HORODLO: Lublin

Alternate names: Horodło [Pol], Horodlo [Yid], Khorodlo [Rus], Gorodlo, Horodle, Russian: Хородло. האראדלא-Yiddish. 50°53' N, 24°02' E, 29 miles SE of Chełm, 8 miles NE of Hrubieszów, on the Ukrainian border. 1900 Jewish population: 717. Yizkors: 1. Pinkas ha-kehilot; entsiklopediya shel ha-yishuvim le-min hivasdam ve-ad le-aher shoat milhemet ha-olam  ha-sheniya: Poland vol. 7: Kielce and Lublin (Jerusalem, 1999) 2. Di kehile fun Horodlo; yisker-bukh (Tel Aviv, 1962) 3. Kehilat Horodlo; sefer zikaron le-kedoshei Horodlo (Polin) ve-li-kedoshei ha-kefarim ha-semukhim (Tel Aviv, 1959). Horodło is a village in Hrubieszów County, Lublin Voivodeship in eastern Poland near the Ukraine border and the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Horodło approximately 13 km (8 mi) NE of Hrubieszów and 111 km (69 mi) E of regional capital Lublin. The Union of Horodło was signed there in 1413. The village has a population of 1,200. [May 2009]

Jews settled here as early as the second half of the 16th century. IIn 1648, most were murdered by Chmielnicki's gangs; only 13 survived. In the second half of the 18th century, the community was reestablished. In 1765, 220 Jews owned 29 houses and eight shops, mostly merchants, a few artisans although four Jews were distillers and others tax collectors. At that time, the kahal had organized a wooden synagogue, a bet midrash, and a cemetery. The first synagogue that burnt down in 1850 was replaced in 1865 with one built of bricks. Three cemeteries wer built over time,: the two oldest near the river (not far from the market place) and outside the town, the new one on the road to the village of Strzyzow. Chassidism was very strong here.. Most of its rabbis belonged to the Chassidim of Radzyn, but there were also small "stiebelich" (prayer-houses) of the Chassidim of Gor, Turzysk and Belz. The nearby villages of Strzyzow, Rowine, Kowale, Kopylow, Lisek, and Mecz were part of this kahal. Some Jews were also elected to the Town Counci early in the 20th century. During the WWI, Austrian and German occupiers heavily taxed the inhabitants of and confiscated their goods. reducing many to poverty. A Jewish "Aid Committee" and a soup kitchen for the needy with the Joint was opened. After the war, the Jews continued in small trade, peddling, and a few in crafts. In the inter-war period the community continued traditional religiously, but Zionism was making inroads. Some children attended the traditional cheder and others went to the Polish elementary school. In the 1920s the Zionists opened a Tarbut school and a public library with Hebrew and Yiddish books. On September 26th, 1939, Horodlo fell to the Germans,who immediately broke into Jewish shops and gave the goods to the Poles. A few days later, Soviet troops arrived only to stay about two weeks. A few Jews accompanied the Russian troops. With the return of the Nazis, persecution began. Many were seized for slave labour. A curfew was imposed; anyone outside at night was shot. At the end of 1939, all Jews over the age of 12 were ordered to wear a white armband with a blue Mogen David. Jews were evicted and rehoused in poorer accommodation, sometimes with several families to an apartment. Crowding and hunger led to typhus. A Judenrat was appointed. In spring 1941, the Germans ordered local Poles to destroy the synagogue. The fence around the cemetery was also torn down for grazing sheep and cattle. In summer 1941, the situation worsened. The Jews were forced work for non-Jewish farmers. Jews begged for employment and offered money,clothes, utensils for work permits and food. Wood for fuel was scarce. At the beginning of 1942, the Jews heard about mass murders in the district. An order came expelling them from Horodlo. A week after Passover 1942, the first deportation took place. 680 men, women and children were assembled in the market place in nearby Uchanie. Only Jews working on estates or farms were exempt from this deportation. Three Jews in hiding were seized and murdered in the Jewish cemetery. Non-Jews were placed in the houses of the Jews. Afew were torn down by peasants for building materials. A few days after Shavuot, the remaining Jews were taken to Uchanie. On June 10, they, together with the Jews of Uchanie, were taken to the railway station of Miaczyn where the aged, women and children were removed, put into wagons, and sent to the extermination camp at Sobibor. Many of them, particularly those who resisted, were shot at the railway station. Everyone fit for work were separated from their families at the station and divided in two groups. One group returned to Uchanie to work on the estate at Stazyn; the other group was sent to camp at Stawy, near Chelm. In autumn 1942, the Nazis murdered the Jews who had been sent to Stazyn. The local inhabitants usually refused the Jews any hiding-place. Those who managed to escape to the woods were mostly caught and killed or handed over to the Germans. A girl, Frajdl Perlmutter, was hidden and cared for for two years by a Polish peasant couple, Majtek and Katja Bodniewski, truly decent people. [May 2009]

New Jewish Cemetery: Established in 19th century and located on a small hill about 250 m from Roman-Catholic cemetery, traces of earthenwork s surround the cemetery, but no fragments of matzevot remain in the 0.46 ha. [May 2009]

Old Jewish Cemetery: In Wieniawka village near a manor-house on north side of the road about 1.5 km from the Main Square in Horodlo is one matzeva with Hebrew inscription. The 0.3 ha cemetery functioned from the second half of 16th century to the early 19th century when the new cemetery was established. [May 2009]