Alternate names: Tarnogród [Pol], Tarnogrud [Rus, Yid], Тарногруд [Rus], טארנוגרוד [Heb]. 50°22' N, 22°45' E, 13 miles S of Biłgoraj, 33 miles SW of Zamość, 62 miles S of Lublin. 1900 Jewish population: about 2,000. Yizkors: 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) and Sefer Tarnogrod; le-zikaron ha-kehila ha-yehudit she-nehreva (Tel Aviv, 1966). This town in Biłgoraj County, Lublin Voivodeship, with a 2006 population of 3,399 (2006) dates back to the Middle Ages, then known as Cierniogród. The town had city rights from 16th to 19th century, and regained them in 1987. A synagogue still stands. [July 2009]
CEMETERY: Normal 0 Jews were allowed to establish the cemetery on Stroma Street in 1686 although the cemetery behind the gorge east of the synagogue and the market may have existed since 1588. The cemetery was almost completely devastated by the Germans during WWII. In 1985, the fenced cemetery with about 100 gravestones and fragments, were found in the town and returned there. Some are affixed to the cemetery wall as a "Memorial Wall". A Holocaust memorial commemorates the Jews from Tarnogród killed by the Germans in 1942. photos. [July 2009]
US Commission No. AS 189
Located in Zamosc province at 50º21' N 22º45' E, 43 km north from Jaroslaw, and 70-km SW from Zamosc. Cemetery is at the road to Rozance, E from Market Square within the suburb of "Przedmiescie Rozanieckie". Present population is under 1,000 with no Jews.
- Local: Urzad Gminy (City Council). (1) Urzad Wojewodzki (VoivodshipOffice), Zamosc, ul. Partyzantow 3; and (2) Sejmik Samorzadowy Wojewodztwa Zamojskiego (Local Governments' Committee of Voivodship Zamosc), Zamosc, ul. Partyzantow 3, tel.31-34.
- Regional: Panstowowa Sluzba Ochrony Zabytkow, Wojewodzki Konserwator Zabytkow (State Preservation Authority, Conservation Officer for Voivodship), Zamosc, ul. Staszica 29, tel.59-71.
- Interested: Regionalny Osrodek Studiow i Ochrony Krajobrazu Kulturowego (Regional Center for the Study and Preservation of Cultural Landscape), Lublin, ul. Archidiakonska 4. tel.73-62-24. Urzad Wojewodzki-Wydial Geodezji, Kartografii i Gospodarki Gruntami (VoivodshipOffice-Dept. of Land Survey, Cartography and Land Use), Zamosc, ul. Przemyslowa 4, tel.26-57; and Wojewodzkie Archiwum Panstwowe (State Archive for Voivodship), Lublin, 4 Przemyslowa St. The earliest Jewish community dates from 1567. 1938 Jewish population was 5,000. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish population reached 50%. In 1567, Jews were mentioned among the first settlers in town. In 1569, the city granted Privilege "de non tolerandis Judaeis", and withdrew it in 1580. A separate Jewish community was first mentioned in 1627. In 1686, the landlord, Marcin Zamoyski, confirmed the Privileges and rights of Tarnogrod Jews. In the same period, a masonry synagogue was erected. In 1942, the local Jewish population was exterminated. The rabbis Azriel-ha-Lewi Aszkenaz, Natan ben Jakow, and Mosze Joszua Orenstein lived here. The Jewish cemetery was established at the end of the 16th century (or after 1686) with last known Orthodox Jewish burial in the cemetery in 1941. Jews from neighboring villages [unnamed] used this unlandmarked cemetery. The isolated rural agricultural hillside has signs in Polish and Hebrew that mention Jews. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all. A continuous masonry wall, continuous fence, and non-locking gate surround the cemetery. The size of the cemetery was about 1.8 ha. before World War II and now about 1.79 ha. 100-500 gravestones, none in original positions and 25%-50% toppled or broken, date from 1745-20th century. Removed stones were incorporated into roads or structures. The sandstone finely smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with carved relief decorations, or double tombstones have Hebrew inscriptions. Some tombstones have traces of painting on their surfaces. There is a special memorial monument for Holocaust victims. The cemetery contains no known mass graves or structures. The municipality owns the cemetery property used only as a Jewish cemetery. Adjacent property is agricultural. Rarely, private visitors stop. The cemetery was vandalized during World War II. Jewish individuals abroad re-erected stones, patched broken stones, and fixed the wall and gate. In 1986, the fence was erected and about 100 stones were relocated back to the cemetery from different locations around the city. The Schorer family and Charles Schreiber sponsored the expenses. In 1990, a memorial tablet was erected commemorating the reconstruction of the cemetery. There is no care now. There are slight threats due to security, vegetation, vandalism and existing incompatible development.
Malgorzata Radolowicz-Buzikiewicz, Florianska 37/3; 31-019 Krakow, tel. (0-12) 215748 visited site and completed survey on September 28, 1995. She interviewed: (1) the officers at the Preservation Authorities, (2) residents of housing nearby to the cemetery, and (3) Mr. Wladyslaw Dubaj, Local House of Culture. Documentation: PSOZ, Wojewodzki Konserwator Zabytkow (State Preservation Authority, Conservation Officer for Voivodship), Zamosc --"Karta cmentarza" (cemetery record chart) #2664, filled out by D.Kawalko, 1990.
UPDATE: I accompanied my father, Joseph Schorer, who helped restore the cemetery in the summer of 1997. Source: Sheldon Schorer, Advocate; Fax: (972-9) 7713593; Phone: (972-9) 7741648; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Source: They Lived Among Us: Polish Judaica , a travel brochure: Arline Sachs, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- BOOK: Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish Heritage Travel A Guide to East-Central Europe . New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992. p. 78-79
[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns [April 2016]