# Goraj <table class="place-meta"> <tr><td>Local name(s)</td><td>Goraj (Polish), Gorai (Yiddish romanized)</td></tr> <tr><td>Region (today)</td><td>Lublin Voivodeship, Biłgoraj County, Poland</td></tr> <tr><td>Coordinates</td><td>50.717 22.650</td></tr> </table> <table class="place-meta place-eras"> <tr><th>Era</th><th>Town name</th><th>Country / jurisdiction</th></tr> <tr><td>to 1795</td><td>Goraj</td><td>Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth</td></tr> <tr><td>1795–1809</td><td>Goraj</td><td>Habsburg (Austrian) Empire (West Galicia)</td></tr> <tr><td>1809–1815</td><td>Goraj</td><td>Duchy of Warsaw</td></tr> <tr><td>1815–1915</td><td>Goraj</td><td>Congress Poland / Russian Empire — Lublin Governorate</td></tr> <tr><td>1918–1939</td><td>Goraj</td><td>Second Polish Republic — Lublin Voivodeship (Biłgoraj County)</td></tr> <tr><td>1939–1944</td><td>Goraj</td><td>German occupation (Distrikt Lublin)</td></tr> <tr><td>1945–present</td><td>Goraj</td><td>Poland — Lublin Voivodeship, Biłgoraj County</td></tr> </table> ## Overview Goraj, chartered in 1389 and held within Jan Zamoyski's estate from 1596, developed a Jewish community after Zamoyski permitted Jewish settlement around 1600; documents confirm Jews present by 1626, with a synagogue (later rebuilt in stone) and a cemetery established. The community was largely destroyed during the 1648 Chmielnicki uprising but revived later in the 17th century; Jews made up roughly 30% of the town's population at the start of the 19th century. After the German invasion the Germans established a ghetto in 1940; on 30 September 1942 they shot 39 Goraj Jews, and the surviving Jews were relocated in October to Frampol and from there deported to the Bełżec death camp, ending the community. <small>Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goraj,_Lublin_Voivodeship, https://sztetl.org.pl/en/node/44/99-history/137320-history-of-community</small> ## People with events here | Person | Event | | --- | --- | | [[Menachem Mendel Morgensztern (b.1787)]] | Born 1787 | | [[Esther Segal (d.1810)]] | Died 08/13/1810 | | [[Jankiel Lichtenstein (b.1829)]] | Born ~1829 | | [[Froim Chuna Dawid Lichtenstein (b.1848)]] | Born 07/20/1848 | | [[Mordko Zysmilech (b.1891)]] | Born 1891 | | [[Bajla Gitla Zysmilech (b.1899)]] | Born 1899 | | [[Tauba Mindla Zysmilech (b.1904)]] | Born 01/06/1904 |