Remembering the Jews of Lubaczow

Lubaczow, Poland
50° 10' / 23° 08'

Other names: Libatchov, Libechuyv, Liubachev, Lubachov, Lubatchov, Lubichuv

Holocaust

Keep Yelling! \ Maurie Hoffman

The book "Keep Yelling" written by Maurie Hoffman, has helped me understand many of the events that took place in Lubaczow during Holocaust. Maurie Hoffman was born in 1929 in Lubaczow, and experienced the extermination of the Lubaczow ghetto in January 1943. He later joined the partisans. His story of survival is incredible.

Time Table

Trying to make a short summary based on three different sources (Pinkas Hakehillot, Maurie Hoffmann and an elderly gentleman in Lubaczow) here is a timetable I hope to improve and make more detailed in the near future, including the different deportations to Belzec. Please correct and add information.

September 1st 1939 - The Germans attacked Poland.
September 7th 1939 - Lubaczow was bombed by German planes. Fighting around Lubaczow. The Polish Army retreated to the east, to Lwow.
September 12th 1939 - The Germans occupied Lubaczow.
September 26th 1939 - The Red Army occupied Lubaczow. According to the Soviet German agreement, Poland was divided and Lubaczow became part of the Soviet territories.
September 26th 1939 till June 22th 1941 - The Russians ruled in Lubaczow.
June 22th 1941 - The German Army occupied Lubaczow for the second time after heavy fighting with the Red Army.
April 1942 - There were 2270 Jews in Lubaczow.
May 1942 - Another 2000 Jews were brought to Lubaczow from the surrounding villages.
October 1942 - The Germans gave order that a Jewish Ghetto should be established in Lubaczow . Within fortyeight hours the Jews were overcrowded within the ghetto. Shortly after that the first transport of Jews from Lubaczow to Belzec.
After Sukkot 1942 - Jews from Niemerow and Potilitz were brought to Lubaczow.
November 1942 - The Jews from Olescyze were brought to Lubaczow - possibly close to two thousand persons.
In the end of December 1942 - The Germans promised there would be no further killing of Jews in Lubaczow, because most of those who were still there, were now working for the Germans.
January 5th 1943 - A great snowstorm with very low temperatures. The Germans collected all finished and unfinished items from the Jewish tailors and shoemakers. A rumor spread that the Germans would kill all the Jews. Whoever had the possibility fled that night from the ghetto.
January 6th 1943 - Around eight o'clock in the morning the final massmurder of the Jews in Lubaczow started. According to Maurie Hoffman the killings continued at least till January 14th 1943. Some were killed when found in their underground secret bunkers. Others were brought to the Jewish cemetery where an estimated 1200 Jews were killed and buried in a massgrave. Some were sent to Belzec. The very few Jews who survived did so by fleeing into the forests and by joining the partisans.
July 21st 1944 - The Germans withdrew. The Red Army occupied Lubaczow.

Memorial List for Victims (Yizkor List)

In the early 1950's the Lubaczower Landsmannchaft in Israel made a memorial list for Jews killed in Lubaczow during the Holocaust. Their members were able to write down the names of around 860 of the victims. A few years ago I translated the original list (written in Hebrew) back into Latin letters and published the Memorial List (YIZKOR LIST) on JewishGen.

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