Wolczyn

Jews apparently first settled in Wołczyn in the 16th century. In 1897 Wołczyn's 588 Jews people comprised 95 percent of the total population. The Jews made their living from small trade and artisanship, mostly in tailoring. During the First World War the village population suffered from the German invasion and the Jews were probably forced to leave the place. Thus, in the early 1920s the population of the village was only 190 people, almost all of whom were Jews. In 1939 the village came under Soviet rule. Wołczyn was occupied by German troops on June 22, 1941. Shortly afterward a Judenrat was established and the Jews were forced to surrender their cattle and other possessions to the Germans. The Judenrat had to provide Jews to perform forced labor. Later most of them, according to some sources, were taken to the ghetto in Brześć nad Bugiem. The remaining Jews were imprisoned in the local ghetto. In late September 1942 the Jews of Wołczyn were shot to death, along with Jews from Czarnawczyce. Wołczyn was liberated in late July 1944.