Liquidation of the Chrzanów ghetto

Chrzanów, between Cracovie and Silesia, was home to an ancient and populous community, comprising nearly half the city's population. As the territory was annexed to the Reich, Jews were subjected to forced labor and stripped of all means of livelihood, then confined to a reduced quarter. Convoys to Auschwitz, situated close by, began in the summer and continued in waves. The final liquidation of the quarter took place the following spring: residents were gathered, sorted, and transported to the camp; the sick were shot in the streets. Chrzanów lost, in the space of a few seasons, the community that had defined its very character.