Grobstein

Białystok
Беласток
ביאליסטוק

On June 27, 1941, Białystok fell to the Nazi as a result of the invasion of the Soviet Union.
The Nazis pursued a policy of pillage and extermination of the non-German population.
The 56,000 Jewish members of the town were confined in a ghetto, which during August 1941 was exterminated.
On the morning of June 27, 1941, Nazi troops from Order Police Battalion 309 surrounded the town square by the Great Synagogue, the largest wooden synagogue in Eastern Europe, and forced residents from their homes into the street.
Some were shoved up against building walls and shot dead.
Some 800 men, women and children – were locked in the synagogue, which was subsequently set on fire; they burned to death.
The Nazi onslaught continued with the grenading of numerous homes and further shootings.
The flames from the synagogue spread and mixed with the grenade fires, engulfing the entire square.
On June 27, 1941 – 3,000 Jews lost their lives.

On August 15, 1943, the Białystok Ghetto Uprising began with several hundred Polish Jews starteing an armed struggle against the German troops who were carrying out the planned liquidation of the ghetto.