1939 - 1945 WW2/Holocaust

Updated by Alex Feller August 15, 2013

Timeline of Rohatyn: Holocaust/World War II

The following is a timeline of events that occurred in Rohatyn during the Holocaust and World War Two. For a more comprehensive description, read the translation of the Rohatyn Yizkor Book. For personal accounts and testimonies, read the Biography of Jack Glotzer, and testimonies taken by Yahad.

Mayor of Rohatyn 1939 - 1944 : Michal Zwarycz (note:previous Mayor sent to Siberia by Russians)

Sources:

(1) Rohatyn Yizkor Book Translation.

[2] Pinkas for Rohatyn.

March 20, 1942 = 2nd day of Nissan, 5702

Additional Materials:

The following is a summary of events during the Holocaust written by Mark Jacobson:

"The same patterns were repeated throughout eastern Galicia - 1939-1941 they were under Soviet occupation, property was confiscated from wealthy Jews, many Jewish political and social organizations were closed and many Jews were arrested and deported into Russia or joined the Soviet army and left. June 1941 the Soviets retreat and Germans come in. Ukranian peasants stage pogroms, killing Jews in the streets. Germans begin confiscating Jewish property and expelling Jews from villages and concentrating them into cities like Rohatyn where they were forced into ghetto areas for control and slave labor. Various "aktions" against Jews take place where large numbers of Jews are murdered in the streets or buildings and buried in mass graves, in many cities they are forced into forest areas where they have to dig their own graves and are killed. By 1942 most Jews have either been killed in these aktions or died from starvation or rampant disease in the ghetto areas. Remaining Jews are eliminated, either sent to Belzec death camp or killed in the cities and by 1943 most east Galician cities are officially declared 'free of Jews'. The Nazis kept few or no records of who they killed in the cities or Belzec and tried to destroy records and cover their crimes as the Soviets moved back into the area in 1944, digging up bodies and having mass burnings and completely destroying Belzec. If your family members were elderly or sick unfortunately they were probably the first to be killed or died from disease and likely there are no official records. Your best hope is someone who survived filing a Testimony with Yad Vashem, these are searchable online at yadvashem.org."

1942 deportations from Rohatyn to Belzec: (credit to Marla Osborn for finding these images)