Harrowing photograph of the deportation of Jews from the Rzeszów Ghetto, Poland – 1942

The photo shows armed German soldiers escorting a group of Jews - men, women, and children, through the streets of the ghetto on their way to the train station, where they were transported to their execution. The deportations from the Rzeszów Ghetto to the German Nazi extermination camp in Bełżec began on July 7, 1942.

The Germans occupied Rzeszów on September 10, 1939, and anti-Jewish measures began that same month. Synagogues and study halls were confiscated, some destroyed. The homes of wealthy Jews were seized for housing German occupying forces. A Judenrat was established a month later and was ordered to pay a heavy ransom to the German authorities. Jews from nearby villages and towns in western Poland were expelled to the city. On December 17, 1941, the Rzeszów Ghetto was established, and Jews from the surrounding towns and villages were relocated there. Hundreds died from disease and starvation. On July 7, 1942, a selection was carried out in preparation for the ghetto's liquidation: of the 23,000 Jews imprisoned in the ghetto, 2,000 were taken to the shooting pits in the Rudna Forest and executed. Approximately 14,000 were deported to the Bełżec extermination camp. On August 8, a second transport to Bełżec took place, consisting mainly of women and children, and a third followed in November. After the deportations, the ghetto’s population was reduced to about 3,000, most of them forced laborers and their families. Over time, these remaining Jews were also deported to the Płaszów concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, or murdered on the spot. A few managed to escape to the surrounding forests and waited there until the city was liberated by the Red Army.

11.5×8 cm. Good condition.