The Liquidation of the Ghetto in Trzebinia

Deportation of Jews from Trzebinia and Chrzanów1 One of the buildings to which the Jews were taken before their deportation to Auschwitz. Photographed after the war. Today, these buildings are part of a factory Sketch of the destroyed synagogue during the war. Artist: M. Lavni, née Emster, of Trzebinia

On 29 May 1942 (13 Sivan 5702) the deportation of the Jews of Trzebinia began. SS units and German police surrounded the ghetto. All the entrances to the town were blocked in order to prevent the Jews from fleeing. The Jews then underwent a selection in the market square, dividing them into three groups: young men and women were sent to labor camps in Germany; a second group was transported to Chrzanów to work in the factories vital for German arms production; and the rest were sent to their immediate deaths in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Those destined for deportation to Auschwitz were held in the Trzebinia municipal gas factory. The environment was appalling. There was almost no food or water, and horrific sanitary conditions. After more than a week, on 7 June 1942 (22 Nisan), they were sent to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. The others, as mentioned, were sent to work in Chrzanów and work camps in Germany. Here they suffered hard labor and starvation, disease and abuse. Most of them did not survive to witness liberation.