On this day in 1940, the Będzin Ghetto was established in Będzin, Poland. It would last until January 1944 when the last of its Jews were deported to Auschwitz.There had been a Jewish community in Będzin since the 13th century and Jews made up the majority of the city’s population since the 17th century. In September 1939, the Nazis invaded Będzin, where they burned down the synagogue with over 200 Jews praying inside. Anyone who ran away from the fire was shot, and the Nazis did not allow firefighters to save the building. The fire spread all over the Jewish Quarter, causing massive destruction of Jewish property. The Nazis also forcibly shaved men’s beards and beat them in the streets. On July 1, 1940, the Nazis made Będzin an official ghetto and forced 30,000 Jews inside. They kicked out any Jews who were living in the town center, but they did not completely close off the ghetto at that time so that the Nazis could use the Jews as free laborers. The size of the ghetto grew when the Nazis relocated the Jews from Auschwitz to Będzin from April to May 1941. This was before the Auschwitz concentration camp was created. Overall, about 30,000 Jews were sent from the Będzin ghetto to Auschwitz, where most perished. On May 1, 1943, the ghetto was officially closed off and the living conditions of the Jews inside got significantly worse. The final liquidation of the ghetto was completed on August 8, 1943, and was met with armed resistance, which had existed in the ghetto since 1940 and had at times even made contact with the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. The Nazis left 1,000 Jews in Będzin to search for any hiding Jews and clean up. They were then deported to Auschwitz in January 1944. Jews would return to Będzin after World War Two ended, but by the 1970s there were no remaining Jews in Będzin.