A Very Brief Introduction to Gorodok

Gorodok was first settled in the 13th cenury and the earliest documentation of Jewish residents dates from 1444. In 1662, the local governor encouraged Jews to settle in the town, but assigned them to a special quarter known as "Gnin" or "Genin". According to the census of 1765 there were 788 Jews living in Gnin.

By 1880, the size of the Jewish community had grown to 2,952, and increased to 3,610 in 1900 (about 30 percent of the town's population). After World War I, the Jewish population of the town actually decreased, to 2,545 in Gorodok itself and 1,414 in surrounding villages.

After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, many Jewish refugees from western Poland came to Gorodok, and by 1941 the Jewish population had grown to over 5,000. Between September 1939 and June 1941, Gorodok was occupied by the Soviets. In July 1941, the Germans captured the town, and many of the town's Jews were sent to labor camps at Jaktorow Winniki, and Janowska (Lvov) and to the death camps at Belzec. The ghetto was liquidated in May, 1943, and the remining Jews were shot and buried in mass graves near Artyszczow. No Jewish community was re-established.

(Historical information from Encyclopedia Judaica)

Pictures of Gorodok

• Early 20th century photos of Gorodok
• Photographs from September, 2000

Other Gorodok Resources on the JewishGen^® Web Site

• Portions of Sefer Grayding (Book of Griding)--from the JewishGen Yizkor Book Project
• Search JewishGen Yizkor Book information for Grodek--where hardcopy versions of the yizkor book are located, and the names of people interested in the book
• Search for others researching Grodek (from the JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF))
• Search for Listings from Grodek in the Galicia 1891 Business Directory Database
• Gesher Galicia--the special interest group (SIG) for those with Jewish roots in the former Austrian-ruled province of Galicia.

Maps

• Current map of the Gorodok area--from Google Maps
• Map of center of town--drawn from memory from a trip to Gorodok in September, 2000
• 1882 map of Galicia--from Gesher Galicia

Other Web Sites with Information Relating to Gorodok

General Information

• Wikipedia entry for Gorodok (Horodok)
• Unoffical Gorodok Web Site (in Ukranian)
• Information on Jewish Grave Sites in Gorodok

Bibliography

• Sefer Grayding (Book of Griding), Yehuda Leibish Margel ed., Tel Aviv, Society of Grayding Emigrants, 1981
• Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing, 1971), s.v. "Gorodok"