Chomsk

During the interwar period, Chomsk was part of Poland. At the time, the town was home to about 1,000 Jews, who made up approximately two-thirds of the local population. Most of them were petty merchants, peddlers, or artisans, and they worked mainly in tailoring, shoe-making, and construction. Numerous Jewish political organizations (including Zionist parties and youth movements, the Bund, and Agudath Israel) had chapters in Chomsk. The Soviets took control of the area in September 1939. Under their rule, three Jewish families were deported into the Russian interior. The Germans occupied Chomsk in late June 1941 and murdered several Jews shortly afterward. The killing site and the exact date of the shooting are unknown. In early August 1941, an SS unit arrived in the town. On their way, they killed several Jews who were working in the fields. The following day, two groups of Jews were murdered – first the men, and then the women and children. Some sources indicate that Jews from the nearby settlements of Niwki, Olszewo, and Sporow were brought to the town and killed along with the locals. Several hundred Jews who had managed to evade the two massacres found themselves in Drohiczyn. They were ordered to return to Chomsk, whereupon they were imprisoned in a ghetto on the outskirts of the town. There, the Jews were forced to work as artisans. In September 1941, Jews from the town of Szerszow were brought to Chomsk. The ghetto was liquidated in spring 1942. Chomsk was liberated by the Red Army in mid-July 1944.