A German policeman cuts off the beard of a Jew in Zawiercie.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 94654

Overview

Caption: A German policeman cuts off the beard of a Jew in Zawiercie.
Date: Circa 1939 - 1943
Locale: Zawiercie, [Katowice] Poland
Variant Locale: Zavertse
Warthenau
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Osrodek Karta
Event History: In 1939 there were approximately 7,000 Jews in Zawiercie. On September 2, 1939 about 2,000 of them fled as German troops occupied the city. During the first days of the occupation all Jewish males between the ages of 17 and 50 were ordered to assemble in the market square. They were detained and tortured for nine days before being released. A formal ghetto was established in Zawiercie in the summer of 1940. That fall about 500 young Jews were deported to labor camps in Germany. In a deportation action that took place in May 1942 approximately 2,000 Jews were sent to Auschwitz. The ghetto was finally liquidated on August 26, 1943, when most of the remaining Jews were deported to Auschwitz. During the deportation action 100 Jews were shot on the spot. The 500 remaining Jews were kept at the newly established Zawiercie labor camp, which was subsequently liquidated on October 17, 1943.

"Zawiercie" in Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, Volume 2, Part A.

Keyword: BEARD/SIDELOCK-SHAVING CLOSE-UPS GHETTO/OCCUPATION JEWS (POLISH) POLICE POLICE (GERMAN) PUBLIC HUMILIATION ZAWIERCIE
Photo Designation: GHETTOS (MINOR) -- (Z)