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After much work and efforts invested in collecting these materials and preparing them for publication, we present to all natives of Horodlo – wherever they may be – and anyone who is interested, this Yizkor Book of the Jewish Community of Horodlo, which was annihilated by the German Nazis (may their names be blotted out), together with all the Jews of Poland, during the great devastation of World War Two in Europe.

The Committee of Horodlo Natives, the Horodlo Association in the U.S., and the Horodlo Aid Association of Argentina resolved to publish this book, in order to erect an eternal monument to the martyrs of Horodlo who perished at the hands of the German murderers and their allies, those anonymous victims whose gravesites and the location of whose sacred bones are unknown.

It has been more than five years since we published our first letter to fellow natives of Horodlo, announcing our intention to publish a Yizkor Book and asking them to provide articles, memoirs, and images of the martyrs of Horodlo, as well as any other materials connected with the town. Materials slowly arrived, punctuated by long gaps. We adapted them and prepared them for publication.

No written documentation of the lives of the Jews of Horodlo has survived the devastation. We therefore had to make do with the memoirs and accounts written by Horodlo natives, long after they had left the town and even longer after the events described took place.

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This is also the case with the witness statements of the refugees from Horodlo and vicinity, who experienced the bitterness of war and were miraculously saved from the gruesome fate of the Horodlo community, while suffering unimaginable pain and torment in their hiding places. Their descriptions were also provided and written years after the great tragedy. Understandably, therefore, the writers and narrators could not avoid errors in dates and other technical details. The editorial committee decided to print their accounts as given, aware that these errors do not affect the actual facts and tragic events.

The editorial committee encountered great difficulties when compiling the list of martyrs. As there is no official and precise list of martyrs, and the list provided in this book was first provided by Ben-Tsiyon Bergman of Argentina, and checked by Horodlo survivors living in Israel and the United States; changes and corrections were introduced. Naturally, the committee took these into account, but was unable to decide cases of inconsistencies between the original writer and later revisers. The corrections made by the U.S. association were done after consulting a number of other people.

The editorial committee thanks all those who considered it their sacred duty to share in the creation of this memorial to the martyrs of Horodlo, and offered articles, photos, documents, and oral recollections. All this enabled the publication of this Yizkor Book.

The committee also wishes to thank the association in the U.S. for its significant contribution of important material and images, as well as for its financial help in covering a large part of the publication expenses.

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The Committee would also like to express its thanks to the Horodlo mutual aid society in Argentina for collecting materials, setting down recollections, and compiling the list of martyrs.

At this time, we wish to emphasize that we cannot claim the finished product to be accurate and free of errors. We have done our best to minimize the number of omissions and errors due to the conditions under which we worked: the lack of time, and the geographical distances. We have made efforts to provide an illustration of the way of life of this community, which suffered so greatly and was decimated by the ruthless hand of the bloodthirsty enemy.

Let this book be an eternal memorial and witness to the Jewish community of Horodlo!

Editorial Committee

Yoysef-Khayim Zavidovich
Yisro'el Barg
Shmu'el Froynd
Moyshe Zakai
Henekh Berman (U.S.A.)
Arn Flach
Avrom Kulish
Eliezer Shmidt
Ben-Tsiyon Bergman (Argentina)

June 1959, Israel

Translator's Footnote

1. The Hebrew yizkor means “remember” and is the traditional term for commemorative books produced in Europe, used since at least the 13^th century, to commemorate Jewish victims of persecution, and throughout the Middle Ages. After the devastation of 1933-1945, when six million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, the genre re-emerged to commemorate the lives and communities lost. This translation uses the Hebrew term in transliteration. Return

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In recent years, a strange and gruesome literature has developed among Jews – the spiritually rich “People of the Book.” This distressing, dark literature recounts the fate of millions of Jews – men, women, and children – who were cruelly annihilated during the years of World War II by savage, vile murderers produced by the German people, and whose bodies were turned to ash in the crematoria built by the same murderers. This literature describes sacred communities in the countries of Europe, which were uprooted from their homes and exterminated by the German foe.

This dreadful destruction did not spare the Jewish community of Horodlo (a small Polish town in the Hrubieszow region), located on the banks of the Bug river. For many generations, the Jews there lived a distinctive life, until they were annihilated (along with their brethren, the Jews of the nearby villages of Strzyzow, Kowel, and Kapilow) by the horrible enemy, for no fault or reason.^[1]

The decent, innocent Jews of Horodlo! Why was their blood spilled in the streets? Blameless children of Horodlo! Schoolchildren and babies in cradles, why were you led like sheep to the slaughter by the flesh-eating monsters? Why were you taken to your destruction without pity, like lambs to the wolves?

Where are you, the community of Horodlo? Where are you, precious Jews of Horodlo? Where is your gifted rabbi, and the righteous ritual slaughterers? Where is your beautiful synagogue? Where are your houses of prayer?

Woe unto you, blind and deaf humanity! How could you stand and watch the destruction of the Jewish people!

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These pages are dedicated to you, the holy Jews of Horodlo, you holy community of Horodlo, a link in the great chain of millions of Polish Jews. They are written by Jews of Horodlo who are scattered all over the world. May they serve as a monument and eternal memorial to our dear martyrs, who were cut down by the Nazi killers! May they be an eternal flame honoring the holy martyrs of Horodlo!

Translator's Footnote

1. I was unable to identify Kapilow. Return

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