1. Firlej - Centrum miejscowości

The private town of Firlej was founded in 1557 by Mikolaj Firlej.Even then there were Christians and Jews living there.From the second half of the 16th century. The city was a center of Calvinism. In the 17th century. was destroyed by Cossacks and Swedes.In 1869 Firlej lost its municipal rights.In the late 1880s. was a small village, with only wooden buildings. Its residents made their living mainly from agriculture, also from crafts (pottery) and local trade. During World War II, Firlej and its environs were an area of partisan activity for the People's Guard, the Peasant Battalions and the Home Army.Jews in Firlej - Until 1939. - The first Jews probably appeared in Firlej in the 16th century., along with the establishment of the city, although they received the official privilege of free settlement from Mikolaj Firlej in 1664. Most families made a living from trade, crafts (tailoring), also from propinating alcohol.In the 17th and 18th centuries. The Jewish community here was sparse and did not develop economically. There was no independent community (Jews probably belonged to the community in Lubartow), synagogue or cemetery.In the early 1760s. Jews left the town - depopulated and destroyed by the Cossack and Swedish wars.In 1789, Icek Kielmanowicz ran the local tavern. In October 1796. The owner of the estate - Prince Janusz Sanguszko - issued a privilege equalizing the rights and obligations of Christians and Jews living in Firlej, which improved the situation of the latter. From 1901 to 1906, the local rabbi was Abraham-Rachmil Bromberg. At the end of the 19th century. and in the first two decades of the 20th century. The Jewish community was slowly growing demographically, but the economic crisis and deteriorating living conditions contributed to the mass exodus of Jews from Firlej in the 1930s. During the interwar period, there was no beit ha-midrash, while basic religious services were conducted by the shochet.In 1928. Gemilut Chesed brotherhood was established.Holocaust - In April 1942, the Germans established a ghetto in Firlej. In addition to 167 residents of the settlement, there were also Jews from Lubartow, Lublin and Slovakian Jews resettled in Firlej in the spring of 1942.In October of that year, the Germans liquidated the ghetto. They deported the Jews to the Lubartow ghetto, and from there to the Sobibor and Belzec death camps. About 50 young men from Firlej escaped from the Lubartow ghetto to the nearby Parczew forests, where they joined partisan groups.