Dereczyn

The Jewish presence in Dereczyn goes as far back as 1550. In the early 20th Century, a chapter of the Bund party was established in Dereczyn. The Bund successfully set up a Jewish self-defense unit in 1904-5, when the town was threatened by attempted pogroms. A Hebrew elementary school opened in Dereczyn in 1918 (under German military occupation during World War I). In 1921, Dereczyn became part of Poland. Following the cessation of the constant warfare of 1914-20, some of the prewar Jewish residents returned to Dereczyn. The interwar period in the town was marked by an economic downturn, but also by the intensification of political activity. Cells of various Zionist movements, from the moderate left-wing Hechalutz to the right-wing Beitar, sprang up in Dereczyn; the Bund remained active, and some local Jews were members of the banned Communist Party. In September 1939, World War II broke out, and Dereczyn was occupied by the Soviets. Many Jewish refugees from the German-occupied Polish territories settled in the town in 1939-40, and its Jewish population seems to have swelled to 4,000. Dereczyn was occupied by the Wehrmacht on June 27, 1941, five days after the beginning of the German invasion of the USSR. The Germans were then driven out of the town by the Red Army, but they reoccupied it on July 1. Dereczyn was heavily damaged in the fighting, and many Jews left it temporarily. In the nearby village of Hołynka, the Nazis immediately shot 140 Jews (both from Dereczyn and from Hołynka itself), having mistaken them for Soviet soldiers in disguise (they had their heads shaved). By the end of 1941, the Dereczyn Ghetto was established. Under German rule, the Jews of Dereczyn and the surrounding area were resettled several times. In March 1942, several hundred Jews from the villages of Hołynka, Jeziornica, and Kolonia Sinajska were moved to Dereczyn. On April 30, 1942, the occupiers shot approximately 200 Jews near the village of Rodziszki, north-northwest of the town. On July 24, 1942, German forces, with the help of auxiliary policemen, rounded up all the Jews they could find, transported them in trucks to the area of Grabowa, and shot them in pits. About 200-300 Jews managed to hide during the operation, and some of them later joined the partisan unit of Yehezkel Atlas. Dereczyn was liberated by the Red Army on July 12, 1944.