Gorlice
(Gorlits, Gorlitse, Gorlitza)
~ In loving memory, Sylvia Ring Rosenfeld ~
b. 2 April 1902 - d. 8 May 1998
~ In loving memory, Sylvia Ring Rosenfeld ~
b. 2 April 1902 - d. 8 May 1998
Location
- Southern Poland, 178.5 miles south of Warsaw
- Map Coordinates: 49°40'/21°10'
Gorlice is located on local road #98 south of Krakow between Jaslo and Nowy Sacz in what is now the Polish Province of Malopolska ("Little Poland"). It lies in the Ropa and Sekowka River Valley, ringed by ridges of the Carpathian mountains. The Gorlice of today is in a heavily populated region 14.6 miles from Jaslo, 21.2 miles from Nowy Sacz, 25.5 miles from Tarnow, and 62.6 miles from Krakow. The name "Gorlice" is pronounced as if its English spelling were "Gor-leetz-eh," with the stress falling on the middle syllable.
Political History with Regard to Location
Prior to 1772, Gorlice was in Poland. Almost no Jewish families lived in Gorlice, though Jews were allowed to live in the nearby town of Nowy Sacz. At the time of the first partition of Poland in 1772, the large mountainous area that includes the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains and the valleys of the upper Vistula, Dniester, Bug, and Seret rivers--and which also includes Gorlice--came under Austrian domination as the political entity of Galicia. Eventually, this area was densely populated by Jews, with many of them settling in Gorlice during the 19th century. Between World War I and World War II, the area that had been Galicia belonged to Poland. Today, although some of the territory that once comprised Galicia is in Ukraine, Gorlice and its surrounds are located in Poland.
This Web site provides a thumbnail sketch of Polish Jewish history in and around Gorlice. Those wishing an excellent in-depth view of Polish Jewish history, however, will find it by consulting the sites below:
Dr. Mike
Rosenzweig's Jewish-Polish Heritage
AICE
Jewish
Virtual Library History Tour
Gorlice in the 19th Century
Even before the end of the 19th century, Jews in Gorlice comprised 50%
of the local population, which, by the end of the century, numbered
more than 6,000 souls. The non-Jewish population was engaged
primarily in farming; and there was also a lumber trade, with lumber
coming from the many forested hills of the surrounding Carpathian
mountain region. Gorlice's Jews traded primarily in wine and
corn. In the 2nd half of the 19th century, oil was found in the
area surrounding Gorlice. In 1883 the Glinik machinery
manufacturing plant was built, and in 1885 the Glimar oil refinery
was established.
Life in 19th-century Gorlice was peaceful, perhaps almost
idyllic. Jews communicated with each other in Yiddish, the
universal
language of European Jewry despite local differences in pronunciation.
Jewish
mothers in Gorlice in the 19th century and the first part of the 20th
might
have sung for their children some of the same Yiddish songs available
at
the following site:
On the Sabbath, children frolicked freely on strolls with their parents through the fields to the south of Gorlice. In summer, people went bathing in the river that flowed through the eastern part of the city. They sometimes called this the "River Nile." Because of its setting in the surrounding mountains, Gorlice's Jews compared their town to Jerusalem. The Jewish cemetery was located on the western slope of "Cemetery Mountain," just beyond and somewhat lower than Gorlice's Christian cemetery.
Gorlice's Jewish Cemetery (After clicking, scroll down to Gorlice.)
The
Jewish Cemetery, which dates back to the 19th century, has been
partially restored and is no longer without a gate or a fence. To
take a walk through this cemetery, just click on the link below.
A Photo
Tour of
Gorlice's Jewish Cemetery
Tomasz Wisniewski's Pre-World War I
Historic Postcards
Pre-World War I Gorlice Area Jewish
Businesses
Sadly, one of the
biggest battles of World War I took place on the outskirts
of Gorlice on May 2, 1915. German and Austro-Hungarian forces
attacked along a 28-mile Russian front, breaking through it and pushing
Russian forces back 300 miles further east. Gorlice
sustained tremendous damage. The Web site directly below features
photos of a conquered Russian position on the road to Gorlice, a
shelled house in Gorlice, the bombing of Gorlice taken from a gas
balloon, and an armored transport on a winding road in Galicia.
