WE REMEMBER THE
COMMUNITIES!
JEWISH COMMUNITIES DESTROYED IN THE HOLOCAUST
Editor:
Avraham Klevan
Preliminary
Edition
YAD VASHEM MARTYRS' AND HEROES' REMEMBRANCE AUTHORITY
Download the List (file in Excel) (last version 13.10.2009)
The List of Communities (Poland 1939)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W Y Z
Avraham Klevan:
INTRODUCTION
The Holocaust that befell the Jewish people caused the destruction of thousands of ancient and flourishing communities in those European countries which fell under Nazi domination. These communities were the scenes of generations of vibrant and flourishing Jewish life which grew up wherever Jews settled. Their institutions were the expression of the time - honored values of Jewish tradition, and the means by which those values were transmitted from generation to generation. Together with six millions Jews, these communities were wiped out by Nazi Germany in its savage war against the Jews and against the Judaism. It is a sacred duty to commemorate the names of these communities.
At Yad Vashem, on the Mount of Remembrance, is planned a monumental
memorial project for the commemoration of these Jewish communities: The Valley
of the Destroyed Communities. The memorial will symbolize a world that has been
destroyed, which has sunk beneath the earth leaving behind nothing but its
ruins to testify to the richness that had once existed. The Valley of the
Destroyed Communities together with other commemorative sites at Yad Vashem,
including the Hall of Names, will express the dimension of the Catastrophe.
This publication lists the names of 4,500 Jewish communities which were
destroyed in the Holocaust. They are recorded according to the geographical
boundaries of 1938, before the territorial changes which were caused by the
expansion of Nazi Germany. Included in this book are the names of the
settlements in which the number of Jews exceeded several dozen, and in which there
were Jewish communal services and institutions. Thousands of settlements in
which there lived a smaller number of Jews are not mentioned here. In Hebrew,
the names of the communities are spelled phonetically. However, some names are
written as they were pronounced by the Jewish inhabitants themselves.
The memorial to the Destroyed Jewish Communities will be sited to the
west of Yad Vashem on 6 acres of rocky, wooded hillside. The memorial has been
designed as a total environmental experience, the chief feature of which will
be a Valley, from the floor of which will rise massive rock - forms (ruin
mounds) some 3-5 meters high. These mounds will recall debris - heaps of rubble
left by the destruction of the destroyed communities. Courtyards linking clusters
of rock forms will provide passages within the Valley. A cluster of rock forms,
including the courtyards in the midst, will comprise a given country. The
location of the communities in the Valley, whose names will be incised on the
surface of the rock forms, will correspond roughly to their geographical
location in Europe. These courtyards will be placed at a different level thus
providing visual and physical continuity, and enabling groups and individuals
to gather for commemoration and communion. It is planned to give artistic
expression to the characteristics of each country in appropriate visual or
symbolic form. The mood of desolation in the Valley will be reinforced by
scattered, non - flowering vegetation, the uses of spaces in conjunction with the
rock - forms and by the texture of the mounds.
A wide plaza at the headland to the Valley will enable a general
overview of the site, as well as a gathering place for visitors. The landscape
design for this area will exploit the natural topography of the terrain and
will include trees and non - flowering shrubs.
A path will lead down from the plaza to the courtyards serving as the
entrance to the Valley. From the Valley, a path will lead to a
We welcome advice and commentary from the public and the
Landsmenschaften concerning the names of the communities, and/or additions to
our list.
The memorial project will be carried out over the next 5 years and will
complete the commemorative sites of the Mount of Remembrance. It is envisaged
that the Valley of the Destroyed Communities will become a major national memorial
for many generations to come, and it is our hope that it will be built with the
support of the Jewish people in
Yad Vashem, January
1997.
The Lost Jewish
Communities of
Download the List (file in Excel)
The List of Communities (Poland 1939).
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W Y Z
Message from Ada Holtzman
Following the request of Mr. Benjamin Meirtchak, the general secetary of the
Association of Polish Jewry, I am very pleased to post hereunder the list of
the Communities from Poland, as have been in 1939, before the break of WWII.
I added more information to the original one which was all taken from the Yad
Vashem book: " JEWISH COMMUNITIES DESTROYED IN THE HOLOCAUST",
Editor: Avraham Klevan, Preliminary Edition, Yad Vashem Martyrs' And Heroes'
Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem,
1982, Poland, pages: 45-84.
I added some towns which were not included in the original book. In addition, I added the following information:
- If the Community has a Yizkor (memorial) book .
- If the community has an article (in Hebrew) in the seven Pinkasei Kehilot (Encyclopaedea of Jewish Communities) including the volume where the article appears athenumbers.
You may order any one of those books from Yad Vashem, the
Publishing Depratment:
Yad Vashem Books
P.O.B. 3477
Jerusalem 91034
Israel
Tel. 972-2-6443-510 or 6443-505
Fax 972-2-6443508
E-mail: publishing@yadvashem.org.il
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The
Pinkasei Kehilot of Poland, Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities (Poland), which
wre published by Yad Vashem, Martyrs' and Heroes' Rememberance Authority
All Rights Reserved by Yad Vashem
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PINKAS HAKEHILOT, VOL I:- The
Communities of Lodz and its Region, (editors Danuta Dabrowska & Abraham
Wein ) Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1976, 297 pages, Hebrew, introduction in
English.
PINKAS HAKEHILOT, VOL II: Eastern
Galicia, (editors Danuta Dabrowska, Abraham Wein, Aharon Weiss), Yad
Vashem, Jerusalem 1980, 569 pages, Hebrew
PINKAS
HAKEHILOT, VOL III: Western Galicia & Silesia, (editors Abraham
Wein & Aharon Weiss) Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1984, 399 pages, Hebrew
PINKAS HAKEHILOT, VOL IV: Warsaw
and Its Region, (editor Abraham Wein) Yad vashem, Jerusalem 1989, 485
pages, Hebrew, ISBN 965-308-007-5
PINKAS
HAKEHILOT, VOL V: Volhynia and Polesie, (editor: Shmuel Spector), Yad
Vashem 1990, 346 pages, Hebrew, ISBN 965-308-011-3
PINKAS
HAKEHILOT, VOL VI: Districts Poznan and Pomerania; Gdansk (Editor:
Abraham Wein), Jerusalem 1999, 160 pages, Hebrew, Introduction in English, ISBN
965-308-069-5
PINKAS HAKEHILOT, VOL VII:
Districts Lublin Kielce, (editor Abraham Wein), Jerusalem 1999, 635
pages, Hebrew, ISBN 965-308-070-9
PINKAS
HAKEHILOT, VOL VIII: DISTRICTS Vilna • Białystok • Nowogródek
(Editor: Shmuel Spector, Co-Editor: Bracha Freundlich, Jerusalem 2005, 657
pages, Hebrew, ISBN 965-308-246-9
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