Alternate names: Biłgoraj [Pol], Bilgoray [Yid], Biłgora, בילגאריי-Yiddish. 50°33' N, 22°42' E, 48 miles S of Lublin, 27 miles WSW of Zamość. 1900 Jewish population: 3,486. 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); Bilgoray yisker-bukh (Jerusalem, 1955); and Khurbn Bilgoraj (Tel Aviv, 1956). In SE Poland in Lublin Voivodeship since 2003 with 27,000 inhabitants in 2003, the town was previously in Zamość Voivodeship (1975-1998).For many years, Jews represented about 60% of the population. The childhood home of Itzhak Bashevis Singer and Israel Joshua Singer, grandsons of one of the local rabbis. Between 1942 and 1943, the Jewish residents were murdered at the Belzec death camp. [April 2009]
CEMETERY: The old cemetery, founded at the beginning of the 18th century, was at 3 Maja street before destruction by German troops. Today, a ball field occupies the site.
CEMETERY: The new cemetery is located on a small hill (Street Konopnickiej) was established in the first half of the 19th century. Nazis shot many Jews there during WWII. A few matzevot with beautiful inscriptions and well-preserved polychromy survived. Most gravestones are in random locations. In 1986, the cemetery was cleaned and the matzevot fragments built into a memorial. At the cemetery, a monument of victims of the Holocaust was erected. photos. [April 2009]
Here, we discovered a very small, partially restored cemetery with perhaps 40-50 stones. This most unusual cemetery has tombstones mostly of Kohanim and their wives. Source: Betty Provizer Starkman; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [February 1998]
REFERENCE: 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. .
REFERENCE: Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish Heritage Travel A Guide to East-Central Europe . New York: John Wiley &Sons, Inc., 1992. P 74