The gentlemen shown on the medallion in the center are Kaiser Wilhelm
II and Emperor Franz Joseph II.A Polish Web Site with Clickable Pictures of Gorlice and Environs after Battle (cathedral, German dugout, view of city, typical street, market day in ruins, German soldier's grave near Gorlice, and military lines near Gorlice)
Map Showing the Battle Lines
Relief Map
Article on Jewish War Cemeteries
Jewish Graves, Military Cemetery, Gorlice
Grave 1
Grave 2
The rebuilding of Gorlice began after the war but was halted by World War II. In between the two World Wars, though, life for Gorlice Jews continued in a normal way. Among activities were busy market days in a central square in Gorlice. A couple of photos from the Simon Weisenthal exhibit "And I Still See Their Faces" show what this was like:
The Market Square in GorliceBagnowka Tours Photos (Enter Gorlice for Town in the search window.)
The "Search for Polish Society" Site's Pre-1945 Gorlice Photos
Holocaust Period
By the outbreak of World War II, almost 10,000 Jews lived in
Gorlice. Some of them managed to get to Soviet territory before
the German invasion of Poland on September 6, 1939. Some few also
managed to hide or join partisan units.
Children
in the Gorlice Ghetto
At first, Jews from the Gorlice Ghetto were used as slave
laborers. Below is the story of one young Jew, Harry Balsam, who
was sent to Plazow, a labor camp outside Krakow.
Mass shootings of the Jewish
population began in 1942. On August 14, 1942, the
Gorlice Ghetto was established. Gorlice's
remaining Jews were crowded into it and were joined by Jews from some
of the surrounding areas. In Poland, there were organized efforts
by the non-Jewish population to resist the Nazi's plan to exterminate
Jews. There were also efforts by ordinary Poles to save their Jewish neighbors. The
Gorlice area was no exception.
Gorlice Area
Righteous Gentiles
Testimony of Father Jan Patrzyk, One of
the Righteous
Yad Vashem's Recognition of Father Patrzyk and
Barbara Patrzyk
The
Story of
Righteous Gentile Maria Kotarba (Scroll down at James Foucar's site
to find the material on Maria Kotarba.)
In spite of such efforts, though, most of Gorlice's Jews perished--some along with their would-be rescuers, some turned in by informants seeking a reward, and some as a result of "aktions" or selections easy for the Germans to accomplish once the Jews had been sequestered in a ghetto and deprived of any means of defending themselves or escaping. In August of 1942, the Gorlice ghetto was established for Jews from Gorlice and Jews from some of the neighboring villages. Around the same time, about 1,000 Jews from Gorlice and the neighboring town of Bobowa (famous for the Bobover Rebe, Ben-Zion Halberstam) were transported by truck to Garbacz, just outside Gorlice. There they were shot. Samuel Oliner, now a professor at Humboldt College but then a boy of 12, escaped detection by hiding on a rooftop the day the Bobowa ghetto was liquidated and--with the help of a plan devised by a "righteous Gentile" Polish peasant woman--was able to suvive until the end of the war by masquerading as a Polish boy. To read some of Dr. Oliner's eye-witness account of the Nazi roundup of the Bobowa ghetto's Jews from his book Restless Memories, click on the link below. Warning: This material has been put on a separate, linked page because of its highly graphic and disturbing nature. It is not appropriate for children.
The Roundup in Bobowa
It can be presumed that the scene in Gorlice was very similar to what
Dr. Oliner describes in Bobowa. Factory workers in
Gorlice were allowed to live somewhat longer than the rest of the Jews
there, since they were useful to the Nazis. But ultimately all
Jews
who had not been deported for forced labor, been killed, or managed to
escape from the area were
sent to Belzec extermination camp. About 50 surviving Jews came
back to Gorlice after liberation of the area by the Russians.
Some of these Jews arranged for the erection of a memorial in the
Garbacz woods at the site of the mass grave where the massacre of Jews
from Gorlice and Bobowa had taken place.
The Memorial at GarbaczThe Jewish population in Gorlice dwindled down to nothing following the erection of this memorial, since returning Jews encountered little welcome from the Polish population and soon left. Nonetheless, the memorial remains as a reminder of what happened at this site.
A
Translation of Selected Items from the Gorlice Yizkor Book
Following are places with
information about
Holocaust survivors:
Survivor Affairs Department, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Yad Vashem and Its Remembrance Projects Further
Information on How to Find Holocaust Survivors
Modern Gorlice
Today, Gorlice is a large, modern city with more than 30,000 inhabitants. It has three post offices, three railway stations, a regional museum, a cultural center, a public library with two branches, a music school, a technical school, various sports facilities, a hospital, and a large hotel as well as a motel and guest houses. Its numerous restaurants even include pizzerias! Gorlice is, however, devoid of Jews; and its former synagogue has been turned into a bakery.
