Boremel

The first Jews settled in Boremel (Michałówka) in the 18th century. In 1897, under the Russian Empire, the local Jews numbered 1,047, comprising 87.5 percent of the total population. During World War I, Boremel suffered severe damage. After the war, it was incorporated into the independent Polish Republic. Between 1919-1921, a Tarbut Zionist Hebrew-language school operated in the town, but later it was closed down by the Polish authorities. In 1921, the 857 local Jews comprised ninety-five percent of the total population. In the interwar period, Zionist parties and youth movements (Hashomer Hatzair, Beitar, Gordonia) were active there, as were Zionist pioneering training communes, such as those of HeHalutz and HeHalutz Hatzair. After September 17, 1939, in the aftermath of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, the Red Army entered Boremel, and the town became part of Soviet Ukraine. The Germans occupied Boremel on June 25, 1941. At the time of the German invasion, local Ukrainians took the opportunity to rob the Jews, and a few of the latter were killed. The Germans ordered systematic requisitions of Jewish property and valuables. The German authorities established a Jewish council (a "Judenrat"), consisting of seven men, and a Jewish police force. The Jews had to wear yellow patches and perform forced labor, with almost all the young Jewish men being taken to Dubno and Równe for work. Most never returned; in all likelihood, they were killed in those places, along with the local Jews. Of those Jews who remained in Boremel, many were taken to work on farms in the surrounding villages. Apart from these work assignments, Jews were not permitted to leave the village. In June 1942, the Germans established a ghetto at the edge of the town. Some Jews were killed for leaving the ghetto in an attempt to obtain some food. Despite German prohibitions, some Jews managed to barter their remaining possessions for food. Apparently in late September or early October 1942, the members of the Judenrat were murdered outside the town, on the bank of the Styr River. That same month, a German unit, assisted by the Ukrainian auxiliary police, liquidated the inmates of the ghetto outside the town, at the same murder site. According to one survivor's recollections, on the night of the murders Moshe Shloyme Ashers set the ghetto on fire, and then hanged himself. After the liquidation of the ghetto, several dozen Jews who had managed to hide were found and shot dead. Boremel (Michałówka) was liberated by the Red Army in March 1944.