Event · Migration
German invasion of Bialystok
German forces entered Bialystok during the first weeks of World War II.
Page scan 5681939-09-15HIGH confidence
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... On Friday, September 15, 1939, the second day of
Rosh Hashanah, as most of the Jews in Bialystok were
praying in their synagogues, the news that a division of
the Nazi Army was at the gates of the city spread like
wildfire. Panic erupted as Jews fled in all directions to
hide from the murderers’ onslaught. At midday, the
first platoons of German soldiers appeared in Bialy-
stok. Shortly thereafter, as the streets of the city were
practically emptied of people, the Nazi soldiers scat-
tered all over the town with their weapons. Not encoun-
tering any passersby, the Germans began firing their
guns into the windows of buildings. That was the
bloody beginning, a weird introduction to the calami-
ties that would come later. The shooting left many dead
and wounded. Most of the victims were Jews. At the
same time the new Nazi authorities declared a state of
emergency in Bialystok, imposing a curfew from 8:00
p.m. until 5:0 ...Connected nodes