Deportation of the Jews of Bielsko-Biała

Bielsko-Biała, the twin city at the foothills of the Beskides, capital of the region's textile trade, annexed to the Reich as early as the autumn of the first year of the war, was home to a prosperous and largely German-speaking Jewish community, whose great synagogue was set ablaze within the first weeks of the occupation. Its inhabitants were stripped of their businesses, expelled to the cities of the Zagłębie and the Gouvernement général, then overtaken by the liquidations. Those who had remained were transported, through the region's sorting centers, to the camp at Auschwitz, located less than thirty kilometers away.