Horochow

Jews are first recorded as residing in Horochów in the 16th century. In 1897, under the Russian Empire, the Jewish population of the town was 2,571 or 55 percent of the total population. During World War I, under Austrian rule, a Hebrew school was opened in the town; later, under Polish rule, it became a Tarbut, Zionist-oriented, Hebrew-language school. In 1918, the Jews of Horochów suffered during the brief rule of the Petliura forces in the town. In the independent Polish state Jews were dominant in the economical life of the town - they owned several flour mills and were active in the local clothing industry, in carpentry, and in construction. They also dominated the trade in grain, cattle, and poultry, as well as a number of crafts. There was diverse Jewish political activity in the town - branches of Agudath Israel, the Bund, and more than one Zionist political party were all active in Horochów. After September 17, 1939, with the arrival of the Red Army in the town following the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Horochów became part of Soviet Ukraine. The Soviet authorities closed most private businesses and Jewish communal organizations. On the eve of the Soviet - German war the Jewish population of the town was about 3,000 or half of its total population. The Germans entered the town on June 26, 1941. Most its Jewish population did not succeed in fleeing. Shortly afterward, the Germans appointed a Judenrat (Jewish council). The Germans also forced the Jews to pay a large ransom, ordered Jewish inhabitants to wear a Star of David armband (replaced later on by a yellow patch), and conscripted them for forced labor. According to some testismonies,before the end of June 1941 a Security Police unit sent by Sonderkommando 4a to Horochów, assisted by Ukrainian auxiliary police, shot to death several people, including Jews, for being "Communist functionaries." In early July the Germans gathered the Jews in the marketplace and made them watch the burning of the synagogue, and its Torah scrolls and prayerbooks. On a date reported to be August 12, 1941, a unit of Einsatzkommado 4a, aided by Ukrainian auxiliary police, shot to death 300 Jews in the town park. In October or early November 1941, a ghetto surrounded by a high wooden fence topped with barbed wire, was set up in the town and an additional 2,000 Jews from nearby localities were incarcerated in the ghetto. The latter was severely overcrowded and starvation prevailed. The ghetto was divided into two sections, one for skilled workers considered needed by the Germans, and their families, and the other section -- for "unnecessary workers." Those who worked outside the ghetto were mainly tanners, who prepared leather for military use, or laborers used for road construction. Women performed jobs such as cleaning. Some Jews set up workshops where other Jews were engaged in knitting, making brushes, and other craft activities. The workshops were located outside the ghetto. According to one testimony, several women succeeded in organizing for several months a clandestine school in the ghetto. According to the same testimony, since the ghetto population had decreased so drastically, in the spring of 1942 the ghetto Jews who remained were moved to a smaller area. The ghetto was liquidated at the beginning of September 1942, when its inmates were shot to death, by a German unit, near the village of Czujew. Horochów was liberated by the Red Army on April 3, 1944.