Przemysl, 1939

19 December, 1939
Przemysl, Poland

On September 14, 1939, the town of Przemysl was occupied by the German army. The town was home to 24,000 Jews. (Yad Vashem) Although control of the city was later transferred to the Soviets, the Germans made sure to first attack the Jews of the community. They burnt down the Old Synagogue, the Klois, the Hassidic prayer house, the Tempel Synagogue and parts of the Jewish quarter. (Holocaust Research Project)

According to a JTA report, a few months later the Nazis locked 30 Jews into their synagogue and burnt it to the ground. This was reported on the basis of "Polish sources." However, neither Yad Vashem nor the Przemysl Yizkor Book make any mention of Jews being killed in the synagogue. They instead mention only the burning of the synagogues in September 1939. It could be that the report in December actually refers to the events of September, or perhaps the Polish papers were trying to rally support against the Nazis but reporting atrocities. If so, this playing up the well-known story, which had already occurred a number of times in September 1939.


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