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Remembering the Jewish Community of

Delatyn, Galicia

Remembered by David Sotkowicz

Delatyn is a village in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. It lies along the Prut River in eastern Galicia. Jews lived in the area long before the town was settled. The earliest tombstones in the Jewish cemetery date from the 1400s.

In the 19th century, when mineral springs were discovered, the region became a popular resort area. Guests to the mineral springs were almost entirely Jewish. Just prior to World War I, there were 3000 Jews in the area, making up about 38% of the population.

Many Jews were active in wholesale grain businesses; many others were tradesmen. The religious communities were mostly Sadgora and Vizhnitsa Hasidim. Zionist organizations were popular, especially among the youth.

On July 1, 1941, the Germans occupied Delatyn. On October 16, 1941, about 1950 Jews from Delatyn were murdered in the forest outside the town and buried in three mass graves.

In the 1990's, Dutch filmmaker Willie Lindwer visited Delatyn with his father and erected a memorial stone by these mass graves. Today, less than 10 Jews live in Delatyn. There are two Delatyner landsmanschaften in New York and one in Israel; all are made up of aging members.

This memoir is written with love in blessed memory of my great- grandmother, Toibe Ruchel bas Aharon, who was dragged down to the banks of the River Prut and murdered; in blessed memory of her children who perished during the Holocaust; and in honor of my grandmother, who lived in New York with her memories and her tears, unable to help her family.

I have copies of my family's Yad Vashem pages of testimony, as well as photos or the deceased. The death of my great-uncle Chaim Dovid is described in a book by his sister-in-law Prive Friedjung. I have translated the relevant pages from the German. At the time Chaim Dovid Schreiber had moved from Delatyn to Jadorna, Romania. I am also responsible for the JewishGen shtetlinks page for Delatyn.