A Photo of the Former Synagogue
The Former
Synagogue by Night (Bogusław Lewiński
photo)
Despite sad sights like the former synagogue,
there is some measure of
hope for the future because of the number of young Poles who have found
that they have partially Jewish ancestry and are
now eager to learn more about their roots in this culture that was
once so vibrant in Poland.
Robert Huk's Fotogaleria Gorlice Pages (Click on "dalej" to go forward, "wstecz" to go back.)
A Web Site All
in
Polish, but with Clickable Photos
Gorlice Municipal
Web Site (now entirely in Polish but with many interesting Gorlice
photos)
Map Showing Gorlice and Nearby Towns
A Map of Poland Showing Gorlice
A Smaller
Section
from the Above Map
Although
the official word is that no 19th-century records of Jewish births,
marriages, and deaths in
Gorlice have survived, some vital records pertaining to people from
Gorlice have
been located in various archives by the Jewish Records Indexing Project
of JewishGen (http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/).
These appear to be records of events that involved Gorlice citizens but
took place in other locales. Other types of records for Gorlice
Jews, such as passport records, are also available at JRI Poland.
To search
the database:
Search Page at Routes
to Roots Foundation
You can also search
for Gorlice information with:
Logan Kleinwak's Search Engine
for Online Historical Directories
The museum in
Gorlice has limited
information
on prominent Jewish people who had significant commercial interests in
the
area. Inquiries may be addressed to: Regional Museum PTTK,
str.Waska
7, Gorlice, POLAND (phone:
352-26-15).
You
can also search for Gorlice records identified by the Mormons at the
following site:
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/fhlc/
The
book Żydzi gorliccy, by
Władysław
Boczoń, published by W. Boczoń in Gorlice in 1998, although written
in Polish, has maps, photos, and charts that should be of interest to
Gorlice researchers. This book is available through Inter-Library
Loan from Florida Atlantic University Library, Harvard University
Widener Library, the Library of Congress, Ohio State University
Library, Stanford University Library, the University of Florida
Library, and the University of Toronto John P. Robarts Library.
It can also be perused at the non-lending libraries of the Hoover
Institute on War, Revolution & Peace and the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum.
A Web site that may also be helpful in doing Galician research is below:
Last, a Web site with instructions on researching Polish roots:
To search the JewishGen Family Finder for other people researching Gorlice, click on the button below.To search for people from Gorlice in the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry
Books and Archival Documents on Gorlice at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (Click on "Search the Collections," and enter "Gorlice" into subsequent search windows. You may need to click on the name of a collection to get a search window.)
Advice for Travelers going to Poland and Gorlice
To Visit Gorlice with JewishGen
A Special Interest Group for People with Roots in Galicia
The Best Site for Jewish Genealogical Research
A Bibliography for Polish Genealogical Research
To Find Information on Other Shtetls
The author of these pages would like to thank Alexander Sharon, Dr. Samuel P. Oliner, Mike Kazakevitch (who helped with scanning), and Leonard Markowitz for their kind assistance. By contributing all of the text on the "Roundup in Bobowa" page and the photos and text for the "Memorial at Garbacz" page, Dr. Oliner enabled the construction of a significant section on the Holocaust. The information on what life was like for Jews in Gorlice in the 19th century comes from Mr. Markowitz's interesting account of a trip to Poland, which can be viewed in its entirety at: http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/pl-trav.txt
An excellent Polish Web site MINIX, suggested by Mr. Sharon, was the source of much other data. Unfortunately, the English pages, with beautiful photos and much information, are no longer at the site.
Thanks also to Eric dosSantos, who allowed the author to crop and use his extraordinary photos of fiery sunsets on the pages describing the roundup in Bobowa. These sunset photos and others by Eric can be seen at: http://www.adventureliving.com/home/journeys/costa/sunsets/index.html
Thanks are
certainly due Kazimierz Migacz and his brother, Andrzej Migacz, who
was instrumental in getting Kazimierz's photos of Gorlice's
former synagogue and Jewish cemetery for this ShtetLinks site.
Kazimierz, a resident of Czchów, Poland, has been
writing a book about Gorlice but allowed the use here of his valuable
photos prior to book publication--an act of unusual kindness. The
author is additionally grateful to Andrzej Migacz for sending Bogusław Lewiński's
large photos of the Gorlice Jewish Cemetery and the night-time view of
the former synagogue and to Bogusław
Lewiński for his permission to publish these photos at the Gorlice
ShtetLinks site.
