History

The earliest record mentioning the presence of Jews in Targowica (currently Torhovytsya, Ukraine) dates back to 1569. The town was privately owned by the Massalski, Korecki, Bieniewski, Rzewuski, and Strojnowski families. The owners supported Jewish settlement and promoted the development of the local trade. In 1669, King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki (Michael I) granted Targowica the privilege to hold three fairs a year – a week after Pentecost, a week after St. Ilia, and a week after St. Luke – “which fairs will welcome all kinds of merchants and people of other vocations, allow them to exchange goods, and execute other honest matters and contracts.”

In 1897, Targowica had 891 Jewish inhabitants among 907 residents. Jews constituted 98.2% of the population, one of the highest recorded shares in the history of former Polish lands. The primary sources of their livelihood were, among others, trade and crafts, as well as work at the local brewery and distillery. According to Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich, the Jews of Targowica had their own synagogue and a house of prayer.

In 1921, despite the decline caused by World War I, the percentage of Jews in the total population was still outstanding – 640 out of 655 inhabitants (97.7%). However, it needs to the emphasised that this purely Jewish locality formed part of a larger economic organism; in the vicinity there were four other, adjacent “Targowica” localities – a village, a mill settlement, and two farms, with a total of 391 inhabitants (less than the Jewish town).

During the Holocaust, on 1 August 1941, the Germans executed 130 local Jews outside the town. The remaining Jews was driven to Ostrożec (Ostrozhec, Ukraine) in the spring of 1942, where they perished on 9 October 1942.