Alternate names: Chorzele [Pol], Chortzel [Yid], Khozhele [Rus], Khorzel, Khorzele, Khorzhel, Khozhel, Russian: Хожеле. חורזיל-Hebrew. 53°16' N, 20°54' E, 16 miles N of Przasnysz, 49 miles W of Łomża, 70 miles NE of Płock, 70 miles N of Warszawa. Jewish population: 950 in 1857.
Sefer zikaron le-kehilat Chorzel, (Tel Aviv, 1967).
KehilaLink [June 2013]
Gmina Chorzele is an urban-rural administrative district in Przasnysz County, Masovian Voivodeship in east-central Poland with Chorzle as seat, 16 mi N of Przasnysz and 71 mi S of Warsaw with a 2006 population of 10,117 (town of Chorzele-2,783. Ghetto:1940, Jews were resettled to the Makow, Wegrow, and Warsaw ghettos and most murdered at Treblinka in 1942. [April 2009]
This small town in the district Przasnyskim along the river Orzyc had been the border between Poland and Eastern Prussia until WWII. The town received city rights in 1542. After the Napoleonic Wars, Chorzele became a Russian possession. Jewish population: 1792-19 out of 732. The Jewish population steadily increased, particularly a the end of Prussian rule when the Jews were allowed to trade and hold membership of the guilds at the end of the 18th century. In the mid-19th century, when Jews numbered 630, the first synagogue and a school were built and received land to the cemetery. from municipality. The local Jews were craftsmen, traders, and laborers. They owned shops, bakeries, and the inn as well as the majority of small "industries" such as the brewery, brick factory, and tannery. In the interwar period, they traded with Eastern Prussia and smugglied. There were three large Jewish agriculatural holdings. 1939 Jewish population: 1,300. Abraham Michael Adler headed the Jewish community. A synagogue and two beit midrash served the Jewish community. The local chasidim had their own synagogues; however, their impact on the Jewish community was minimal. The chevrah kadisha cared for the cemetery. Kahał had ten cheders. The girls learned separately. In 1918-1919 there was a Jewish state school that combined the four separate schools. After its completion, students passed the fifth school in English. In 1930 the two schools merged into one. The Jews had a library containing several hundred books in Yiddish and Hebrew, a Tarbut, a choir, and beginning In 1918, a strong Zionist association. n the interwar period, Chorzele had 150 people emigrate to Israel, one of the highest rates in Poland-Zionists to the overall population. David Fiszerung,was the only Jew from Chorzele, who survived Auschwitz. On December 8, 1941, the Jews were expelled to the Makowie Mazowiecki. ghetto At the end of November 1942 makowski ghetto was liquidated, and its residents transferred to the transit camp in Mławie, and then to the death camps at Auschwitz and Treblinka. [April 2009]
Virtual Shtetl [June 2013]
CEMETERY: The 0.95 ha cemetery located on Ogrodowa and Nadrzeczna streets was established in the 19th century and destroyed during WWII. About twenty gravestones remain with a quarter of them is broken or ovecrturned. Photos and text in Polish. photo of memorial. photos. During WW II the Nazis devastated the cemetery, using the gravestones to create sidewalks. In 1989 the Chorzelach "Social Committee" made repairs to the Cemetery. Fr. Skowroński. aksed parishioners to bring him the Jewish tombstones or give information about where they were located. They were unveiled on June 30, 1991 as a monument built from the few fragments recovered matzevot with the inscription in Polish, Hebrew and Yiddish: "To the memory of the Jews from Chorzele, the dead murdered by the Nazi murderers. Chorzelskich Jews in Israel worked with them. Wojciech Henrykowski placed the following in the newspaper published specifically for the unveiling of the monument: "Together with the people killed were gravestones - Jewish gravestones, found in the burial ground and used in the sidewalk construction. Criminals have done their job. (...) very cruelly from the Jewish cemetery in Chorzelach. It was destroyed during the Second World War. ... arranged squares - including the excavated trench tetained to this day - and the German cemetery, which was built from the sidewalk. Tombstones of German soldiers were destroyed