During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Jewish community of Kovel grew economically, politically and intellectually. In the 1920s, as part of the new Republic of Poland, the community supported three major synagogues, kindergartens, two elementary Hebrew schools, a Hebrew high school, a Yiddish school, a vibrant Yiddish theatre scene, and several political parties, both Zionist and Orthodox. In 1937, Kowel's 13,200 Jews made up nearly half the total population. Soviet occupation in 1939 ended community life, and the murderous Nazi occupation that followed wiped out the Jews themselves.

The anguish of those who lost their lives was recorded in nearly 100 pencil-written notes on the walls of the city's Great Synagogue, lamenting the dead, asking for remembrance, and calling for vengeance.

May this book be a memorial to them and the community that no longer exists.

Kovel [Ukr, Rus, Yid], Kowel [Pol], Kovla, Kovle

Turiysk 11 miles SW
Milyanovichi 12 miles WSW
Nesukhoyezhe 12 miles NNE
Ozeryany 14 miles SSE
Cheremoshno 15 miles ENE
Kupychiv 15 miles S
Holoby 16 miles SE
Dolsk 16 miles WSW
Lukov 17 miles W
Melnytsya 17 miles ESE
Povorsk 18 miles E