Włoszczowa (Vlotsheve) Jewish Genealogy [57,146 records]

Where Włoszczowa (Vlotsheve) (in black) sits among CRARG’s core towns. Click a town to open its page.

The Jewish population of Włoszczowa stood at 2,528 in 1897, a little under 3/4 of the total population. After World War I, Jews operated well over 300 workshops and small factories, most of which were family endeavors. Zionists were very active in Włoszczowa and they sent a group to Palestine. The Germans captured the town in early September of 1939, forced Jews into slave labor, and looted Jewish properties. A ghetto was set up in mid-1940 and the Jewish population grew by more than 50% because of the influx of refugees. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (New York: New York University Press, 2001): “Crowded conditions led to an outbreak of typhus and the Judenrat opened a hospital and infirmary in 1940. With assistance from the Joint Distribution Committee, the Judenrat was able to operate a soup kitchen providing 700 meals a day and distributing flour and matza.”

Jewish Names in Włoszczowa (Vlotsheve)

The long list below shows the most common surnames (and patronymic names) in CRARG’s projects that include Włoszczowa, which is one of our core towns. The number indicates how many times the name appears. Records for persons from this town can also appear in projects for other towns, especially in marriage records and records for non-permanent residents.

For Włoszczowa (and nearby towns), some data will be in our Holocaust records, but the vast majority will be in our pre‑Holocaust database.

Historical information on towns is drawn from Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem, Israel: Macmillan, 1978), Shmuel Spector, editor-in-chief; The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (New York: New York University Press, 2001); The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945 (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2018); Pinkas Hakehillot: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Poland (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1976); and several town Yizkor books. For their help with translating town histories, CRARG thanks Gloria Berkenstat Freund (Yiddish) and Udi Cain (Hebrew).