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Remembering the Jewish Community of

Sokol, Ukraine (formerly Poland)

Remembered by Rachel Melemed

My mother is from the village of Krystanopal in the Ukraine. Her cousin Moshe Maltz lived in a neighboring town called Sokal. My mother's family escaped while the Germans were invading Poland. They crossed the Bug River into Russia and stayed with a daughter and her family until they were forced to leave by the Russian government. They worked in labor camps in Russia and then traveled the Ural Mountains and settled in Buchara for the duration of the war. Her cousin, Moshe and his family survived by hiding in a hayloft above a pigsty for 2 years. He kept a diary of his family's survival through the war 1939-1945. A portion of the information given is garnered from his diary called "Years of Horror: Glimpse of Hope." This was made into the film "#4 Street of our Lady". The Maltz family is the only surviving relative that my mother had in the U.S.

Sokal in 1939 had 6000 Jews. In 1945 only 30 Jews survived. Of those who survived, 15 Jews including the Maltzes were hidden on the property of Francesca Halamajowa, a very courageous and righteous Polish Catholic woman in her 50's.

The Maltz family was involved in the sale of cattle to the villages and towns in the area. Jews constituted an urban class trading mainly in farm produce. (My grandfather was a wheat dealer.)Sokal was described as a "nice town with nice people." They lived a normal life." Before WWII, it was described as a lively town with an active market place and an active cultural life. It was not cosmopolitan because it was on the margins of Europe. The town was located 75 km from Lvov and is located on the banks of the Bug River, a shallow river that marked the border between the Russian and German sectors of Poland during WWII.

Sokal had 2 synagogues in the town including a 300 year old Hasidic synagogue. This was a fortified synagogue that was erected in the Jewish quarter of Sokal some time during the 16th and 17th centuries. The other synagogue was 200 years old "with a beautiful altar and splendid chandeliers" Both synagogues were destroyed during the war.
The Jewish ghetto was established next to the burned out shell of one of the synagogues.

There was a mutual hatred between the Ukrainians and the Poles. The Jews were caught in the middle. Eastern Galicia was ruled by the Russians which made the region ripe for violence between the ethnic groups when the Germans invaded.

In 1941, the Germans invaded Sokal and together with the Ukrainians started to persecute the Jews. They first called the community out to the city square. There they selected who they wanted to kill. At random, 400 men were selected. SS men took them to a nearby brick factory and shot them by firing squad.

In 1942 there was another Aktion (mass round-up). There was also mass killing. Two thousand Jews were sent to Belzec extermination camp. The remainder of the Jewish community was ordered to leave their home and was forced into a ghetto enclosed with barbed wire. Two square blocks housed 5000 refugees. People died of typhus. There was no medication or food. It was unspeakable conditions. There were constant searches in the ghetto until the next Aktion. In the final Aktion of May 27,1943, the ghetto was liquidated, and the remaining Jews were executed outside of town.

At the end of the war, 15 Jews including the Maltz family survived while being hidden and cared for by Mrs. Halamajowa and her daughter. She cooked and looked after them for 2 years!. The survivors' bodies were stiff after crouching for 2 years in a hayloft. (Three members were in a dug out basement under the kitchen floor). During the war, they told stories, played chess, read old newspapers and Moshe wrote in his diary. After the war, Mrs. Halamajowa did not want it known she sheltered the Jews during the war. The Poles would have been upset with her for protecting them.

More than 100 descendants are living today because of their survival!!

Here is a website about the history of Jewish Sokal. The Jewish Week has a thoughtful article about Francisca Halamajowa, who hid the Maltz family, three other Jews, and a German deserter. Fay Maltz, a child member of the group hidden my Mrs. Halamjowa tells a chilling story  about how her fellow captives made a failed attempt to poison her because of her crying. Mrs. Halamajowa died in 1960. Her herosim was not recognized until 60 years later when survivors brought her deeds to the attention of the public.