Torhovytsya

Dubno district, Rivne region

Sources:
- Jewish encyclopedia of Brockhaus & Efron;
- The All South-Western Territory: reference and address book of the Kyiv, Podolsk and Volyn provinces. Printing house L.M. Fish and P.E. Wolfson, 1913;
- Yad Vashem. Targowica;
- Virtual Shtetl. Torhovytsia;
- Targowica, [in:] The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, vol. 3, eds. Sh. Spector, G. Wigoder, New York 2001

Photo:
- Vladimir Levin, Center for Jewish Art. Torhovytsya and Ostrozhets Victims Monument
- Szymon Zajczyk. Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk. Targowica, synagoga
- O. Sosnowski. Synagoga w Targowicy. Published by Virtual Shtetl

Rivne region - list of settlements and location of objects

Torhovytsya, 2024

Torhovytsya, or Truvits in Yiddish (ukr. Торговиця, rus. Торговица), was founded in 15 century. Since 16 century - in Volyn Voivodeship as part of the Commonwealth. Since 1793 - as part of the Russian Empire. In the 19th - early 20th centuries - the township of Dubno district of the Volyn province. In 1919–39 - in the Volyn Voivodeship as part of Poland, in 1939–91 - as part of the Ukrainian SSR.

In 1847, 551 Jews lived in Torhovytsya,
in 1897 - 891 (98.2%),
in 1921 - 640 Jews (97.7%)

The earliest record mentioning the presence of Jews in Torhovytsya 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 Torhovytsya 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, Torhovytsya 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 Krуlestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajуw Słowiańskich, the Jews of Torhovytsya had their own synagogue and a house of prayer.

In 1913, Jews owned all 4 shops in the township. The Jew Srul Shnaider owned an only tavern, and also one Jew, Goldenberg, rented both watermills.

Torhovytsya in the 1913 reference book

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 “Torhovytsya” localities – a village, a mill settlement, and two farms, with a total of 391 inhabitants (less than the Jewish town).

Most of the town's Jews were engaged in small scale trade or crafts.

Jewish political activity, especially of a Zionist orientation, existed in the town: there were several Zionist youth movements (HeHalutz Hatzair, Hashomer Hatzair, and Beitar) and, from the 1920s, there was also a branch of the HeHalutz agricultural training commune.

After September 17, 1939, with the arrival of the Red Army in the town following the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Torhovytsya became part of Soviet Ukraine.


Synagogue in Torhovytsya, 1930s	Synagogue in Torhovytsya was destroyed in 1939	The dome of the synagogue in Torhovytsya, 1930s

The Germans occupied Torhovytsya at the end of June 1941. Shortly thereafter, 20 Jews who had been accused of being Communists were murdered.

In the summer of 1941 the Jews were ordered to establish a Judenrat (Jewish council) and a Jewish police force.
On August 1, 1941 130 Jewish men, including the rabbi of Torhovytsya, were shot to death in a barn just outside the town.

In the spring of 1942 the remaining Jews of Torhovytsya were taken on foot to the ghetto situated in the nearby town of Ostrozhets. On October 9, 1942, during the liquidation of the Ostrozhets ghetto, the Jews from Torhovytsya were shot to death, along with the local Jews, at the Jewish cemetery near Ostrozhets.

Torhovytsya and Ostrozhets Victims Monument in Holon cemetery, Israel, 2023