Jews Who Resided In Krosno before 22 June 1941

Introduction

This is a list of Jews who lived in Krosno, Poland before 22 June 1941.  It was made by the Judenrat (Nazi-appointed Jewish council) in Krosno in 1942.  The first page of the original document contains the following information:

Board of the Jewish Community
Krosno
Krosno, 10 February 1942

Alphabetic list of local Jews here before 22/6/1941 - prepared in 4 copies by the command of the Kreishauptmann* from the 7th and 8th and of the Stadtkommissar ** from the 9th of the previous month.

Stamp: The Jewish community (Judenrat) Krosno (Note: the word "Judenrat" appears in parenthesis in the original)

• *   prefect, chief administrative officer of a district
• **   city/town deputy or commissioner

The file, written in German, has the following fields:

• Number on List
• Last Name
• First Name
• Date of Birth (birth year)
• Occupation
• Miscellaneous

The "number on list" column is the number given to people on the original list.  As the original list gives one number to each family, more than one individual can be registered under the same original number.  There are 2,076 individual records.  The names and professions appear as they were recorded on the original list.  Under "miscellaneous" is recorded the work status of the individual: whether or not fit for work.

Background

The following information was prepared by Yad Vashem from the chapter on Krosno in the Pinkas HaKehillot:

The city was founded in 1324. In 1568 the town received the "privilege" of forbidding Jews from living in the town.  In fact, few Jews lived in Krosno until the middle of the 19th century.  The Jewish community in the 20th century was a vibrant community, with institutions and organizations representing the full gamut of Jewish opinion.  In 1921 the population was 6,287, of whom 1,725 (27%) were Jews.

On September 1939 the German army entered Krosno.  Shortly afterwards, the persecution of Jews began and a Judenrat was established.  At this time, many Jewish refugees arrived in Krosno from the areas of Poland that had been annexed to the Third Reich.

The German authorities demanded a list of Jews from the Judenrat, which was given to the Germans on February 10, 1942.  The list was based on the population as of June 22, 1941.  Even though the Germans demanded that the list include an indication of all those unfit for work, the list includes such an indication only in extreme cases (the old and invalids).

In August 1942 (the 6th or 10th), all the Jews were gathered in the town center.  The old and infirm were taken to a nearby forest and shot.  Another 1,000 Jews were sent to the Belzec death camp.  The few hundred left were gathered in a closed ghetto in the town.  On December 4, 1942, most of them were sent to Rzeszow.

A few Jews also survived the war outside the ghetto, with the help of a few Christians (including two local priests) who endangered their lives helping these Jews.

The Encyclopedia Judaica (1972, volume 10, p. 1278) confirms the above, and provides additional noteworthy details.  Before World War, II 2,500 Jews lived in Krosno, with 5,870 living in smaller surrounding areas.  In July 1942 the Jews from Krosno county were concentrated in Brzozow, Dukla, Jasienica, Korczyn, and Rymanov, and were deported to Belzec from there.  About 800 Jews, who were able to hide but eventually were discovered, lived in the Krosno ghetto from August-December, 1942.  On December 2, 1942 the ghetto was liquidated and the remaining persons were shipped to Rzeszow.  Note that the Pinkas HaKehillot article mentions that the remaining were sent to Rzeszow on December 4.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Pinkas HaKehillot
• Encyclopedia Judaica, 1972, volume 10, p. 1278.

Acknowledgements

The information contained in this database was indexed as part of the data sharing agreement between Yad Vashem and JewishGen.  Thanks to Zvi Bernhardt and the Hall of Names staff, the data was provided from the files of Yad Vashem (file 06/363).  This information is accessible to you today, thanks to the efforts of the following JewishGen volunteer who is responsible for the transcription of this file: Harriet Brown.