81 years ago, on June 27, 1941, the Germans burnt the Great Synagogue in Białystok. About 2,000 Jews inside were burnt alive or murdered in the vicinity. The bullets of German soldiers hit Jews trying to escape from death in the flames.
Before the outbreak of World War II, about 45,000 Jews lived in Białystok constituting over 40% of the total number of people living there. According to historical data, the town had nearly 100 synagogues and houses of prayer. The largest of them was the so-called Great Synagogue designed by Samuel Rabinowicz and erected in the years 1909-1913. Most of the funds raised for its construction were the donations of the local population. The building itself was one of the most magnificent buildings in pre-war Białystok. The impressive dome crowning the synagogue was 10 meters in diameter making a huge impression.
After the outbreak of World War II, which was initiated by the aggression against Poland of the Third Reich and later the Soviet Union, both countries, in the agreement of September 28, 1939, determined the course of a common border. The Soviet part of occupied Poland included among others Białystok.
On June 22, 1941, the Third Reich attacked the former ally, the Soviet Union. One of the first cities occupied by the Germans was Białystok. There, on June 27, the German 309th Police Battalion, commanded by Major Ernst Weis, carried out a brutal murder of the Jewish population. This is how the bloody event was described by the Jewish witness Szymon Datner, a post-war historian: “The slaughter began at 8 am. The Germans, divided into small units, armed with automatic pistols and hand grenades hunted Jews in the narrow and winding streets around the Great Synagogue. Hellish scenes were happening on the street; Jews were taken out of their houses, placed against the wall and shot. The unfortunate people were led from everywhere towards the great synagogue, which blazed with great fire and from which terrible shouts were heard. The Germans forced their victims to shove each other into the burning temple; the reluctant ones were shot and their dead bodies were thrown inside. Soon the whole district around the synagogue was burning.
Historians estimate that that day, the Germans murdered about 2,000 Jews in the synagogue and its vicinity.