The four historic postcards were contributed by Allen Bergman. The author is additionally grateful to Allen Bergman for making her aware of Władysław Boczoń's book Żydzi gorliccy (The Jews of Gorlice). In this connection, special thanks are due Maria Boczoń, widow of the author of Żydzi gorliccy. The hand-drawn map showing Gorlice features during World War II was a personal gift from Maria, and Maria also gave the author of this Web site generous permission to republish any material from Żydzi gorliccy, written by her deceased husband, a member of the Council for Aid to Jews (code name: Zegota). Maria--who in a single day in 1943 lost two brothers, shot by the Nazis as hostages, and her father, Jan Benisz, shot for his participation in Zegota--is a fund of information on the Holocaust in Gorlice, a local treasure who generously shared five hours of her time as well as much material during the author's trip to Poland in August of 2004.
Special thanks must go also to Shlomo Balsam for putting the author in touch with Colin Balsam and to Colin for donating the amazing account of his father Harry Balsam's survival in Plaszow Camp and on a subsequent death march. And thanks are due J. Victor Stern, whose "Return to Gorlice" appears at this site and who discovered the valuable fact that the museum in Gorlice has photos of Gorlice Ghetto residents. Last, but
certainly not least, the author wishes to thank her Polish friend
Robert Huk, who donated all of the colored photos that appear on this
page. Robert is a Gorlice resident whose
work has been exhibited at galleries throughout Poland.
Currently, his fine exhibit of
crosses and churches, well worth looking
at, can be seen online at:
http://www.opoka.org.pl/biblioteka/B/BG/huk/sztuka_sakralna/sztuka_sakralna1.html.
Additionally, Robert has a site of his own: http://www.fotogaleria.art.pl/.
Click under the large image to get to a page with various clickable
categories of photos. The pages with photos of Gorlice start at http://www.fotogaleria.art.pl/Gorlice/gorlice1.htm.
(Click on "dalej" to go forward, "wstecz" to go back.) In
addition to Robert's Gorlice pages and other beautiful photos, you can
view, under Pejzaze
Beskidow, 12 pages of excellent photos of the countryside in
the Beskid Niski region, of which Gorlice is a part.
To all of the above-named persons, without whom this site would not have been possible, the author is most grateful.
References
(In addition to sites to which links have been provided above,
following are some, but not necessarily
all, of the other sources consulted.
Information was also derived from personal interviews and
correspondence.)
Books and Articles
Boczoń, Władysław. Żydzi
gorliccy (The Jews of Gorlice),
Gorlice, 1998.
Bergman, Paulina. And Not as a Broken Shard (Velo
Kaheres Hanishbar). Private edition printed in Israel, 1990.
Bartoszewski, Władysław and Lewin, Zofia, editors. Righteous among Nations: How Poles
Helped the Jews, 1939-1945. Earlscourt Publications Ltd.,
London, 1969.
Gilbert, Martin. The
Boys: The Untold Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors.
Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY, 1997.
Markowitz, Leonard. Unpublished manuscript on Galicia and general area of Gorlice sent to Marjorie Rosenfeld. Includes material from translation by Pawel Kursz, Mr. Markowitz's Polish guide, with editing by Mr. Markowitz, of an article from the Geographic Dictionary of Poland and other Slovanic Nations (1884), from the Gorlice Memorial Book, by M.Y. Bar-on, ed., and from Oliner, Dr. Samuel P., Restless Memories.
Markowitz, Leonard. "Tracing Your Roots in Poland," 1995. JewishGen InfoFile Travelogue.
Oliner, Samuel P. Restless Memories: Recollections of the Holocaust Years, 2nd rev. Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, CA, 1986.
Taylor, A.J.P. The First World War: An
Illustrated History. Capricorn Books, New York, NY,
1972.
