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| The Miedzyrzec Ghetto! www.HolocaustResearchProje |
Miedzyrzec (Russian Church in background)
Miedzyrzec Podlaski was a well known Jewish community in central Poland, where Jews had lived since the 16th century. In the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century, the town was a famous Jewish centre for the production of brushes and furs. Before WW2 the Jewish population of Miedzyrzec numbered about 12,000 people, around 75% of the total population in town.
In September 1939 a part of the town was destroyed by the German Luftwaffe and about 25% of Jewish housing was destroyed. The German army entered the town on 13 September 1939 for the first time but after several days the Soviet Army occupied Miedzyrzec. The Soviets remained in the town until 25 September 1939, before leaving. 2,000 young Jews joined them.
German Wehrmacht units again entered the town on 9 October 1939. Shortly after the German occupation of Miedzyrzec Podlaski, the Jews were forced to leave the centre of the town. They had to move to the Jewish district, located in the poorest neighbourhood. Around 1,800 people had to vacate their homes.
"They went into small apartments, already overcrowded. These apartments were without privacy, water and sanitation. Water had to be carried from the wells in the streets. In 1940 a dysentery epidemic broke out." (Fragment of the report by the Committee of Jüdische Soziale Selbsthilfe (JSS) in Miedzyrzec, from the beginning of 1941).
Entrance to Jewish Quarter (circa 1941)
In the same manner as in other ghettos, a Judenrat and a Jewish police force were established in the town. Klarberg became president of Miedzyrzec's Judenrat. The awful situation in the Jewish district became even worse when from early 1940, large transports, each with around 1,500 resettled Jews from Nasielsk, Pultusk, Serock, Lodz and Gdynia arrived. Until early 1941 other transports also arrived from Krakow (740 people) and Mlawa (1,400 people). In addition, a group of Jewish POWs from the former Polish army was sent to the town. Most of the deportees possessed nothing except their own clothes. Hunger and lack of space became the biggest problems. Around 650 Jews were housed in the unheated synagogue.
According to the JSS report from early 1941, 6 - 8 people died from starvation every day. The daily bread ration was 100 grams (working Poles received 260 grams). In 1940, around 2,400 Jews from Miedzyrzec were sent to small labour camps in Biala Podlaska, Klody, Rogoznica, Rossosz and Lesna Podlaska. They were forced to work for the Wasserwirtschaftsinspektion (Water Supplies Inspection (WWI), installed by the Germans). They received neither salary nor sufficient food.
In 1942, when Aktion Reinhard began, the Miedzyrzec Ghetto became the main transit ghetto in the northern part of the Lublin district. From this transit ghetto, the Jews were deported to the Treblinka death camp.
Read more here:
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/miedzyrzec.h tml
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
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