Historical Background

Tuczyn is situated in Volhynia, a district in North West Ukraine. When the Germans occupied the town on 6 July 1941, the Ukrainians immediately staged a pogrom, murdering 70 people. The following day the German Einsatzgruppen killed another 30 Jews. In 1942 Tuczyn’s 3,000 Jews were confined to a ghetto. The Jews organized resistance, and when on 24 September 1942 the German and Ukrainian police moved in to liquidate the ghetto, the small underground group began shooting and set houses on fire. In the confusion that ensued, some 2,000 Jews were able to flee. Most were caught and murdered, and only a small number of them were able to survive the Holocaust.