Łagów (Lagow) | Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship

Łagów is a village in Świebodzin County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Łagów.[1] It lies approximately 19 kilometres (12 mi) north-west of Świebodzin, 45 km (28 mi) south of Gorzów Wielkopolski, and 46 km (29 mi) north of Zielona Góra. In 1921, there were 1,269 Jews in the Łagów settlement, or 50.2% of the total population. They lived mainly from crafts and trade. In 1933, the Jewish community in Łagów, according to the district office’s assessment, numbered 1,425 people and by 1937, 1,600 people. Prior to the war, the Jewish population in Łagów played an essential role in the town’s economic, cultural, and social life. Jews were involved in various professions and trades, including small businesses, crafts, and agriculture. They owned shops, taverns, and worked as tailors, blacksmiths, and carpenters, contributing to the local economy and providing services to both Jewish and non-Jewish residents. The Jewish community in Łagów had its own religious institutions, including synagogues, prayer houses, and study halls.. In addition to their religious and economic activities, the Jews of Łagów were active in various social and cultural organizations. They established charitable societies to support the needy, cultural associations promoting Jewish arts and literature, and youth organizations that fostered Jewish identity and education.

 Łagów was occupied by the Germans during the first week of September 1939. At the beginning of the war, Łagów was severely damaged. In anticipation of the German forces’ arrival, a cohort of young Jews made an escape to Eastern Poland, which was then under Soviet occupation. After the Germans entered the city, executions of the Jewish population began; 32 people were shot for killing a German. At that time, the Jewish cemetery near the village was destroyed. Jews were forced to work and ordered to wear the yellow star of David. The Judenrat, established at the end of 1939, had to pay dues to the Germans. The entire Jewish population of the city was forcibly evacuated from their residences and relocated to substandard accommodation in the market area of the town. Initially, the Jews still had some freedom to leave their homes, but in March 1942, the area was sealed off, effectively transforming it into a ghetto. By March, the Łagów ghetto had been completely closed off and surrounded by barbed wire. During the years 1941-1942, approximately 100 Jews from Vienna were captured and held in Opatów and Łagów. In addition, a sizable group of Jews from Radom was transported to Łagów and accommodated in the synagogue. The residents of this confined area experienced severe hunger and deprivation. On October 7, 1942, SS men, accompanied by Ukrainian and Polish police, arrived in Łagów. They forcibly entered homes and rounded up all the Jews, herding them into the yard near the Judenrat building. The sick and elderly were shot, sometimes even in their beds, while many children met the same fate. Some Jewish individuals sought assistance from local farmers, but only a few were willing to help. Many of the hiding Jews were betrayed and denounced to the German occupants. Eventually, about 2,000 Jews from the Łagów ghetto were deported to the German Nazi death camp Treblinka. Amid this mass expulsion from Łagów, the Germans permitted a small number of Jews, possibly only a few dozen, to remain. These individuals were coerced into labor, tasked with collecting and sorting the possessions left behind by the expelled residents, burying the murdered victims, and cleaning the ghetto. However, after some time, they too were tragically sent to the extermination camp.