Black Friday in Bialystok, 1941

27 June, 1941
Bialystok, Poland
Great Synagogue

In my introduction to this blog I wrote that 
"As long as there have been synagogues, there have been Jews who were rounded up and slaughtered while inside."
This is actually inaccurate. Jews were rarely rounded up and put in synagogues. Almost always, they either fled to the synagogue on their own, or were already present in the synagogue when attacked.

The Great Synagogue in Bialystok was different. It was the unadulterated nightmare.

The synagogue was built in the early 20th century. It was impressive, with three domes flanking the entrance and naves. 

On 27 June, 1941, Nazi troops moved into position around the plaza adjacent to the Great Synagogue. They gathered the Jews from the neighborhood, herding them - two thousand people - into the building. 
"Groups of poor sods were brought from all directions and pushed towards the Great Synagogue which was burning with great flames, with ear-piercing screams coming out of it. Germans forced their victims, to push each other, one by one, into the burning temple. Those who resisted were shot and their bodies were thrown inside." (The Fight and Extermination of the Bialystok Ghetto) 
The doors were barred, gasoline poured at the entrance, a grenade ignited the fire and the entire congregation was burned to death. Thirty wagon loads of corpses were carted off the next day to a mass grave. 

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