שילוח מ - Chodel, גטו, פולין ל - Opole Lubelskie, גטו, פולין ב- 05/1942

Chodel, a village 39 kilometers southwest of Lublin, had 776 Jewish residents on the eve of the outbreak of WWII in September 1939.^[1] German forces occupied it on September 16, 1939.^[2] Under the Nazi administration Chodel became part of the Lublin County (Kreis) of the Lublin District (Distrikt) within the General Government (Generalgouvernement--part of Poland not annexed officially to the Reich).^[3]

By January 1940, a Jewish Council (Judenrat) of 13 members was established with Chil Grinberg as its chair replaced by Icek Mendel Erlich in August 1940.^[4] Throughout 1940, Chodel Jews faced forced labor.^[5] On January 6, 1941 the Judenrat in Chodel wrote to the Joint Distribution Committee in Warsaw that 163 members of the community had labored in Józefów (upon Wisła), Belzec and Sawin labor camps.^[6] The village became a collection point for deportees from Łódź, Puławy, and Warsaw. In March 1941, 203 Jews from Kraków Jews were also deported to Chodel. Due to the influx of refugees by June 6 1941, Chodel’s Jewish population had grown to 1,655, including 947 refugee.^[7] On September 19, 1941, Emil Ziegenmeyer, Kreishauptmann of Lublin-Land designated Chodel, Bychawa and Bełżyce as Judensammelorte (Jewish assembly places).^[8]

The Oyneg Shabes Biuletyn report on the situation of Jews on the territory of Poland for April-May 1942 refers to the situation in Chodel stating: "In the first decade of May there was a massacre of the Jewish population in the town. There were many victims. A large part of the Jewish population was deported in an 'unknown direction.'"^[9] On June 18 1942, the Oyneg Shabes Biuletyn again recalled the events in Chodel slightly changing the wording: "In the first half of May the majority of the Jewish population was massacred. Many were deported."^[10] ...