Liquidation of the Węgrów ghetto

Węgrów, a small town in Podlachia on the Liwiec, had welcomed Jews as early as the sixteenth century, and its community made up two-thirds of the population. Leather and textile work flourished there; its old wooden synagogue was renowned throughout the region. In the autumn, the occupier surrounded the Jewish quarter at dawn and gathered the inhabitants in the market square. Those who attempted to flee or hide were killed on the spot; the others were marched on foot to the railway line, then transported to the Treblinka death camp. Several families kept behind to sort through possessions were murdered in the weeks that followed.