The earliest records about Jews in Sasów date back to the beginning of the 17th century. In 1880, 1945 Jews lived in the town (in the county - 1906, and in the area of the estate - 39), constituting 57 percent of the local population (3,428: in the county - 3,282, and in the estate - 146)[1.1].

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Jewish craftsmen were especially renowned as the makers of embroidered ritual items which they were selling in distant cities - Warsaw, Berlin, and even New York.

The founder of the Hasidic dynasty in the town was Moshe Leib from Sasów (1745–1807), thanks to whom it became an important Hasidic centre.

In 1910, a school funded by baron Hirsch was established in Sasów. At the same time, the local branch of Jewish political party, Poale Zion, started its activities.

Due to emigration to the United States and World War I, reduced the number of Saxon Jews. In 1921, the community consisted of 1,096 people. In the interwar period, many of them received help from their relatives in America[1.2].

Before the outbreak of th4e Second World War, Sasów was inhabited by Poles, Ukrainians and Jews in roughly equal proportions - altogether about 3,000 people.

In the years 1939–1941 the town was under the Soviet occupation, and on 2 July 1942, the German troops entered Sasów. Within two weeks, 22 leaders of the Jewish community were murdered as supposed members of the communist party. From the very beginning, forced labour was introduced, and the murders of Jews became an everyday reality. In July 1942, 66 of them were murdered in three separate executions.

Around 12 September 1942, on Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year, 100 Jews were transported to the extermination camp in Bełżec, and those who were considered sick and disabled were killed on the spot. At the end of November 1942, the last 400 Jews remaining in town were moved to the ghetto in Złoczów, probably located on Mickiewicza and Targowa streets. Earlier, announcements appeared on the walls, calling the Jewish population to move to the Złoczów ghetto within a week. Only the workers of the forced labour camp in Sasów were released from this obligation, but this privilege did not apply to their families.

According to Grzegorz Rąkowski, in the summer and autumn of 1942, about 1,500 Jews were deported from Sasów to the extermination camp in Bełżec. However, such a number seems to be too large if we take into account the pre-war population of the town.

After the resettlement of Jews from the nearby towns to the ghetto in Złoczów, about 4,000 people were enclosed there. Overpopulation and poor sanitation quickly resulted in an outbreak of typhus. It became a pretext for the liquidation of the ghetto, which took place on 3 and 4 April 1943 – around 3,500 Jews were shot in the nearby village of Jelechowice.

In the years 1942–1943, there was a forced labour camp in Sasów for its Jewish population. In July 1942, young Jews from Złoczów were moved there.

In April 1943, about 70 Jews escaped from the ghetto in Brody. They were members of a secret organization founded by Jakow Linder and Szmul Weiler at the end of 1942. They organized attacks on ghettos, forced labour camps and other poorly guarded places to free Jewish prisoners. One of them was the successful attack on the forced labour camp in Sasów.

In August 1943, it was liquidated due to the prisoners' revolt[1.3]]

Bibliography

• Rąkowski G., Ziemia Lwowska, Pruszków 2007, p. 292.
• Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, vol. 10, eds. F. Sulimierski, W. Walewski, B. Chlebowski, Warsaw 1889, p. 463.
• The Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945, vol. II A, ed. Goeffrey P. Megargee, pp. 759, 850–851.
• The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, vol. 2, eds. S. Spector, G. Wigoder, New York 2001, p. 1,141.
• Bełżec [in:] Zchor [online] http://www.zchor.org/belzec/belzec.htm [Access: 1 October 2022].