immediately after the end of World War II. The pieces - a few stone crosses - found in 1991 in the work. (...) The largest number of fatzevot fragments were found in 1989 during renovation of the street bridges. Some excavated on Pl . Kościuszki. Others have been brought by citizens. During the construction the gravestones found shelter in the yard of the City and the municipality. When that office was established and Social Committee fixed on the Jewish Cemetery in Chorzelach. Iis purpose was to carry out the construction of the monument and the site to reorganize the cemetery. (... ) Although matzevot fragments were in very bad condition, some survived. One of the tombstones were broken down into six parts. On the other, which preserves the original appearance of the archival photographs, was ub two pieces. ... diversity of material from gravestones. As for the whole Polish territory, the primary raw material is sandstone. But Chorzelach gravestones of marble field stone, and even lastrico. Jewish tombstones were also varied in formality. Some were ery simple way but some gravestones had folk ornamentation as well as clearly classical matzevot features." In 2006, the cemetery unveiling ceremony took place at the Fiszerungów family memorial. Members of the Union Ziomkowstwa Chorzelskiego intend to mark the resting place of Rabbi Sokołowera. [April 2009]
US Commission No. POCE00041
Alternate German name: Chorzellen (1772-1918). Chorzele is located in Ostroleckie at 53º16 20º54, 27 km from Przasnysz and 131 km from Warszawa. Cemetery: Ogrodowa Street, Nadrzeczna. 1990 town population: 1,000-5,000 with no Jews.
- Town: Ludwik Rogowski, Mayor. Urzad Miasta i Gminy, str. Padlewskiego 9, 06-330 Chorzele, tel. 34.
- Local: Spoleczny Komitet Rewaloryzacji Cmentarza Zydowskiego w Chorzelach, 06-300 Chorzele, ul. Padlewskiego 9.
- Regional: Ewa Kawalek Wojewodzki Konserwator Zabytkow. Panstwowa Sluzba Ochrony Zabytkow Odioiz. Wojewodzki W Ostrolece, Str. Pilsuskiego 38, 07-400 Ostroleka, tel. 66-829.
The earliest known Jewish community was second half of 18th century. 1931 Jewish population (census) was 949. The Hasidic Orthodox, Conservative, and Progressive Jewish cemetery dates from 19th century with last burial in 1939. Between fields and woods, the isolated flat land near water has a sign or plaque in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Polish mentioning Jews, the Holocaust, and the Jewish Community. Access is open to all with no fence or gate. The size of the cemetery now and before WWll is 1 ha. 20-100 gravestones, none in original location with less than 25% toppled or broken, date from the late 19th century. 5 stones removed from the cemetery are at a cemetery in Przasivysz; 20 were incorporated into roads or structures in Chorzele Pl. Kojcivszki; and 10 gravestones are located at Vizgd gminy Chorele. The marble, granite, sandstone, and terrazzo [?] flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, or flat stones with carved relief decorations have Hebrew and Yiddish inscriptions. Some tombstones have traces of painting and/or metallic elements. There is a special memorial monument for the Holocaust victims but no mass graves. The municipality owns site used for Jewish cemetery only. Properties adjacent are agricultural and residential. The cemetery boundaries are the same as before 1939. Frequently, organized Jewish group tours and individual tours, private visitors, and local residents visit. The cemetery was vandalized during WWll, but not in the last 10 years. In 1989-1991, local/municipal and regional authorities, Jewish groups abroad, the Committee for the Revitalization of the Jewish Cemetery in Chorzele, and the Association of Chorzele Compatriots in Israel re-erected stones, patched and cleaned stones, and cleared vegetation. There is occasional clearing and cleaning by authorities. There are no structures. Vandalism is a serious threat. Most of the cemetery was destroyed during WWll.
Wojciech Henrykowski, 06-200 Makow Maz Str. Spotoiziekzo 20 completed this survey. Photographic and other documentation of the tombstones, etc. is in the collection of Panstwowa Sluzba Ochrony Zabytkow w Ostrolece. Henrykowski visited the site in 20 Aug 1991.