Web Sites
AICE American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise Jewish Virtual
Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/
(http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Poland.html)
Dwor Karwacjanow (Karwacjans Court): http://www.gorlice.art.pl/
Euro-Fresh: http://www.eurofresh.se/
(http://www.eurofresh.se/poland-map/index.htm)
(http://www.eurofresh.se/poland-map/polska7.htm)
Federation of East European Family History Societies: http://www.feefhs.org/
FEEFH Map Room: http://www.feefhs.org/maps/indexmap.html
(http://www.feefhs.org/maps/ah/ah-galic.html)
Galician Research: http://maxpages.com/poland/Galician_Research
Glimar Hotel: http://www.glimar.wysowa.pl/
(http://www.glimar.wysowa.pl/en/index.php)
Glinik: http://www.glinik.pl/
Gorlice Municipal Web Site: http://www.gorlice.pl/
Holocaust History Project: http://www.holocaust-history.org/
(http://www.holocaust-history.org/short-essays/finding-people.shtml)
Holocaust Memorial Center: http://www.holocaustcenter.org/
(http://www.holocaustcenter.org/Holocaust/holocaustbadges.shtml)
Humboldt State University: http://www.humboldt.edu/
(http://www.humboldt.edu/~rescuers/index.html)
The Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute: http://www.humboldt.edu/~altruism/
INFO Ukes: http://infoukes.com/
Israeli Center for Holocaust Survivors and the Second Generation:
http://www.amcha.org/
Miasto Gorlice Web Site: http://um.gorlice.net.pl/index2.htm
Miroslaw Lopata's Gorlice Cemetery Web Site: http://www.cmentarze.gorlice.net.pl/
(http://www.cmentarze.gorlice.net.pl/Gorlice/Gorlice.htm)
(http://www.cmentarze.gorlice.net.pl/swieykowski/swiey1.htm)
(http://www.cmentarze.gorlice.net.pl/b_gor_szkic_sytuacji_na_froncie.gif)
(http://www.cmentarze.gorlice.net.pl/gor.relief.JPG)
Photos of Jewish Military Graves:
http://www.cmentarze.gorlice.net.pl/Gorlice/zdjecia/gorlice_90a.JPG
http://www.cmentarze.gorlice.net.pl/Gorlice/zdjecia/gorlice_90b.JPG
Non-Jewish Holocaust Victims Site: http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/index.htm
Polish Genealogical Research Site: http://www.maxpages.com/poland/
(http://www.maxpages.com/poland/Holocaust_Information)
Polish Jews: http://polishjews.org/
Routes to Roots Foundation: http://www.rtrfoundation.org/
(http://www.rtrfoundation.org/search.asp)
Search for Polish Society: http://www.szukamypolski.com/
(http://www.szukamypolski.com/gap/galery_1b.php?cat_id=354&l=english)
"And I Still See Their Faces": Images of Polish Jews: http://motlc.wiesenthal.org/exhibits/faces/
(http://motlc.wiesenthal.org/exhibits/faces/061.html)
(http://motlc.wiesenthal.org/exhibits/faces/062.html)
(http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/gallery/pg19/pg3/pg19369.html)
SuperTravelNet.com: http://www.supertravelnet.com/
(http://www.supertravelnet.com/maps/index.php?country=237_5117_7)
Tarnow Museum: http://www.muzeum.tarnow.pl/
(http://www.muzeum.tarnow.pl/judaica/jewish.html)
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: http://www.ushmm.org/
(http://www.ushmm.org/research/collections/)
(http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/survivoraffairs/)
University of Warsaw Centre for Studies on the Classical
Tradition in Poland and East Central Europe:
http://www.obta.uw.edu.pl/obta/eng_ver/index_eng.html
(http://www.obta.uw.edu.pl/~ewaj/reszta/4.htm)
World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the
Holocaust: http://www.wfjcsh.org/
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research: http://www.yivoinstitute.org/aboutyivo/about_fr.htm
(http://yivo1000towns.cjh.org/)
Zemerl Yiddish Music: http://www.zemerl.com
(http://www.zemerl.com/cgi-bin/search.pl?query=all)
Zbigniew Zwolinski's GLOBE: http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/welcomea.html
(http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/ph/pro/plpro.html)
Other Resources That May be of Value to People Doing Research on Polish Jewry
Bartel, Israel and Polonsky, Anthony, eds. Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, Volume 12 (Focusing on Galicia: Jews, Poles, and Ukrainians, 1772-1918). Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. For more information, see: http://www.littman.co.uk/polin/index.html
Land-Weber, Ellen. To Save a Life: Stories of Holocaust
Rescue, University of Illinois Press, Champaign-Urbana, IL,
2000. For more information, see: http://www.humboldt.edu/~rescuers/index.html
Please
send comments, corrections, and suggestions for additions to
Marjorie Stamm Rosenfeld
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Copyright © 1999 M S Rosenfeld
(Last updated on 6/15/2008)
