 1939, subjecting the remaining Jewish residents to robbery, destruction of all houses of worship, and physical torture.[2] On December 1, 1939, some 1,800 Jewish men were brutally expelled from the city and forced on a death march to Hrubieszów.[3]
A few thousand local Jewish residents were sent to work in thirteen forced labor camps set up in the Chełm area, mostly under the auspices of the German Water Management (Wasserwirtschaftsverwaltung).[4]...